This time last year, I wrote about New Year resolutions and being hopeful.

Little did we know then that we would be in our first lockdown before the end of March.

Just 12 months ago, terrible fires raged in Australia, California and many other parts of the world and were on our TVs most nights; Brexit had still not happened; we had three big storms in a row causing severe damage and floods in the UK.

We were only just hearing about a terrible virus appearing in a place called Wuhan in China.

Twelve months on, we are heartily sick of the virus, of being stuck in, of all our social activities being shut down.

It’s important for everyone to stick to the restrictions, but there is something even more important that we all need to act on. That is climate change. That, too, has been seriously impacted by this virus.

To begin with, emissions reduced because manufacturing and business shut down and lots of us stopped driving because of working from home.

But this was due to a temporary change in behaviour, not structural changes to how we live.

Now car use has increased and fewer people are using buses or trains.

Many people are working at home, so now its cold the heating is on and we are connected to the internet much more. Consequently, our home energy bills may have risen considerably.

But there is still action we can take.

l Look for a greener energy tariff to reduce emissions.

l Do you still need two cars?

l Being at home means not having to wear business attire, therefore fewer washes, saving water and energy.

l Not travelling to work leaves some time to do batch cooking/baking for the freezer. This saves not only time and electricity or gas but, crucially now, money.

l Shop locally on foot or bike, instead of taking the car further afield. Saves fuel, money and reduces emissions.

l Working from home means we might get to local markets we couldn’t when we were away at work. It supports local economy, helps reduce food miles.

l Being home more gives some time to correctly sort out the recycling.

l Not buying that latte on the way to work saves money and reduces the number of unrecyclable coffee cups being disposed of.

You may find other ways to make a difference. Let us know via sw@sustainablewallingord.org