First of all, a warm welcome to the viewers from ABC’s Good Morning America and Nightline
who are here for the first time. For those who want to know a little more about
my project, please noodle around on the blog. For good background, you can start
by reading this.
Today’s post, though, is less about my No Impact Man antics and more about how each of us can help. There are a whole bunch of sites that tell you about umpteen thousand measures you can take to help the planet’s various problems—and I am trying to learn to do a lot of them. But I don’t want to overwhelm you. Each of us can only do what we can do. If there is one thing to concentrate on, it’s reversing global warming.
As environmentalist Bill McKibben told me on the phone the other day, “We have to do triage here.” We have to fix the most desperate problems first, he said. It’s a matter of making sure the patient is breathing before you fix the broken arm. Just now, when it comes to getting rid of its carbon dioxide, the planet isn’t breathing well. To read my very, very quick summary of the climate change problem, go here.
Today’s point, meanwhile, is what No Impact Man is all
about: how changes in the way we live can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
And they can. In fact, the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change that came out on May 4 specifically said: “Changes in lifestyle and behavior patterns
can contribute to climate change mitigation.”
That’s not to say there aren’t other areas that we need to work on as a culture. Of the economic sectors, industry makes the largest contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, followed closely by transportation (see the chart from the EPA, above, which you can click to enlarge). To get reductions in these sectors, however, will require a concerted strategic effort by our political representatives—something I will write about tomorrow.
For today, I just want to tell you the biggest things each
of us as individuals can do. And not all of us can do all of them, or even any
of them. If you can only get to work by car, for example, it may be very hard
for you to manage the first suggestion (though you could rideshare).
Drive less: The overwhelming majority of greenhouse gas
contributed by the transportation sector comes from cars. As a society, we are
exploring a number of options such as biofuels and more fuel-efficient
vehicles. But for now—and I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news—the only way
to decrease automobiles’ contribution to climate change is to just plain use
them less. Bike, walk, scooter, use public transportation, carpool, take fewer
trips. It doesn’t have to be every trip. Even once in a while is good. Cutting
out one trip in ten means you’ve slashed your automobile related greenhouse
gases by 10 percent. If you reduce your mileage by 20 miles a week you can keep
up to 1000 lbs of CO2 out of the air annually.
Fly less: One round-trip, long-haul flight causes as much
contribution to climate change as—get this—an
entire year of driving. Vacation closer to home. Take direct flights that
don’t zigzag to your destination. Combine three weekend trips into one
week-long trip. Do business by teleconference and save your company cash. Take
the train or bus instead. One less round trip means 6000 lbs less greenhouse
gas.
Use less power: After transportation, the largest emission
of carbon gas we are responsible for comes from the use of household appliances
and heating, cooling, and lighting our homes. Insulate, turn down your water heater,
ask your power company about buying “green electricity,” turn your thermostat
down a few degrees in winter and up in summer, use EnergyStar appliances,
install high-efficiency compact fluorescent lightbulbs, turn everything off and unplug it when your not using it,
hang your clothes out to dry, and just plain use less. It doesn’t have to hurt.
Every bit can help.
Make good for your damage: At times, of course, you may have to
drive or fly more than you’d like to. On those occasions, you can make
contributions to projects intended to reduce carbon emissions. It’s called
“carbon offsetting.” The idea is that you offset your own unavoidable greenhouse
gases by helping someone else to reduce theirs. Offsetting is not a replacement
for reducing your energy use. It doesn’t undo your damage, but as second best measure,
it may help reduce future damage. Be careful though, the carbon offset market
is full of cowboys (see here
and here),
but there are some trustworthy sources. I like Native Energy. For a
And that’s it! Tune in tomorrow for how you can help reduce industrial and transportation sector emissions.
PS If you’re overcome with enthusiasm, you can join in with
a bunch of bloggers who are putting together Low
Impact Week, which starts
on June 1st.
Colin Beavan (that's me!) is now leading a conversation about finding a happy, helpful life at Colinbeavan.com. If you want to know how people are breaking out and and finding authentic, meaningful lives that help our world, check it out the blog here and sign up to join the conversation here.