Daily efforts to live more efficiently and mitigate climate impacts

Diet changes

Let’s face it. We produce a lot of CO2 and CH4. Whether it’s from power generation, industry, transportation, agriculture, etc. We continue to overload a climate that had developed a stable level of greenhouse gases over the last several hundred-thousand years with gigatons upon gigatons of additional CO2.

Now the levels are at a perilous high, the highest in human history. Shockingly, also the fastest rise in levels aside from the mass extinction periods. Temperatures are rising and the effects of anthropogenic climate change are already being experienced by the majority of Earth’s inhabitants.

The most troubling part of all this is we know and have known for some time, the result of our burning would heat the atmosphere. We know the only way to mitigate the worst consequences of climate change are to transition away from fossil fuels, but we have failed to act. As Sherwood Rowland had said:

“What’s the use of having developed a science well enough to make predictions if, in the end, all we’re willing to do is stand around and wait for them to come true?”

I wanted to share some of the simple daily and weekly choices I make to lower my impact. If we all shared some of our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint I believe society can find a sustainable balance with the planet. Here are some things I try to do:

Before asking for new plastic utensils while eating out for or picking up food reuse your own. This is for restaurants or fast food places where you will not be sitting down using washable utensils.
Stop using plastic bags. When a grocery store, restaurant, retail store tries to offer a plastic bag turn it down or bring your own reusable bags. Also for most of the vegetables bags we get while shopping at grocery stores, try to bring the ones you used previously back for a few more uses before tossing.
Use reusable cups that are can be easily cleaned. Problem with using straws is they can get pretty dirty inside. Might want to avoid using straws when sipping on non-water drinks. Most of the time I end up not using a reusable straw, but also have a metal straw for water.
Shorter showers and watering the lawn at night or less frequently. I once wondered if a scientific study had been conducted to confirm if watering grass at night or during early pre-dawn morning hours helps plant roots retain water and grow stronger despite lowering the quantity of water provided. If you had a control watered daily at time X or every other day at that same time with two test experiments watering at time Y with the two frequencies how would the results differ. Would hypothesize you could cut the water in half or divide frequency in half and get better results if shooting for twilight watering. But haven’t confirmed it myself scientifically.
I find it really funny when people tell me trees are trimmed so much or cut down completely to protect against frivolous lawsuits. I have heard that some trees’ roots will lift the sidewalk or fences and that people have “tripped” on this uneven payment, filing lawsuits soon after. What would be fun if law was implemented to throw these types of lawsuits out as soon as they hit. People should accept the liability while using the sidewalk that trees could make it uneven. Perhaps this is too extreme though. It might just be, alternatively it would be great if there was a website where homeowners and commercial planners could look up information on plants. The carbon/water ratio, the rooting style. Do the roots go down or do they spread out horizontally. To be honest I am not even sure if such a carbon/water consumption ratio exists. This is something that might be interesting to study scientifically as well.
Drive less frequently. Let’s face it, driving sucks. Especially in metropolitan areas. It is time consuming and stressful. Worst of all we pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every time one of the cylinders in our engine fires. Multiple by that burning _ the number of cylinders _ the rotations per minute and you can get an idea of just how much carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere with every step on the peddle. If we could walk more, carpool more, make mass transportation more effective and increase the utilization of it we would have a really solid foundation for reducing emissions.
Being more mindful of how the electricity in our homes is generated. I often have conversations with people about how electricity is generated. There are many people who are unaware of how the electrons powering all aspects of our modern lifestyle reach us. I could talk to them about base load power or the different types of resources used to generate heat, but initially many don’t appreciate the scope of the grid and those resources.
Push for a more sustainable alternative that is abundant enough to effectively transition us away from carbon based energy. Fast breeder reactors. Many of the novel designs presently being researched have the capability to not meltdown. Essentially there is no risk. Please check out pandoras box on IMDB for additional information on this incredible film
Reduce meat consumption further. If people continue to shift away from eating mammals towards chicken/fish we could significantly reduce methane emissions. Methane like Carbon Dioxide is a greenhouse gas although CH4 has 34 times as much potential as CO2. Appears meat consumption is in a downtrend. Hopefully this continues as people either become more ethical or the science of in vitro meat production becomes more cost efficient and practical.

Here is more detail on in vitro meat growth technology