When shopping for refrigerators, washing machines, heat pump water heaters, and other appliances, look for the Energy Star label. “Energy efficiency is the lowest-cost way to reduce emissions,” Haq says. That’s about the same amount as the annual carbon pollution coughed up by nearly 440 million cars. Since they were first implemented nationally in 1987, efficiency standards for dozens of appliances and products have kept 2.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide out of the air. The EPA’s Home Energy Yardstick gives you a simple assessment of your home’s annual energy use compared with similar homes. To help you figure out where to start, you could also get a home energy audit, which some utilities offer free of charge (alternatively, you can hire a professional to come to your home and perform one). You can also claim federal tax credits for many energy efficiency home improvements. You can make your space more energy efficient by sealing drafts and ensuring it’s adequately insulated. Indeed, heating and air-conditioning account for almost half of home energy use. “Building heating and cooling are among the biggest uses of energy,” Haq says. If that isn’t possible for you, take a look at your electric bill many utilities now list other ways to support renewable sources on their monthly statements and websites. Power your home with renewable energy.Ĭhoose a utility company that generates at least half its power from wind or solar and has been certified by Green-e Energy, an organization that vets renewable energy options. You can help protect public lands, stop offshore drilling, and more here. “The main reason elected officials do anything difficult is because their constituents make them,” Haq says. Encourage Congress to enact new laws that limit carbon emissions and require polluters to pay for the emissions they produce. 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. 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. Here are a dozen easy, effective ways each one of us can make a difference. “There’s no other way, if it doesn’t start with people.” “Change only happens when individuals take action,” says clean energy advocate Aliya Haq. We still must limit carbon pollution and aggressively move away from dirty fossil fuels toward cleaner power.īut it’s important to remember the equally vital contributions that can be made by private citizens-which is to say, by you. Personal action is, of course, no substitute for meaningful government policies. Americans, on average, produce 21 tons of carbon a year, about four times the global average. What can you do? A whole lot, as it turns out. The effects of climate change are already threatening our health, our communities, our economy, our security, and our children’s future. “For our economic and national security, and for the future of all life on earth, lawmakers must act without delay.” Read more about the IPCC report here. “The good news is that we have the climate solutions needed, and they work,” says NRDC president Manish Bapna. The report describes how, despite gains in the clean energy revolution, nations are falling far too short of reducing climate pollution quickly enough to avoid severe damage, cost, and upheaval. EDITOR’S NOTE: On April 4, 2022, the IPCC released the Working Group III Sixth Assessment report on climate change mitigation.
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