Once we were comfortably seated at our usual table in the corner overlooking the busy harbour it didn’t take long for Camp to bring up his peeve of the day.

“I’ve come across a study by the University of Geneva, recently published in the journal «Nature Sustainability». It tells us that we often lie to ourselves about what impact we personally have about climate protection. We dutifully recycle and turn off the lights – yet we underestimate the measures that are truly effective against climate change.”

“Are you telling me that recycling and using less hot water has no impact?”

“No, their impact, apart from being psychological as in ‘feel-good’, just doesn’t make that much of a difference to the overall situation. The climate would benefit much more if we gave up cars and flying.”

“I guess that makes sense but people are not willing to change their life styles for the greater good but they are happy to do what they can to fit into their daily lives.”

“Buying fewer new clothes, turning off the lights, recycling materials, avoiding packaging, reducing hot water consumption and heating the home less in winter – the list of actions we try to take to slow climate change is long. And most of the time, we are convinced of the effectiveness of these measures. Yet these actions have comparatively little impact according to this study. The climate would benefit much more if we gave up flights and cars. Or, if that is not possible, we should at least drive an electric car. Using public transport and eating a plant-based diet also avoid large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.”

“Not everyone can afford an electric car or wants to be a vegetarian,” I said.

“I know and I’m no better although I don’t own a car which helps. For the study, the researchers defined 34 climate-relevant behaviors and surveyed nearly 3000 people in the USA about their climate impact.”

This Table shows some of the actions implemented by the percentage of people and their actual impact in reducing CO2 emissions:

Action                                                            Implemented           Emissions in kg CO2

per person and year

Reducing food waste                                                 77%                            290

Recycling waste                                                         65%                            10

Heating the home 1 to 3 degrees less                      57%                            90

Using less hot water                                                  53%                            160

Saving paper when printing                                     48%                            10

Buying 20–30% fewer clothes                                 42%                            40

Avoiding packaging                                                  38%                            160

Drying laundry on a clothesline                               23%                            40

Giving up flying altogether                                       18%                           2405

Heating with a heat pump                                        13%                            790

Using public transport instead of a car                   10%                            980

Renting products instead of buying them               8%                              330

Avoiding a long-haul flight                                       8%                              1680

Vegetarian diet                                                          5%                              490

Switching to an electric car                                      5%                              1950

“It seems clear to me that if we all stayed home, like during Covid, we’d slow down the greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting deterioration of our atmosphere but is that even realistic? What about the impact of all the wars and wild fires?” I said.

“I know, recycling plastic bags seems irrelevant in the big picture but people need to at least feel they are not making it worse. I’m not saying don’t recycle or keep the lights on. I’m just surprised by how little impact those measures really have.”

We were in dire need of a fresh pint and I had to ask Vicky if she felt that recycling and less food waste was worth the trouble since it had little effect on the climate.

“Our food waste goes into a composting facility and I personally recycle whatever I can but I don’t drive a car and I’m a vegetarian. Does that help?”

“Absolutely,” Camp said. “Out of the 3 of us you’re the most responsible.”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel good but I take compliments whenever I can get them.”