How You Can ‘Be the Change’
The good
news is that we can make a difference in reducing the effects of global
warming and climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC), even though some of the effects are unavoidable
due to past emissions, “adaptation” can be used to deal
with potential impacts and avoid further impacts.¹ One adaptation
that the IPCC recommends is sustainability.¹
The definition of sustainability is maintaining ecological balance -utilizing
natural resources without destroying balance. To sustain the Earth is
to maintain the Earth- to make it continue to exist.
We can do this by taking into account what impact we have as individuals on the environment and what we add on an individual level to global warming. By using electricity, driving in a car, flying in a plane, eating and so on we add to global warming pollution.
This is because it takes energy to allow these things to occur. It’s how much energy is used and how this energy is produced that we have to take a look at. Did we forget to turn off a light in the hall that runs off electricity which is powered by a coal burning power plant that emits CO2 pollution into the atmosphere?
Have you
ever wondered what your personal carbon emissions are?
This is called your carbon footprint – the measure of the amount
of carbon dioxide emissions that you personally are responsible for
by your everyday lifestyle choices.
If we examine and change even some of our behavior we can make a big difference.
For instance, if we drink out of a disposable plastic water bottle we can switch to a reusable stainless steel one that’s recyclable, made from 65-80% remelted, recycled stainless steel and doesn’t take over 1000 years to break down, like plastic.
According to the NRDC, “In 2006, in New York City alone, the transportation of bottled water from western Europe released an estimated 3,800 tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere. In California in 2006, 18 million gallons of bottled water were shipped in from Fiji producing about 2,500 tons of global warming pollution.”²
We simply have to look at how we impact the Earth. We can take small steps that are environmentally friendly. Even a slight change helps.
We can support a local produce grower in our town instead of a grocer whose produce was shipped in from thousands of miles away.
We can use treeless banana paper or 100% recycled paper products to save forests and reduce global warming. An incredible fact is that “If every household in the United States replaced just one package of virgin fiber napkins (250 count) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 1 million trees.”³
We can choose longer lasting, durable products, energy efficiency, and we can Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle.
We can also support elected officials who pledge to support conservation, sustainability, clean energy, and smart growth. Everyone has a role in reducing global warming regardless of their political leanings.
The environment needs cleaning up and change starts with us.
All
change counts and to make a difference we have to act on our
desires to reduce global warming pollution. We have to follow the words
of Gandhi:
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
¹ IPCC, 2007: Summary for Policymakers. In:
Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution
of Working
Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani,
J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds., Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, UK, 7-22.
² NRDC Water Drinking – How does drinking bottled water affect
the environment?
³NRDC Forest Facts
