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10 Ways to Stop Global Warming
Published October 05, 2008 @ 12:56AM PST
Here are some actions you can take to stop global warming -- from cheapest and/or easiest to more committed and complex. Don't overlook the small steps -- like using low-energy light bulbs and carrying groceries home in cloth shopping bags -- even if at first they seem inadequate to the crisis. When enough of us demonstrate that we want action on global warming, by how we spend our time, where we spend our dollars, and how we cast our votes, then our political and business leaders will take stabilizing the climate a lot more seriously, too.
- Take a walk
It's not that surprising, given the intertwined dependencies of food and fuel in industrial society, that the most rigorous study on cancer to date ended up offering the same bits of advice that turn up on nearly every list of things one can to do save the planet: "Don't eat too much. Stay lean. Avoid red meat." As my colleague Alan AtKisson wrote last year, cover all these bases, and build your strength for the next step, by taking a walk.
- Switch to reusable cloth shopping bags
An estimated 180 million non-biodegradable, disposable, petrochemical plastic bags are given to American shoppers each year -- and they throw away around 100 million of them without using them again. It's like dumping almost 12 million barrels of oil (504 million gallons) -- and that's just one of the environmental harms caused by these filmy evil-doers. If you don't happen to live in one of the cities that have already banned plastic bags, switching proactively to cloth bags is an easy way to whittle down a bit of your personal carbon burden.
- Eat less meat
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has established that the global livestock industry generates almost a full fifth of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Americans are among the world's richest peoples, and thus in the top tier of meat consumers. It's estimated that if each American had one meat-free day of eating a week, it would cut greenhouse gas pollution as much as taking 8 million cars off the road. Eating less meat overall is effectively the same thing; here are some ideas on how to do it deliciously from Mark "The Minimalist" Bittman, food writer for The New York Times.
- Eat a local, grass-fed burger
But then again, people like meat. So let's consider how we can raise livestock and still curb global warming. A small but growing number of innovative ranchers advocate carbon farming: growing grass that absorbs carbon out of the atmosphere; then grazing cattle on the grass, which tramples the grass into the soil, which absorbs the carbon; and then repeating the cycle over and over as new grass sprouts. So while it might seem counter-intuitive, eating a burger made from a grass-fed cow helps power a potentially massive-yet-natural engine for cutting atmospheric carbon and helping to stabilize the climate.
- Cut your energy use, get more for less energy
Conserving energy at home is a direct way to have an impact on global warming, and saves some money to boot. Turn down the heat: lowering the thermostat just 2 degrees can cut a winter energy bill 10 percent. Unplug gadgets when they're not in use: Americans spend around $1 billion a year powering devices that continue to pull current even when shut off. Trade out those energy-hogging "Edison" light bulbs for super-efficient compact fluorescents.
- Switch your electricity to clean power
Purchasing electricity generated by renewable sources, such as wind, solar, and hydropower, is a straightforward way to cut carbon emissions, and encourage utilities to commit to and expand clean energy sources. The U.S. Department of Energy's green power map is a good place to learn what's available in each state. Another option is to purchase renewable energy certificates, or "green tags," which support renewable energy generation across the national grid.
- Support good science
Putting ideology over scientific integrity, the Bush/Cheney White House has censored scientific reports, fired scientists who disagreed with its policies, attempted to squelch other scientists as well as federal officials, and, with particular stealth, simply ceased to provide (and perhaps even to collect) to the public data that were once freely available. To act fast and effectively to curb global warming, the next president must support good science, restore the flow of scientific information, rebuild agencies devastated by political interference, and protect federal scientists. Read what Sens. McCain and Obama have to say about science at ScienceDebate2008.com. And get more background with the Union of Concerned Scientists' report, "Atmosphere of Pressure: Political Interference in Federal Climate Science."
- Stay informed
Knowing what's going on with climate change can help you fine-tune your own daily choices, evaluate what you hear from politicians, business leaders, local officials, and other public figures, and respond effectively. Here are a few of the many, many good sources of info online:
- Find good coverage of the big climate stories at The New York Times (including reporter Andrew Revkin's DotEarth blog) and the Washington Post.
- Real Climate's motto says it all: "Climate science from climate scientists."
