You probably keep hearing about why you need to cut your carbon emissions. But do you actually know?
Here’s a simple explanation. Please share it with your friends, family and social networks. The more everyone understands about why carbon emissions are so dangerous, the more we stand a chance to stop them.
Why You Need to Cut Your Carbon Emissions
Most of our daily activities—like driving, heating and cooling our homes, washing our clothes, shopping, consuming food, wasting food, turning on the lights, powering up our computers, mowing our lawns—are powered with energy generated by fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas.
Burning these fossil fuels emits “greenhouse gases” like carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane into the atmosphere. Humanity is burning fossil fuels in such great quantities that these greenhouse gases are blanketing the atmosphere and heating up our planet to excess. All this atmospheric heat is changing weather patterns and disrupting the jet stream, the wide ribbon of air high in our atmosphere that helps keep our planet on an even keel. It’s also melting the polar ice caps and causing the oceans to heat up.
This “global warming” is causing climate change and a climate crisis, because none of it is healthy or safe for us or the planet and the consequences are so dire.
The climate crisis threatens every single American in the United States (and around the world – but I’m just focusing on the U.S. for now).
HOW THE CLIMATE CRISIS THREATENS YOU
AND YOUR FAMILY
If you live anywhere between Maine and Florida or along the Gulf Coast, you have undoubtedly experienced severe weather events, including Category 5 hurricanes and “super storms” (remember Sandy?). You may also be dealing with sea level rise. Houses built along the shore are getting knocked down by waves, while streets in some cities are flooding even on sunny days when it’s not raining.
If you’re out West, your community may have gotten so dry that it has burned to the ground. Homes and neighborhoods in the Midwest may have suffered torrential downpours and floods. If you live in the South or Southwest, you’re probably contending with water shortages and droughts.
No matter where you live, if poison ivy grows or plants release pollen (i.e., everywhere except the desert!), you probably have suffered terrible rashes and allergic reactions. That’s because, as the climate grows hotter, poison ivy becomes more abundant and poisonous and plants produce a lot more pollen.
And there’s more: for most Americans, your yard or patio may have become intolerable in the summer due to the onslaught of mosquitoes, ticks and other insects whose range and length of life are being extended because it just doesn’t get cold enough soon enough to keep all those bugs under control.
How to Cut Your Carbon Emissions
The only way to stop the climate crisis is to stop adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. That means you need to cut your carbon emissions. It’s a big job, but not an impossible one.
To begin, be smarter about how much energy you use.
I easily use at least 50% less energy than I used to without sacrificing my quality of life.
I’ve done that by making a few basic, affordable improvements around my home and in how and what I drive. Those changes save me several thousands of dollars a year, too. It’s a total win/win.
Don’t Miss: 7 Ways to Reduce Home Greenhouse Gas Emissions
For example:
* ENERGY STAR APPLIANCES When it was time for me to get a new refrigerator, I traded in the old one for the most energy-efficient model in my price range. Bonus: my utility company paid me $150 as a reward for choosing the energy saving option, AND $50 to recycle my old fridge. Win/Win!
* ENERGY STAR LED LIGHT BULBS I’ve replaced all of the light bulbs in the lamps and lighting fixtures in my home with highly efficient LEDs. LEDs use a fraction of the energy incandescents do and cost pennies to operate every year. Win/Win
* HOME INSULATION AND WEATHERIZATION I added extra insulation to my attic, which significantly cut down on how much heated air I was losing through the roof in the winter and how much cooled air I was losing in the summer. That means I was spending less money on heating and cooling bills. Win/Win
* ADJUSTABLE THERMOSTAT I got a programmable thermostat, which makes it easy to adjust heating and cooling in my home up or down ten degrees — or even more, when I’m away from home, on vacation, or asleep. Win/Win
Don’t Miss: How to Choose a Smart Energy-Saving Thermostat
* WASH FULL LOADS IN COLD WATER AND DISHES AND CLOTHES WHEN LOADS ARE FULL I wash all my clothes in cold water (though I do wash towels and sheets in hot water. I wash dishes and clothes when I have full loads. That saves both on electricity and on water. Win/Win
* DRIVE AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT HYBRID, PLUG-IN, OR ELECTRIC VEHICLE You can now find a highly energy-efficient vehicle in pretty much any price range. I’m leasing a Hyundai Ioniq Plug-In Hybrid. It gets its first 40 miles on electricity, which is more than I usually drive in a day. If I go farther, it gets a combined 100MPGe with gas and electricity. More on that later!
WHAT ABOUT SOLAR AND WIND?
We absolutely need to replace fossil fuels with clean energy like solar and wind as fast as we possibly can. I cannot put solar panels on my roof, as my house is in too much shade (though that helps cut down on my cooling needs in the summer).
What I can do is purchase electricity from a provider other than my utility that generates most of its power from solar and wind. If you’re in the same situation, contact your local utility and find out what solar/wind providers they work with so you can switch to cleaner power, too.
Don’t Miss: 7 Unexpected Ways You Can Use Solar to Stop Climate Change
What About Public Policy?
No question about it: we need strong public policies, both at the federal level and at the level of our local governments, that make it easier and more affordable for all of us to use less energy, get off coal, oil and gas, and adopt solar and wind. What our cities, counties and states do matters, and they can do a lot.
President Biden’s infrastructure plan would accelerate our transition to clean energy that slows climate change.
Urge your members of Congress and Senators to support President Biden’s infrastructure plan. And elect officials who will do the same.
HOW MUCH CARBON SHOULD YOU CUT?
Some people want to cut their carbon emissions but don’t know by how much. A future post will tell you how to measure your “carbon footprint” and will help you set some goals for emitting less CO2.
ARE THERE ANY OTHER GREENHOUSE GASES TO WORRY ABOUT?
Yes! Methane is 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide when it comes to the climate crisis. Animals like cows and pigs generate methane when they belch and fart (sorry, but that’s what they do!), so eating less meat will help a lot.
Capping leaking methane wells (as a result of natural gas fracking) can go a long way to reducing climate change, too.
We’re working with the Well Done Foundation to do just that. More to come on that shortly!
What are you doing to cut your carbon emissions? Please share your experiences with the Big Green Purse Facebook community. Thanks.
