There are many ways to reduce global warming, starting with the simple things that you do on a daily basis. There are a number of ways to cut carbon emissions from your home, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency even has an online carbon calculator you can use to calculate your individual carbon footprint. You can also carpool and use mass transit to reduce your carbon footprint. Even driving more efficiently will reduce your carbon emissions. Here are some tips to help you get started.
Energy efficiency
One of the best ways to curb climate change is to improve your energy efficiency. The average home uses around 20% of its electricity for lighting. By replacing incandescent light bulbs with Energy Star qualified CFL bulbs, you can reduce this number by 75%. By changing one bulb in a home every year, you will save enough energy to power three million homes and reduce emissions to the same extent as 800,000 cars.
While energy efficiency is an important goal, more needs to be done to achieve this goal. It is an effective way to reduce GHG emissions while meeting demand for energy services with lower energy use. In fact, energy efficiency is a critical factor in most GHG emissions pathways outlined in the Paris Agreement. By focusing on energy efficiency, countries can meet their GHG emission reduction goals within the Paris Agreement timeframe. But how do we improve energy efficiency?
Reforestation
Deforestation releases carbon into the atmosphere, and many countries are already trying to slow the effects by reforesting their land. By maximizing forest cover, e-commerce carbon offset dioxide levels could be cut by about a quarter. Reforestation could slow global warming, since trees absorb carbon dioxide and turn it into oxygen. But it isn’t just planting more trees that will help the environment.
Many studies show that reforestation can even reduce the rate of climate change.
However, not all land is suitable for reforestation. Many areas are already cleared for livestock grazing or farming. The amount of political capital needed to initiate such restoration programs is limited. In any case, the results are impressive: if all forest areas were reforested, they would offset nearly two-thirds of the global warming caused by human activity. While reforestation programs require political capital and finite resources, they can help to reduce global warming.
Recycling
Recycled goods are an important part of the solution to the climate crisis. Recyclable materials reduce the need for virgin resources and decrease the production of waste products. Recycled aluminum, for example, is 95 percent more energy-efficient than raw aluminum. It also helps the environment because it keeps waste from being disposed of in landfills or incinerated, which releases countless greenhouse gases and toxins into the atmosphere. And while recycling reduces global warming, it isn’t a perfect solution. In fact, recycling is an increasingly complicated process that requires more energy.
Recycled products help the environment by reducing emissions from the production of new products and minimizing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. Recycling also conserves natural resources by reducing the amount of energy needed to produce new products. Recycled materials also consume less energy than virgin materials, reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned. Recycling also helps to distinguish between the uses of raw materials. Recycling reduces global warming by at least 39%.
Commuting
Increasingly, Americans are committing to environmentally friendly ways to get to work. While carpooling has been recommended as a means of reducing emissions, it’s not always possible in large cities. People may have different schedules, live on different sides of town, or simply prefer to commute on their own. Commuting by alternative means can help reduce carbon emissions and car insurance rates. Also, the use of public transportation is more common than ever.
Research shows that public transportation helps cut carbon emissions, and teleworking could cut down on costs. In Los Angeles, for example, about 70 percent of residents drive to work alone. That’s less than half of the population in Chicago. In addition, the climate is milder, reducing summer air conditioning demand. Meanwhile, the utility plans to phase out coal by 2025. By telecommuting, workers would have less time to travel to work.
Reducing meat consumption
Increasing our intake of plant-based foods and reducing our meat consumption will decrease global emissions, and can help preserve the world’s forests. Eating less meat will also protect the biodiversity of the planet and help improve the well-being of the world’s poor. To start, aim to reduce your meat consumption starting with the richest 10 percent of the world’s population. In fact, they are responsible for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. The bottom 50 percent of the world’s population accounts for about 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
A large part of the problem is the industrialisation of meat production, which contributes to the problem. Large-scale livestock farming produces enormous amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas that is a serious contributor to global warming. Aside from destroying the natural habitats of animals, raising them for meat also damages the ecosystems. Eventually, our world’s population will need to eat more plants and less meat.