- Grist Magazine and its Gristmill blog provide daily coverage of environmental news and views.
- deSmogBlog is generally on top of debunking the latest dis-information.
- The Society of Environmental Journalists puts out a daily digest of environmental news stories from around the country and the world.
- And of course, there's the Stop Global Warming blog on Change.org.
- Stay hopeful
Keeping up with the latest science and news on global warming is important -- but truthfully, it can also be a steady diet of alarming and depressing info. Pace for the long haul by tuning in to hopeful developments as well: the ideas, models, and tools we need to transform agriculture, business, industry, transportation, design, and more are already out there. As the British World War II motto put it, "Keep Calm and Carry On."
- Here are a few (of many) good sources for positive trends to keep in your newsreader:
- Worldchanging.com
- TriplePundit
- EcoGeek
- The Science and Development Network
- Treehugger
- Speak up
Want to organize your block association, little league team, church congregation, stitch n' bitch circle -- your community -- to take any or all of the actions above -- and get the message out to local, regional, and national leaders? Go to 350.org to find inspiration in the diverse actions people have organized to demand a sharp and fast cut in atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 ppm -- where the climate would likely stablize. Take photos, write it up, and put a record of your community action on the site, where it will inspire others.
Comments
Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.
Author
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Emily Gertz
- New York, NY
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Emily is a journalist and editor covering the environment and science, and has been working in online news, community and content since 1994.
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Go Vegetarian, or at least cut down on meat consumption. It takes 10 to 16 pounds of grain to produce just one pound of beef. This is a gross misuse of resource in a World racked by starvation, poverty and Homelessness. Also, the meat industry produces more greenhouse emissions than all the cars on Earth combined. Thank You for reading.
Posted by Gary Haun on 12/05/2008 @ 02:57PM PST
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"Researchers at the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Japan have carried out a life-cycle analysis of beef production which shows that 'a kilogram of beef leads to the emission of greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent of 36.4 kilograms of CO2' (New Scientist, 21.7.07). To help you get your head around this, that's equivalent to the amount of CO2 emitted by the average car over a distance of 250 kilometres."
"Researchers at the University of Chicago have calculated the relative carbon intensity of a standard vegan diet in comparison to a US-style carnivorous diet, all the way through from production to processing to distribution to cooking and consumption. An average burger man (that is, not the outsize variety) emits the equivalent of 1.5 tonnes more CO2 every year than the standard vegan. By comparison, were you to trade in your conventional gas-guzzler for a state of the art Prius hybrid, your CO2 savings would amount to little more than one tonne per year."
Check out these vids: You can't be a meat eating environmentalist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWWNLvgU4MI
World Food Crisis: Is Meat Consumption a Major Cause
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcGFjo62LdI
World Food Crisis: Another Major Cause
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJCK7AKjaoM whats the best action to take on Earth Day?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-T0RDZMJgM
Some facts
* To produce 1 lb of meat, an average of 40 lbs of vegetation is used.
* 12 lbs of wheat produce 12 loaves of bread and only 1hamburger.
* It takes 3.25 acres of land to produce food for a meat eater on a continuing basis, while it takes 1/3 of an acre for someone eating a diet of plants and dairy and 1/6 of an acre for a person eating totally plant based diet (vegan).
* A University of California Study shows that to produce 1 lb of meat it takes an average of 2,500 gallons of water, it takes 966 gallons of water to produce one gallon of cow's milk and on the other hand plant foods such as wheat, corn, apples etc. take 20 to 50 gallons of water to produce one pound of food.
* Eating food crops first hand produces a tremendous energy savings. To produce one pound of protein derived from beef requires 20 times as much fossil fuel energy as the same one pound of protein derived from corn or wheat. Protein from beef requires 40 times more fossil fuel energy than the same amount of protein derived from soybeans.
* The waste released in the atmosphere by the U.S. Meat and Dairy Industry is 230,000 pounds per second, thus polluting earth, air and water systems.
* It is estimated that it takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday edition of The New York Times for the readers.
These staggering numbers are a wake up-call for us to make a difference now.
Dr Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, an economist and environmental scientist who has served as the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002 recently said
“ Worldwide, livestock-farming is responsible for no less then 18% of total
greenhouse gas emissions (Source: FAO, Livestock's long shadow, 2007).
