Climate Change Mitigation

Climate change mitigation refers to actions that can help to reduce new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are added to the Earth’s atmosphere through human activity.

What can you do to help reduce new GHG emissions?

• Get involved in municipal planning and community-building initiatives. Use the citizen’s guide to land use planning to learn how you can get involved in planning and building your community.
  • Advocate for policies and action in your community that:
    • Create more active transportation infrastructure (e.g., sidewalks, bicycle paths, crosswalks, etc.) and reduce the number of motor vehicle trips that are taken
    • Create more greenspaces and parks
    • Plant more trees
    • Encourage composting
    • Encourage greater use of renewable energy
• Get involved in local groups that are taking action (e.g., planting trees, maintaining trails, organizing active transportation activities, composting, etc.).
• Use active transportation, public transit, ride sharing or electric/hybrid vehicles.
• Electrify your appliances and tools.
  • Switch from appliances and tools that burn fossil fuels to appliances that run on electricity.
• Reduce food waste and increase your composting.
  • Diverting food and organic waste from landfills can greatly decrease municipally-generated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as 4% of Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions come from food and organic waste. Information on how food wastage impacts climate change is available from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In smaller, more rural municipalities, a large percentage of GHG emissions can come from food and organic waste rotting in landfills. For example, in 2020, Tay Valley Township published a Climate Action Plan indicating approximately 81% of the municipality’s GHG emissions were caused by the decomposition of organic materials in their landfills. Check with your municipality to see what composting options are available.
  • Understand the difference between a best before date vs. an expiry date so you can reduce food waste (and save on your grocery bill at the same time). A food may not be at optimal freshness but can still be safe to eat past its best before date.
• Use the Climate Hero calculator to assess your carbon footprint and work on making some changes to reduce it.