Everyone can help limit climate change. From the way we travel, to the electricity we use and the food we eat, we can make a difference.
“Change only happens when individuals take action,” Aliya Haq, deputy director of NRDC’s Clean Power Plan initiative, says. “There’s no other way, if it doesn’t start with people.”
The goal is simple. Carbon dioxide is the climate’s worst enemy. It’s released when oil, coal, and other fossil fuels are burned for energy—the energy we use to power our homes, cars, and smartphones. By using less of it, we can curb our own contribution to climate change while also saving money. Here are a some easy, effective ways each one of us can make a difference:
1. Save energy at home/workplace
- Most of our electricity and heat is powered by coal, oil and gas.
- Use less energy by lowering your heating and cooling, switching to LED light bulbs and energy-efficient electric appliances, washing your laundry with cold water or hanging things to dry instead of using a dryer.
- Power your home/workplace with renewable energy like wind/solar energy.
- Invest in energy efficient appliances making sure also to save water.
- Conserve energy by better insulating our homes and buildings, and by replacing old, failing appliances with more energy-efficient models.
- Call a home energy audit company and get an audit done for the home that will help you to identify areas that consume a lot of energy and are not energy efficient at all.
2. Walk, cycle or use public transport
- Walking or riding a bike instead of driving will reduce greenhouse gas emissions – and help your health and fitness. For longer distances, consider taking a train or bus. And carpool whenever possible.
- Gas-smart cars, such as hybrids and fully electric vehicles, save fuel and money
- Choosing to live in walkable smart-growth cities and towns with quality public transportation leads to less driving, less money spent on fuel, and less pollution in the air.
- Less frequent flying can make a big difference, too.
- Avoid rapid acceleration and braking, and turn on cruise control on longer trips
- Not only is bike riding healthy, but it also reduces the amount of CO2 released into the air. Walking is another easy way to reduce global warming.
- Working a few days each month from home means one less commuter on the road contributing to greenhouse gases.
3. Eat more vegetables
- Eating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and less meat and dairy, can significantly lower your environmental impact.
- Producing plant-based foods generally results in fewer greenhouse gas emissions and requires less energy, land and water.
- Besides carbon dioxide, methane introduced into the air contributes to global warming. With meat consumed by the seconds, the number of cows breathing out methane is a huge contributor.
4. Avoid throwing food
- When you throw food away, you're also wasting the resources and energy that were used to grow, produce, package and transport it. And when food rots in a landfill, it produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. So use what you buy and compost any leftovers.
5. Reduce, Reuse, Repair & Recycle
- Electronics, clothes and other items we buy cause carbon emissions at each point in production, from the extraction of raw materials to manufacturing and transporting goods to market.
- To protect our climate, buy fewer things, shop second-hand, repair what you can and recycle.
- Landfills already contain more than 2 million tons of plastic bottles. It takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture water bottles every year, and those bottles take more than 1,000 years to biodegrade. Have one reusable water bottle to make a big difference.
- Reuse towels. Hang towels to dry, instead of popping them back in the wash after a few uses.
6. Change your source of energy
- See if you can switch to renewable sources such as wind or solar. Or install solar panels on your roof to generate energy for your home.
- LED lightbulbs use up to 80 percent less energy than conventional incandescents. They’re also cheaper in the long run.
- You can offset the carbon you produce by purchasing carbon offsets, which represent clean power that you can add to the nation’s energy grid in place of power from fossil fuels. But not all carbon offset companies are alike. Do your homework to find the best supplier.
7. Speak up!
- By voicing your concerns you send a message that you care about the warming world.
- Always try your best to educate people about global warming and its causes and after-effects. Tell them how they can contribute their part by saving energy that will be good for the environment. Gather opportunities and establish programs that will help you to share information with friends, relatives, and neighbors.
8. Reduce water waste
- Saving water reduces carbon pollution, too. That's because it takes a lot of energy to pump, heat, and treat your water. So take shorter showers, turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, and switch to WaterSense-labeled fixtures and appliances.
9. Pull the plug(s)
- Don't leave fully charged devices plugged into your home's outlets, unplug rarely used devices or plug them into power strips and timers, and adjust your computers and monitors to automatically power down to the lowest power mode when not in use.
10. Plant trees
- Reforestation is the most cost-effective way to prevent global warming. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, so planting more trees can help reduce the amount of carbon in our atmosphere. In fact, we could remove roughly two-thirds of human-made carbon just by letting all forests regrow.
- Protect what remains of our existing tropical forests .
11. Educate
- Give to a charity that makes school more affordable and accessible for those in need in low- and lower-middle-income countries.
- Always try your best to educate people about global warming and its causes and after-effects. Tell them how they can contribute their part by saving energy that will be good for the environment. Gather opportunities and establish programs that will help you to share information with friends, relatives, and neighbors.
12. Avoid products with a lot of packaging
- Just don’t buy products with a lot of packaging. When you buy such products, you will end up throwing the waste material in the garbage, which then will help in filling landfill sites and pollute the environment. Also, discourage others from buying such products.
- Although most of us hear about these days in passing, see what the buzz is all about. Plant a tree, pick up trash, or join a forum.
14. Become aware of your contribution
- With technology within your fingertips, finding information about protecting the environment is everywhere. To help emit less CO2, the first step is being aware of how much you can contribute.
Preventing global warming is more important than ever. We're the last generation that can change the course of climate change, and will be the first to face it's consequences if we don't act now.
Here are some of the suggestions from our Instagram family:
@breathenmoments -
" Gratitude for what we already have. As we all have much abundance in our day to day lives we don't see."
"More awareness when using our resources. Try less first before using more."
@sabri_farouq -
"Tree planting"
@blue_earth_organization -
"Planting lots of trees, Zero waste, Switch to reusables."
@real_rizwana -
"Make sure your surroundings are clean and taken care of."
@legacy_mall -
"Plant trees (all species)"
@its_winnie_cheche -
"Grow indigenous trees, shrubs and other vegetation cover."
@mentor_quresha -
"Planting more trees"
@aisha_bagha -
"Save energy at home."
"Plant more trees"
@ahmed.sheikh.589 -
"Plant trees & harvest water."
@_nussy_ -
"Help to protect & conserve green spaces like local parks and community gardens."
@sumaiyaharunany -
"So manyyy ; Plant a tree. Reuse, reduce, recycle."
"Segregate waste. Unplug devices at night . Ditch single use plastic."
REFERENCES:
- https://www.un.org/actnow
- https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/
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