9 Things You Can Do Now to Slow Climate Change - Wait, Make That 10
Submitted by Lance on Tue, 07/18/2006 - 6:00am
Below is a list of 9 things you can do to slow global warming from climatecrisis.net, the website companion to An Inconvenient Truth. Before we get to that, though, I want to remind you about something that's easy, fast, and that you can do right now, while you're sitting at your computer.
Yesterday I posted a call to write our NC Legislature and get its members on the record about climate change. It's easy: find out who your legislators are, use our contact form to send them a quick email, then forward the link on to a friend. Take five minutes to do this now.
When you're done, consider these 9 everyday ways to reduce your carbon emissions:
- Change a light - Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
- Drive less - Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You'll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don't drive!
- Recycle more - You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.
- Check your tires - Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere!
- Use less hot water - It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of CO2 saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year).
- Avoid products with a lot of packaging - You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.
- Adjust your thermostat - Moving your thermostat just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer You could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.
- Plant a tree - A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.
- Turn off electronic devices - Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you're not using them will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
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Change a light
Thanks for this list, Lance. This first idea is ssooo easy. AND it will save enough wattage that you'll notice it on next months electric bill. Promise!
I did this as I could afford the bulbs. HomeDepot has packs of six that I bought on three different paydays. :) My whole house is flourescent lights only now. You save watts on the bulbs and you save lost energy as heat in the house on these stupidhot days. It ain't even August yet, folks.
this was something I had always planned on doing
and had started. But, after AIT, I went out and bought a couple three packs of different brightness and have started replacing all my bulbs.
I did this when I owned a home in Cary
And it did make a noticeable difference on my electric bill. I was only in the house for two years, and I never did the math as to how long it would take for the savings to offset the cost of the bulbs, but I never had to replace a flourescent in all my time there (the package said they'd last 5 years).
They sell the bulbs at Sams, so if you're not averse to lining the Walton family pockets, you can get a discount on bulk.
I plan on some of those in my new rental house
Definitly going thru the house and changing all the light blubs to flourescents, honestly to help the enivorment. And with 1 tree eating up 1 ton of carbon in its life, gives me another reason to beg my gf to let me become a greenthumb in our backyard!
Great list Lance.
Be just, and fear not.