There are leisure activities that are more polluting than others
Lately, it seems that everything we do to have fun is wrong: we are recommended do not travel by plane not to pollute, not to buy food that comes in plastic , do not use the hotel amenities if they come in small boats not even pick up beach shells .
Faced with this reality, the British University of Surrey has published in the Journal of Public Mental Health A study that answers a fundamental question in these times: Can we have fun without leaving any carbon footprint, that is, without polluting? And if so, what activities with low carbon emissions are the ones that cause us the most happiness?
Going out to eat, for example, means, depending on the job, emitting more than four kilos of CO2 per person per hour, while reading, only one. Watching television or listening to the radio are also in the lower part of the spectrum, and even closer to zero emissions is spending time at home with family and friends - what you use the least, obviously, is resting and sleeping.
The intensity of the carbon footprint in the ways of spending time in the UK
On the more intense side of this index are personal care activities: buying and washing clothes, enjoying healthcare, etc., which, although it may not seem like it, leave a large environmental footprint ( the mere fact of making a t-shirt is very polluting , although we are not the ones who directly emit that pollution).
However, neither this nor other ways to pass the time, such as take care of our pets , have been taken into account by the study as ways of enjoying free time, as they do not have the same discretionary nature as purely leisure activities.
CAN WE HAVE FUN IN THE 21ST CENTURY WITHOUT POLLUTING?
The answer, of course, is yes, but it implies a great change in the way we spend our free time. Thus, the work points out that what fills us the most and emits the least carbon footprint are social activities such as spending time at home with family and friends (ie enjoy the famous hygge danish).
When a leisure activity involves travel, your carbon footprint skyrockets
He also points out that it is favorable to the environment to participate in physical activities that imply a challenge, as the runners . However, crossing seas to participate in iconic races, such as the New York Marathon, is not included in the pack. In fact, the same authors of the work point out that, depending on how they are carried out, Some of those activities can change from generating low to very high carbon emissions, "especially through travel."
Thus, in the same graph above, the carbon expenditure associated with providing activities with greater intensity that, from the outset, leave a low footprint is indicated in red. If, for example, we sing in a choir or we are part of the chess team -both very little polluting things-, we shoot our mark by traveling to take part in international competitions , for instance.
Therefore, the study concludes that governments are required to invest in adequate local infrastructure, such as local and community sports centres, along with the implementation of systems that favor commuting on foot or by means of bicycles . Even so, in a world of rampant consumerism, in which it is difficult to have a good time without spending, it seems an almost utopian reality to change our habits for others so "simple". We will get it…?