Easter's Environmental Impact and the Science of Change

Let’s be honest — Easter isn’t exactly the biggest environmental villain on the calendar. It doesn’t come with cross-country flights, frantic gift-buying, or two months of non-stop fairy lights. If anything, it slips by quietly, leaving behind both a relaxed mind and a sugar rush.

Don't get me wrong, Easter has a significant impact on the environment, generating 4,500 tonnes of waste in the UK alone. But should it be on top of our priorities for climate change?

Perhaps not — higher-impact ways to protect the environment might include switching to clean energy, reducing overall food and packaging waste, and restoring nature.

But maybe that’s what makes it interesting.

Easter’s lower stakes and the days off that come with it make it the perfect moment to try something new. Whether that means choosing chocolate with a conscience or using the long weekend to take a break from your car, it’s a quiet opportunity to reset. You won’t save the planet over a single spring weekend—but you might be able to crack some new sustainable habits.

Rethinking the Easter Egg

Many people use Easter to enjoy a long bank holiday and a few chocolate eggs, making a sustainable twist easy to plan and implement — and potentially opening the door to a new outlook on sustainable food.

While delicious, mainstream chocolate has a heavy environmental footprint — deforestation, water use, emissions — not to mention serious issues around child labour and unfair trade practices. Most supermarket Easter eggs are also heavily packaged, often in a mix of plastics and foils that can’t easily be recycled.

Instead of ditching the chocolate altogether (because where’s the fun in that?), you could look for Fairtrade or ethically sourced eggs with minimal packaging. If you can't find eggs, look for Fairtrade chocolate! If we're honest, many of us use Easter as an excuse to buy a bit of chocolate, egg-shaped or not — I'll include myself in that — and Fairtrade chocolate tablets are much easier to find.

Better yet, if you’re feeling creative, making your own treats or gifts can avoid waste entirely— and usually ends up being more memorable. Joy doesn’t need to come wrapped in plastic!

Using the Break to Try Something Different

Easter comes with something rare in the modern world: time. Whether it’s a long weekend or just a quieter Sunday, it’s a natural moment to experiment with more sustainable habits —without the pressure of committing forever.

For example, you could make a point of cooking a plant-based meal, either as a challenge or just for fun. You might use the extra daylight to go for a walk instead of staying glued to your screen, or spend time planning a trip to Europe travelling by train. Some people take the opportunity to go car-free for a few days, which not only cuts emissions but can make local places feel newly interesting.

These aren’t radical actions — but they’re low-pressure, and they might just stick.

What Does Make a Difference?

Of course, if you’re serious about reducing your climate impact, it helps to be honest about what really matters. Easter activities are gentle nudges, not system-shifting actions. The big levers tend to look a little different.

Switching to a green energy tariff, for example, cuts emissions right at the source. Cutting back on meat and dairy — especially beef — can significantly reduce your personal carbon footprint, as can flying less, particularly for short-haul or frequent trips. If you own a home, taking advantage of government support for heat pumps, solar panels, or insulation can make a long-term difference. And if you drive, exploring subsidies for electric vehicles is a tangible way to reduce impact.

Beyond the individual, getting involved with something collective can be even more powerful. Individuals have some power, but many doubt that they'll have much impact when they see dumbfounding sources of emissions around them — the latest being Jeff Bezos shooting Katy Perry into space for fun.

Joining a climate-focused NGO or group, supporting a clean energy coalition, or backing local initiatives for nature restoration brings you into community with others working toward meaningful change. Promoting sustainability in your workplace — through policy, supply chain decisions, or even office culture — can scale up your impact in unexpected ways.

Easter, Spring, and the Science of Change

Falling right at the start of spring, Easter is naturally associated with renewal, fresh starts, and coming out of hibernation mode. In behavioural science, timing like this matters more than we often realise.

According to Stanford researcher BJ Fogg, lasting behaviour change doesn’t usually start with willpower. Instead, it needs three things: motivation, ability, and a prompt. You don’t need to be highly motivated if something is easy and well-timed. A long weekend, a change in season, or even just a shift in the weather can act as that prompt — nudging you to try something new while the mood and momentum are there.

In that sense, Easter might not be important, but it can still be useful. It’s a natural pause point, a soft invitation. Whether you’re trying out a plant-based recipe, cycling instead of driving, or just buying your first fair trade chocolate egg, it might be enough to break routine — and that’s often how change begins.

A Small Holiday, Still a Springboard

Easter might not be a turning point for the climate, and it doesn’t have to be. It’s a quiet moment in the year, free from the high expectations of Christmas or the noise of New Year’s resolutions. That means you’re free to enjoy it exactly as it is — or to use it as a low-stakes opportunity to try something a little different.

At the very least, it’s a reminder that change doesn’t always need a grand occasion.

Sometimes, it starts with the smallest rituals!