PSYCHOLOGY|EDUCATION
5 Simple And Easy Ways We Positively Impact Climate Change
Knowing better can help us do better — for our own sake and everyone else’s
When I think about climate change, it is hard for me not to feel a wave of overwhelming anxiety flush through my entire body and I am not what anyone would consider an anxious person.
So when I recently read 2 stories (links to them at the bottom of this story) by Alan Asnen that went into detail about the various aspects of climate change, including the important political aspects, I felt that wave of anxiety coupled with feelings of helplessness.
We are all at the mercy of others when it comes to how we are caring (or not caring) for the planet.
However, there are simple and easy things we can do:
1We can communicate more and better with each other regarding ways to improve our lifestyle habits and government policies.
What’s the single biggest way you can make an impact on global climate change? “Talk to your friends and family, and make sure your representatives are making good decisions,” Haq says. By voicing your concerns — via social media or, better yet, directly to your elected officials — you send a message that you care about the warming world.
2Eat more vegetables or go completely vegetarian or vegan.
This one was an easy one for me because I grew to dislike the taste and texture of most meat by the time I was 18 years old.
3Use less water!
It wasn’t until I lived on the island of St. John, USVI for one year when I was 27 years old that I cared about using less water. It’s a small island and water is expensive. However, once I moved back to the States, I stopped caring about my water usage for a while, especially as a tenant who never paid a water bill.
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. The EPA estimates that if just one out of every 100 American homes were retrofitted with water-efficient fixtures, about 100 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year would be saved — avoiding 80,000 tons of global warming pollution.
4Transporation — Planes (the worst), Trains, Buses, Motorcycles, Cars, Scooters and Bicycles (the best)
The pandemic and my move to Europe has been good for me in that it has made me travel less frequently and shorter distances.
However, this is where my carbon footprint is biggest.
I am 4,000 miles away from most of my friends and family in and around Philadelphia. I also have very close friends in Seattle, WA and one currently in Florida who wants to move to Hawaii.
I also love to travel and explore new cultures and places.
This will have to be done less frequently and more intentionally.
Now that I’m in Europe, I can take the train or drive to many countries. Cheap and short flights will be very tempting, but I want to be more a part of the solution than the problems of climate change.
Flights are energy-intensive and depend on fossil fuels. Subsidies from fuel taxes give the airline industry an unfair advantage over other transportation modes. Consumers don’t see the true environmental costs of their air travel because low flight prices don’t reflect their environmental impact. Emissions from flights stay in the atmosphere and will warm it for several centuries. Because aircraft emissions are released high in the atmosphere, they have a potent climate impact, triggering chemical reactions and atmospheric effects that heat the planet.
If all Americans kept their tires properly inflated, we could save 1.2 billion gallons of gas each year. A simple tune-up can boost miles per gallon anywhere from 4 percent to 40 percent, and a new air filter can get you a 10 percent boost.
5- Use LED light bulbs if you haven’t already switched to using them!
It’s incredible how easy and useful this one thing is. It’s not expensive to implement and saves money in the long run.
Lighting accounts for nearly 5% of global CO2 emissions. A global switch to energy efficient light emitting diode (LED) technology could save over 1,400 million tons of CO2 and avoid the construction of 1,250 power stations.
With savings of up to 50–70%, LED lighting has been recognized as one of the most actionable and ready-to-implement technologies for cities to transition to a low carbon economy and peak emissions in the next decade.
Please share with me and others what things you are doing or plan to do to help reduce the negative impacts of climate change.
“Global surface temperature,” they write, “will continue to increase until at least the mid-century under all emissions scenarios considered.”
Under all emissions scenarios considered. That is far from inspiring language. But when optimism is in short supply, you can choose to replace it with pessimism and set about addressing the problem inadequately — justifying your half-heartedness by noting that the odds of success are pretty slim anyway. Or you can opt for nihilism and double down on destructive behaviors, telling yourself that doom is certain and everything is meaningless — so who cares?
Or you can choose to replace optimism with determination.
Alan’s stories:
“We’re at a point where if we don’t act now there won’t be any time left.
It will take years to get done what needs to get done. The younger people don’t get it and the older people don’t care.
The ones who do care in some fashion are split into two camps:
Those who think the rich are going to save us with their money, and the ones who think the rich are going to save us with their machines. Sound…similar?
The rich, on the other hand, are the ones causing the problem and they are the ones who care the least.”
“But we all have to work together, now, towards that goal. And that means being active and actively ignoring many voices.”
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