Start Living The Good Life: Day One
Is The Good Life For You?
If you are like most Canadians, you think climate change is a serious global problem, you are frustrated by Canada's lack of leadership in tackling the problem, and you would like everyone to stop talking about it and just do something. But you wonder whether the small changes you are ready to make in your life will really make a difference, and you worry that changing your lifestyle to lower your impact on the Earth means giving up all the things you enjoy.
If this sounds familiar, then The Good Life is for you.
What is The Good Life?
In the past, living the Good Life meant lavish spending, excess waste and the trappings of material goods. But in today's climate-conscious society, WWF-Canada is redefining The Good Life to represent a life that is healthy for us, for the planet and for future generations. Joining The Good Life does not mean changing everything you do all at once: it is about taking small, steady steps, at your own pace, in the right direction. When you join the Good Life, you are part of a community, lending your voice to a collective, positive and unified call for everyone - governments, businesses and individuals - to do their part to fight climate change.
Can I Really Make a Difference?
At the global level, the problem can seem unsolvable, but doing your part, and encouraging others to do the same, really can make a difference. Because simple actions add up fast, when we all do them. If every Canadian switched one incandescent bulb for an energy efficient compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb, it would save 1.6 billion kWh and 345,000 tonnes of CO2e1 -which is the equivalent of taking 57,000 cars off the road. If every Canadian draft-proofed their home, it would save 2.2 million tonnes of CO2e2 -which is the equivalent of taking 360,000 cars off the road.
In reality, it will take everyone playing their part - governments, businesses and each one of us. Reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions you are responsible for can be as easy as turning a dial, unplugging a charger, or leaving the car in the garage.
Getting started with The Good Life is as easy as one, two, three.
Step one: Sign Up for The Good Life
When you sign up to join The Good Life, you will be joining a community of Canadians who want to play their part in fighting climate change. You can browse all the different actions and select what actions you are already taking, or are able to start doing now. You may be surprised to find you already have made changes in how you live that benefit the planet - make them count!
Step two: Choose your Good Life actions
Decide which actions are best for you. If you live in an apartment, getting a new furnace might not apply, but you can change your light bulbs, and unplug your cell phone charger. If you are a homeowner, you can commit to installing new windows, get a high efficiency water heater and get an energy audit of your house. You can also add actions you've already taken in the past year.
The Good Life will then track how much Greenhouse Gas (CO2) you have reduced. Your actions can add up quickly! For example, if you change 6 light bulbs in your home to compact fluorescent bulbs, you will save 88 kg of CO2 per year. If you drive 10% less, you will save 594 kg CO2 per year. On average, that would mean taking public transit or a bike to the office once every two weeks. If everyone in Canada did the same, it would be the CO2 saving equivalent of taking every SUV, truck and minivan in Ontario off the road!
The Good Life also adds up everyone's contributions into a Canada-wide total and tallies provincial totals as well, so you - and everyone - can visit the site to see how seemingly small changes, put together, can have a big impact for the planet.
Step 3: Spread the word
Most importantly (and most fun!), you can invite friends, family and colleagues to join you in The Good Life. You also can challenge your friends to make changes in their lives that benefit the planet. The more people join, the more the savings. And once we have done our part, we can make sure others, including individuals, governments and businesses do their part too.
If you want to join the fight against climate change you're not alone. Actions speak louder than words, and if we raise the volume of our actions enough, we can lower the threat of dangerous climate change. Start living The Good Life today.
1 Assumes a 45 watt savings/bulb (75% of traditional 60 W bulb) x 3 hours/day x 365 days = 49.3 kWh/year x 31.6 million Canadians (Stats Can) = 1,558 million kWh x 0.220 kg/kWh (national average for electricity, Environment Canada GHG Inventory) = 345.9 million kg =
2 Assumes 159 kg/home, as in the GL calculations table, and 13,576,855 households (Stats Can, 2006 Census) = 2,158,720 tonnes CO2e.
