One woman saving the world from climate chaos

My name is Kyla Davis. I am 25 years old and live in London. I am a committed environmentalist. My focus is Climate Change and Global Warming. Since 2003, I have been working with a small charity called Save our World to develop an educational show for children. I have co- written and performed in this show, The Climate Change Roadshow, which was first presented at local green fairs around London and then later revised and shown at elementary schools in Lambeth. The show consisted of a two-handed performance followed by an interactive workshop about energy efficiency, specifically about how our daily choices affect the greater world climate. As well as the show, I am also a trustee of Save our World and a member of organisations like Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Campaign Against Climate Change and Stop Climate Chaos. I regularly take part in active campaigning and demonstrations organised by these groups. I also regularly lobby my MP and others in Parliament to take action against Climate Change and Global Warming.

I have learned that the most important changes you can make in the world are the changes to yourself. I used to despair that I couldn’t ‘fix’ things or make people behave the way I wanted. But now I feel that by pointing the finger all the time and transferring blame onto other people, our governments, or poor circumstances, we are avoiding our responsibility to the planet. We change the world by the everyday choices we make, by sticking to our word and by behaving with kindness and basic respect for each other and the natural world. I have made a pledge to behave as ethically as I can in all areas of my life: from where I shop, what I buy, the amount of energy I use and how I travel: I no longer fly. I want to communicate to people that I am human and imperfect but I am trying nonetheless to stick to my ideals and that, if we all work at it together, it will get a lot easier.

Here is what Kyla is doing:

• I reduce, reuse, refill, repair, recycle everything that I can. Ways to do this include: refilling used jars and containers, repairing things before throwing them away, shopping only at charity/second hand shops, carrying my own reusable shopping bags with me and refusing unneccessary plastic, reusing paper and envelopes,and ordinary recycling.
• I wash on 30 Degrees and avoid tumble dryers and dishwashers.
• I shower instead of bath
• I bought a bicycle!!! and try to cycle or walk everywhere.
• I compost my organic waste.
• When I'm cold I put on more clothes rather than turn up the heating and always keep my eye on the thermostat.
• I have only energy efficient light bulbs.
• I convinced my landlord to change his boiler and switch to renewable energy
• I switch off all appliances at the wall and turn off things that I'm not using. I sometimes do this to other people's appliances when they leave them on..Guerilla tactics!!
• I lobby my MP and write to her and Tony Blair urging them to take drastic action to avert Climate Change.
• I no longer fly, a very difficult decision, and the last long journey I took was by bus...to Austria.
• I have just completed a 'climate change speaker training' day so that I can now organise talks in my area about the issue.
• I go to demonstrations, keep up to date with the science and have joined a number of online groups for more information

Things that I would like to achieve in the future:
• Carbon offsetting to compensate for my rail/bus travel
• Permaculture: growing my own food.
• To have a house eventually that is completely carbon neutral with solar panels and wind turbines
• To stop eating out/getting takeaway sandwiches/coffees everyday.
• To live in a cooperative, carbon neutral community