Greenhouse gas emissions through meat production and associated land-use changes are one of the most important causes of climate change/warming. Yet people, especially in high-income societies, continue to eat large amounts of meat. This high meat intake not only has negative effects on the climate and biodiversity; it is also harmful for our health because it increases the risk of cardio-vascular disease, obesity, diabetes and other diseases of affluence. Hence, it is very important to limit our meat consumption. Eating less meat means less greenhouse gases will be emitted.
Because our food, and especially meat consumption is such a significant
cause of greenhouse gas emissions, an essential means we have in the fight against climate change may very well be our fork. Each time you eat a
vegetarian meal instead of a meat-based meal, you contribute to mitigation
of emissions of greenhouse gases which cause climate change. Even if you
only skip meat once a week, you would still save 170 kilograms of CO2
every year. That is about the amount you emit by driving your car 1100 km.
So skipping meat now and then is a good recipe against climate change.
But of course one person can only do so much. It is also the responsibility
of governments and industries to ensure that sustainable alternatives like
vegetarian food are widely available and affordable. Several alternative
policies and options could lead to lower consumption of meat and
climate-friendly lifestyles, which a society may decide on with its own
wisdom. EVA has provided a menu of actions that could be adopted as provided below, and it is for communities and governments to decide how to consider them."
Human Benefits
* Twenty vegetarians can be fed on the amount of land needed to feed one person consuming a meat-based diet.
* If America reduced their intake of meat by 10 percent, 60 million people can be adequately fed by grain saved.
* A cow has to eat 7 lbs of grain and soy bean protein to produce 1 lb of meat protein. If the same land were to produce food for humans directly, 7 times more people could eat.
* More than half of all the water used in the United States is used in live stock production that can be used where there is water shortage.
When we become aware of these facts and change our lifestyle and go vegan we can increase the amount of grain available to feed people elsewhere, reduce pollution, save water and energy, cease contributing to the clearing of forests and the most important we can save billions of sentient beings from torture and pain.
If one gives up all animal products eg dairy products, and adopts a plant based diet, then one is Vegan -- (excluding flesh, fish, fowl, dairy products such as animal milk, butter, cheese, yogurt (curd), eggs, honey, animal gelatin and all other items of animal origin.) Going vegan is much easier than you think.
Posted by Live Vegan on 12/05/2008 @ 08:00PM PST
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Becoming vegan is the most effective, fastest, easiest and cost effective for each individual as well as for the government.
If you consume "local"-grass fed beef, it's still beef, there will be still water pollution, energy/water/grain/soy consumption, forest being cut down and not to mention the methane gas which is much more deadly compare to the CO2 that everyone is so afraid of.
Livestock agriculture used up to 45% of the grain & soy each year, which can fed more than 2 BILLION people... we are actually taking the food aways from the poor people's mouth... please consider veganism as a best World problem root solution.
Posted by Susana Fung on 01/05/2009 @ 10:32AM PST
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Grazing animals in a way that mimics Nature is in fact one of the most positive and environmantelly regenerative practices we have. The planet's rangelands are desertifying at an alarming rate, and it is our disruption of the natural link between soil, grasses and grazing animals that is responsible for this.
See the stunning results that are being achieved right now by caring carbon farmers at www.soilcarbon.com.au
Posted by tony lovell on 01/05/2009 @ 09:27PM PST
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Good points, Tony. That's one of the aspects of the "grass farming" ag movement that's so interesting -- its potential to restore grasslands while also producing much healthier cattle, and from there much healthier meats.
Susana, actually, no -- as far as the grass ranching operations that I mention above are concerned, they're grazing their cattle on lands that are historically grasslands, not forest lands, in the western US.
There's not a cow poop pollution problem farming this way, because there is not a concentration of animals in a highly confined area.
As for the methane -- well, animals have been farting methane for eons. The problem is numbers, and as you'll note, I do encourage eating less meat, which would help bring numbers of livestock down if somehow it became a popular diet choice in America!
We should worry a lot less about these grass farmers and more about concentrated operations like dairy farms and feedlots, when it comes to methane.
Posted by Emily Gertz on 01/06/2009 @ 07:35AM PST
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