Happy New Year! As we usher in 2025, we celebrate a time of making resolutions and setting goals for the coming months. If committing to big climate actions – like getting an electric vehicle or electrifying your home – feels like a daunting challenge, why not start smaller? Try making one of the following four resolutions and take on achievable actions to set you up for a sustainable new year!
When resolving to take climate action, wasting less is a good place to start for both residents and businesses. Oftentimes, simple changes to how we consume and discard materials can make a big impact in the amount of waste we produce. When we produce less waste, we send less material to landfill. When we send less waste to landfill, we reduce methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Here are some simple actions you can take to waste less in 2025:
- Compost your food waste. Columbia offers compost workshops to help residents learn how to get started. Check out the 2025 workshop calendar and our other resources here.
- Learn to recycle right. Many people do not realize that they are recycling wrong and contaminating their bins! Use our app and online resources to learn the right way today.
While most people hear about climate change on the news or social media fairly often, very few of us actually take the next step of bringing those conversations into our lives. A very easy way to take climate action in 2025 is starting there: just talking about climate change! Use these resources to get started:
- Utilize a climate conversation guide. Use this guide to learn how to identify common interests and connect them to climate change.
- Share the dashboard. After starting your conversation, direct your conversation partner to this dashboard! The CoMo Climate Action Dashboard is the best place to keep up with our community’s efforts to address climate change.
Saving energy is a triple threat of a sustainability resolution. It saves you money on your home or business utility bills, improves indoor comfort, and reduces your greenhouse gas emissions. Try these simple actions to save energy within the first few weeks of 2025:
- Get a free home energy assessment. Get a customized roadmap for making your home as energy efficient as possible with free expert assistance.
- Use free tips for low-cost weatherization. Utilize Columbia’s online guide for home or commercial weatherization to reduce your wasted heat or AC and save energy.
- Upgrade your thermostat. Take advantage of Columbia’s $50 rebate for a new smart thermostat that you can program to keep your home at energy efficient temperatures.
Transportation accounts for over a quarter of our community’s greenhouse gas emissions. While it can feel daunting to switch up your daily transportation – especially if you rely on a personal vehicle – try slowly incorporating some of the following simple options (maybe just on weekends to start!) to see if you can make your commuting or personal travel cleaner:
- Utilize public transit. The Go COMO transit system offers buses and shuttles to get you where you need to go. Find your local stops and routes here.
- Ride your bike to work, school, or even the grocery store. Columbia has been named one of the best cities to bike in America! Check out the city bike route map and hit the streets today. And don’t forget you can bring your bike onto local public buses!
Thank you for reading, we hope you have a happy and sustainable New Year!