How to Stop Climate Change and What’s Working Now
The unfortunate reality is that our planet is warming, and we’re to blame. The NOAA has recorded some troubling data that suggests the average rate of increase has been 0.32°F per decade. This may not sound like the end of the world, but even a change of one degree is disastrous for both humanity and our innocent plant and animal neighbors.
You might be wondering how to help climate change. This is a noble pursuit, and while the efforts of a single person won’t make much of a dent, if everyone felt the same way we might be onto something.
If you’re curious about how to do your part, we’ve got you covered. Read on to find out more!
How To Help Climate Change
If you’re looking to do your part, the first step is beginning to reduce your carbon footprint. This means the size of the impact you have in terms of potential damage to the planet. Things like plastic bottles used, how much you recycle and the amount of energy you use all contribute to your carbon footprint.
While these things may seem divorced from the bigger picture, you have to remember that there are almost eight billion of us. On such a vast scale, even a small change in the energy consumption or recycling habits of the individual can make a huge difference. It’s a sad fact of reality that the majority of people are unconcerned about the oncoming changes that face us as a species.
The writing is on the wall. If change isn’t implemented on a global scale to combat the rise in greenhouse gasses, our world will become uninhabitable. If you want to help instead of being part of the problem, it may be time for some changes.
Environmentally Friendly Products
Living in a world where consumerism is the backbone of our daily lives proves to wear quickly on the environment, especially considering the materials used for packaging. Some shops have opted to revert to the days of paper bags, which is a step in the right direction. Paper is both renewable and recyclable, but in some cases more expensive.
Unfortunately, the greater expense of providing paper bags at the supermarket over the ubiquitous plastic alternative is often enough for corporations to ignore the biodegradable option.
Money talks, and it doesn’t take much of a leap of imagination to understand how that discussion would go in the boardroom, where profit is everything. This is just one example of the general feeling towards profit versus the health of the planet.
The same philosophy is used by most people in their general day-to-day lives, often preferring ease of use. Products such as disposable plastic cutlery, cups, gloves, masks, and even cameras serve to clump together in a landfill somewhere, where they’ll sit unchanging for the next thousand years.
It’s this kind of thoughtlessness for our environment and our divorced connection from nature that allows this mass-scale poisoning to continue, avoid these at all costs!
Help The Environment
Our reliance on fossil fuels is what’s doing the brunt of the damage. Burning coal to fuel power plants is becoming antiquated with the introduction of more efficient ways to harness renewable energy. Electric cars are gradually starting to replace the combustion engine, too, and while their production still causes environmental damage it’s a step in the right direction.
While you may not have much say in how many coal-powered plants there are, you can still make the conscious decision to cycle to work or make use of public transport.
Keeping cars off the road is an enormous help to reduce greenhouse emissions, especially considering how many can be replaced by a single bus or train. Not only will you help the environment by walking wherever possible, but you’ll be doing yourself the world of good as well.
Services offering the installation of solar panels for your home are now becoming widely available and are a great help to ease the pressure we have on the electric grid. Having your own electricity supply will not only help squash your price of living but can go some way to earning you some money if you notify the electric company as they will often pay for any surplus your panels generate.
Environmental Change
As our world continues to heat up over time, you might be interested in working out more accurately how the changes you’re making are affecting your carbon footprint. Thankfully there are helpful calculators available to help you do just that; calculate my carbon footprint.
Putting in the effort to lower your impact on the world is something to be proud of. We’ve only got one home, and we really ought to be taking better care of it.
It’s only natural to want a better understanding of how the effort you’re putting in is helping out!
A Footprint For Life
However you decide to contribute to saving the planet, every little helps. The fact you’ve bothered to read this article speaks volumes, and you’re already on the right track. If possible, suggest that friends and family follow your example, and explain to anyone who’ll listen what you know about how to stop climate change.
In fifty years, we could exist in harmony with the planet after nurturing an equilibrium. Or we could be living in a desert, wishing we’d taken the very real problem of climate change more seriously.
If you feel you learned anything from this article, or feel more enthused to do your part, check out the rest of the blog! When it comes to alternative energies and the development of sustainable solutions, we’ve got all the information you need.
