New year’s resolutions: Should you cut your carbon footprint?

Are you thinking about going green in 2022? Cutting your personal carbon footprint can help, but it is important to engage with others and encourage wider efforts to tackle climate change, says climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe

By Chen Ly

As 2021 draws to a close, many people will be considering resolutions for 2022. Following a landmark year in the global effort against climate change, you might be thinking of resolving to reduce your personal carbon footprint, but is that the best approach if you want to go green? To find out, New Scientist spoke to Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy, a US non-profit organisation.

“It all starts with just being aware of where our emissions come from,” says Hayhoe. Depending on …