Climate Change - What can you do?
Climate change is too big an issue to tackle alone. See what you can do to help us ensure a greener, healthier and more resilient Scotland.
What can YOU do to help us tackle the climate emergency?
As well as making space for nature in your home and life, you can also do a lot to help fight climate change, helping to ensure a healthier and greener Scotland.
Make changes to your home and garden
Visit Home Energy Scotland to find out more about how you can reduce your energy consumption at home.
Manage your garden more naturally with green spaces encouraging wildflowers, pollinators and other beasties to take refuge in your garden. Not only do gardens provide a stepping stone for wildlife to move around urban areas, but you can help alleviate flooding in your local area by reducing the amount of paving in your garden.
From home, you can even help to conserve our peatlands – Scotland’s most vital carbon store – by using only peat-free products in your garden!
Want to go a step further? The 10,000 Raingardens campaign led by Central Scotland Green Network offers advice on building green roofs, living walls and rain gardens at home, work, school and in your local community.
Go wild in your garden!
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Large or small, ledge or yard, your garden can be part of a wider corridor of natural havens, linking urban green spaces with nature reserves and the countryside.
Make changes to your lifestyle
There are lots of things you can do today to make your lifestyle greener and more sustainable, making your contribution to climate change smaller.
The Greener Scotland - Let's Go Greener Together website can help us all work together to tackle the climate emergency providing advice on greener travel and eating, plus food waste and recycling tips.
Did you know there a national-wide network for paths dedicated to walking and cycling? Next time you want to get from A to B see if you can make a day of it using Scotlands National Walking and Cycling Network.
35 or under and want to learn more about what you can do in your personal, professional, and political life? The 2050 Climate Group is a volunteer-led, youth-run charity with the mission to lead a social movement by empowering young people to take climate action. All their activities, including their Young Leaders Development programme, work towards empowering, equipping and enabling young people to take action.
The National Walking & Cycling network
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Duration
01:25
This short animation showcases The National Walking & Cycling network. Look out for new routes to walk, cycle, and ride near you. www.nature.scot/NWCN and www.nature.scot/SGT
Credit: NatureScot
Volunteering opportunities
By volunteering your time to worthwhile conservation projects, you can not only help tackle the climate emergency but also spend time outside in nature helping with your own health and wellbeing.
Volunteer on one of our beautiful National Nature Reserve ranging from peatlands, woodlands, and coasts. Each of our reserves is managed to help mitigate and adapt to climate change, such as preventing our peatlands from drying out to planting suitable dune species to slow coastal erosion.
To help conserve Scotland's vast peatlands you could also volunteer with the Bog Squad, which is run by Butterfly Conservation Scotland and funded through our Peatland Action project.
Want to volunteer a little closer to home? There are plenty of opportunities to help restore and manage the green space on your doorstep. Check out our green infrastructure community projects which engage the local community in restoring and managing their local green spaces. If there isn't one local to you, search for 'Friends of' groups for your local park. If there isn’t a Friends of Park group for your park why not consider setting one up?
Help to conserve our peatlands
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You can help to conserve our peatlands – Scotland’s most vital carbon store – by using only peat-free products in your garden. You could also volunteer with the Bog Squad, which is run by Butterfly Conservation Scotland and funded through our Peatland Action project. When peatland is drained and harvested, the carbon is released back into the atmosphere where it contributes to global warming.
Find out more
Listen to our Podcast and find out what we can all do to make more space for nature in our lives.
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