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DCL
Going green is easy thanks to the zillions of tips, tools, and resources out there (ahem, us!). We know we shouldn't complain. After all, the more ways to go green, the more likely we'll be able to battle climate change and secure a happy, healthy future for us and future generations.
But alas, we still complain. With so much helpful information out there how the heck are we supposed to know where to start—especially with such busy lifestyles?
This is where we prioritize, my friends. Just as you'd prioritize a busy work day scribbling down the tasks that need your attention first and foremost, think of prioritizing going green in the same way. The most effective and highest impact lifestyle changes should get the top spots, with everything else falling subsequently into place.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report released in 2007, three of the largest contributors to climate change include carbon emissions from transportation, home and industrial energy usage and industrial processes like forestry, agriculture and waste management.
Collin started off with the top three most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint in half. Expanding upon that, here are three more ways to take the fast track to green.
Slash Road Travel
Air travel is one of the fastest growing contributors to climate change as Collin addressed, but so too are ordinary small-scale cars. According to the IPCC, the transport sector in 2004 released 23 percent of the world's energy-related CO2 emissions—with road transport accounting for 74 percent of our total transport CO2 emissions in 2007. With that being the case, it makes sense to prioritize greening up our road travel, too.
City dwellers are lucky and can easily walk, bike or metro their way around town. But that doesn't mean we're all doing it. Even in my urban abode, Park Slope, Brooklyn, I see my tree-lined streets also lined with parallel parked cars. Really, people? If city mice still absolutely need a four-wheeled ride, consider a car share service like Zipcar.
Country and suburban mice that do need a car, on the other hand, that's a different story. If you are a two-car family, consider becoming a one-car family. Look for carpooling opportunities and public transportation wherever you can. And if a shiny, new car must arise in your near future, make sure to invest in a fuel efficient, eco-friendly ride. The best part about scaling back on car usage is you'll both be saving money (think less fuel and insurance costs!) and world-saving emissions!
Home Heating Efficiency
Matt hit the nail on the head, urging us to all purchase green power. This is one of the easiest, yet most effective actions to take when helping minimize your carbon footprint. But even if you sign up for green power, you can reduce your use of energy altogether. The IPCC reported that in 2005, space heating accounted for 29 percent of our residential building energy use. Sure, it's summer so it's difficult to think forward to cold days ahead but if you prepare now, you'll save later. Consider installing a pellet stove, investigating geothermal energy and insulation alternatives or weatherizing your windows and creating a thermal envelope to trap in heat. Or just simply stock up on cozy, vintage sweaters and slippers so you can feel ready to lower the thermostat and find other sexy ways to stay warm and have fun without electricity this upcoming winter.
Take Climate Change Action
We can make a huge difference voting with our dollars by buying food and products from local family farms and eco-friendly companies, switching our lights bulbs and making sure to carry our reusable bags but the biggest action of all will happen when our government politicians step in and make some serious climate-friendly policy changes.
The summit in Copenhagen is just around the bend in December—the time when our world's most important leaders get together to discuss climate change—and our future is riding on it. The U.S. lags behind when it comes to reducing our country's annual output of carbon emissions and rumor has it that many of the most influential representing countries at the summit (like us!) are proposing a goal of a concentration of carbon that's around 450-550 parts per million. Scientists speculate that this isn't enough to reverse the damage. As esteemed environmentalist Bill McKibben writes,
We know it from our best scientists: James Hansen and his team at NASA have said, unequivocally, that any concentration of carbon in the atmosphere greater than 350 parts per million is not compatible with the planet "on which civilization developed and to which life is adapted." That's Not Good News, since the current level is 387 parts per million and rising. That's Not Good News because it means that we need to move very, very fast—Hansen's data indicates that if the planet hasn't stopped burning coal by 2030, we'll overwhelm the planet's systems and never get back where we need to go.
Even our recently passed climate bill is considered by many to be too soft around its edges and overall weak, so to speak.
Not all is lost—at least not yet. If you haven't done anything to lend your voice to the cause, now is the time! Organizations like McKibben's 350.org are rallying to ensure the summit in Copenhagen is effective and solutions-oriented. Join in and help out or simply send a letter to our administration telling them how important it is to make climate change a priority if we want to keep our globe inhabitable. To quote Auden Schendler, author of Getting Green Done, from his change makers interview,
Every day I disabuse people of the notion that this [going green] is about me, or you, or your car, or your bamboo floor. By all means, do all that good stuff. But then understand climate change and respond to scale as best you know how. That looks a lot more like a letter to congress or a street protest than it does a compost bin.
Now that's prioritization.
