An eco-action is any action or activity within a program that is intended to have a positive impact on the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

. For this reason it is often used as a synonym for environmental action. People adopting eco-actions tend to target activities around the ‘Three Rs’ of the

waste hierarchy Waste hierarchy is a tool used in the evaluation of processes that protect the environment alongside resource and energy consumption from most favourable to least favourable actions. The hierarchy establishes preferred program priorities based ...

, Reducing, Reusing and

Recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The Energy recycling, recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability t ...

. They may decide to carry out small-scale eco-friendly actions such as reducing the volume of paper used in offices, or purchasing products only from companies that have

environmentally friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that cl ...

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

policies. Others may adopt eco-actions that affect where they live by cleaning up beaches, removing

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

, supporting

community gardening A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plo ...

, and re-planting coastal

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s because the immediate community has come to be considered part of their

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

Widening trend

Eco-action groups tend to be small and unstructured but as their influence grows, their ideas are being co-opted by environmental action groups, sometimes backed by

non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

(NGOs) like

Worldwatch Institute The Worldwatch Institute was a globally focused environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C., founded by Lester R. Brown. Worldwatch was named as one of the top ten sustainable development research organizations by Globescan Surv ...

, and those that are part of larger alliances such as the Clean Water Network. There has been a recent trend where eco-actions have begun attracting leadership from a national standpoint with several governments stepping in. Canada’s “EcoAction Community Funding program” encourages inner city residents to take actions that improve their communities. The government of Japan backs companies that reward citizens with “eco action points” when they take positive action toward the environment. Industries have begun adopt eco-labels too. The

Marine Stewardship Council The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a non-profit organization which aims to set standards for sustainable fishing. Fisheries that wish to demonstrate they are well-managed and sustainable compared to the MSC's standards are assessed by a t ...

adopted its own label for commercial and non-commercial use, with specific guidelines. Such emerging interest has been supplemented by the development of measurement tools that can evaluate and track such individual or group behavior over time. The best examples of this development are the emergence of

ecological footprint The ecological footprint is a method promoted by the Global Footprint Network to measure human demand on natural capital, i.e. the quantity of nature it takes to support people or an economy. It tracks this demand through an ecological accounti ...

calculators such as

carbon footprint A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carb ...

and water footprint calculators, and new mapping tools. As interest in eco-action grows we will see consumers demand for better

ecolabel Ecolabels (also "Eco-Labels") and Green Stickers are labeling systems for food and consumer products. The use of ecolabels is voluntary, whereas green stickers are mandated by law; for example, in North America major appliances and automobiles us ...

ing, and standardized eco-certification programs.

References

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