Hi Kana,
Climate news can be…daunting. And I’ve found there’s no better way to attack my global warming despair than to DO something about it. And what better time to start than the New Year?
Speaking of daunting, here’s a fun fact: The United States has the highest ecological footprint per capita in the world. If every person lived like an American, we’d need the biocapacity of more than five earths to be sustainable. Right now, we’re emitting just under 15 metric tons of carbon dioxide per person per year. It needs to be under three.
Cutting 80% of your emissions might sound intimidating, or even cost prohibitive. But there are plenty of ways to get closer to that goal without breaking the bank. Here’s what you can do about it.
1. Fly more selectively
Cutting down on plane trips is one of the best things you can do for the planet. Its impact can be deceiving: aviation only accounts for 2.5% of CO2 emissions worldwide. But that’s because the majority of the global population isn’t flying. A roundtrip from LA to New York emits about 1400kg of CO2, so about half of your annual emissions goal. That’s what a typical passenger car in the US emits in nearly four months…and it’s more than the annual emissions produced by the average person living in the 50 countries with the least per capita pollution.
Taking a train is almost always better. For a quick jaunt to Las Vegas or San Francisco, even a passenger car is less polluting than air travel, especially if you carpool.
Of course, if you need to get to a wedding or a funeral on the east coast, there’s not a great alternative. If you must fly, fly direct when you can, opt for economy seating (seats that take up more room like in business class mean you’re taking up more space on the carbon-emitting plane), and consolidate trips when you can.
2. Eat less meat
Especially red meat. This is an easy place to make big gains. The greenhouse gasses emitted to create the pound of beef sitting in your local grocery store is roughly 10 times the gasses emitted to create the pound of chicken sitting next to it. And it’s roughly 30 times the gasses emitted to produce the pound of tofu sitting in the vegan section. Dark chocolate, lamb and mutton, dairy cows, and coffee round out the top five most polluting foods per pound. Although most of us aren’t buying chocolate by the pound each week.
You’ll do even better if you’re willing to go vegan. If you’re eating an average diet now, you could cut three quarters of your emissions by cutting out the meat and dairy products.
If that sounds too intimidating, it’s easier to start small. Even committing to meatless Mondays, or one vegetarian meal per day can make a significant difference.
3. Drive less
I mean, you probably knew this would be toward the top of the list. Transportation accounts for the largest share of US greenhouse gas emissions. And the biggest piece of that pie belongs to passenger vehicles. If you’re an average person driving an average car an average distance, you’re emitting 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. That alone is a larger footprint allowance than the average human would get to be sustainable today, and we haven’t even counted your food, or air conditioning, or that new pair of shoes you got for Christmas.
Biking, bussing, walking, and scooting are the most environmentally and economically conscious alternatives. Taking the bus cuts your commute’s carbon emissions in half. Biking is less than a tenth as carbon-intensive as driving.
Not everyone is brave enough to sell the car and rely on public transportation, but even committing to leaving the car in the garage a couple extra days per week or reducing the number of cars in your household can make a considerable difference to your personal carbon emissions.
If you must drive, electric cars are getting a lot of hype these days, but it doesn’t mean it’s time to go out and buy a new Tesla. A large chunk of a car’s lifetime carbon emissions happen during the manufacturing process, especially for larger cars like SUVs. Any Econ 101 class will tell you the demand for new cars means the industry will continue to supply more. It’s generally better to get as much life out of a used car as possible, rather than buying a new one.
When you do drive, every action counts. Accelerating slowly, making sure the tires are full, and keeping the car tuned up are all ways to get more mileage out of the gas (or electricity) you’re burning.
4. Waste less food
It might sound like a no-brainer, but we waste about a third of the food grown for human consumption. And that doesn’t just mean all the water and nutrients that went into making it go to waste. Most uneaten food sits in a landfill generating methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. If we removed all that rotting food, the emissions saved would be like shutting down 42 coal-fired power plants. Food waste in the US generates about half a metric ton of carbon emissions per person per year — roughly 20% of our new personal emission goal.
How do you waste less food?
- Make a grocery list and stick to it to prevent overbuying.
- Take stock in your kitchen before you buy something new, so you avoid that dreaded feeling of coming home with a gallon of milk to find an unopened one in the back of the fridge waiting for you.
- Know how to store foods properly to prevent them from spoiling quickly.
- Buy the ugly produce. Your fellow grocery shoppers are also reaching for the prettiest bell pepper, so the weird twisty one won’t get purchased. Rescue the misfit bell pepper!
- Save leftovers or repurpose extras creatively. For example, certain scraps like onion and garlic skins, celery bulbs, carrot peels, and mushroom stems can get saved and turned into homemade vegetable scrap stock.
- Compost the rest (more on this below).
5. Stop investing in fossil fuels
Even if you’re not investing in oil, your money still could be. This study says four US banks — JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America — together account for one-quarter of all fossil fuel financing in the past six years.
Moves like reallocating finances sound intimidating, but it’s a classic example of voting with your dollars. Consider moving that savings account to a bank that finances the industries you’re interested in supporting.
Same goes for your retirement account. It’s possible your 401K is supporting carbon-intensive industries without you knowing about it.
6. Buy less stuff
It’s a tough sell in an economy built on consumption, but manufactured items typically require carbon to produce them. Did you know 20 pieces of clothing are made per person per year?
Curbing waste is good, but not generating that waste in the first place is even better.
An easy fix: use what you have longer before tossing it. If you’re willing to hang onto your current smartphone for four years instead of two, you’ll buy half as many phones.
Does that coffee table need replacing, or could a re-sanding and refinishing do the trick? Is it possible to borrow that one-time Halloween outfit instead of buying a new one?
Or consider joining a community group like your local Buy Nothing chapter, where you can ask your neighbors if they have what you need lying around their house and if they’re willing to part with it for free.
If you don’t need it, consider not buying it.
7. Shop sustainably
Of course, you can’t literally buy nothing. A general rule: buying something used is better than buying new, because it diverts it from a landfill and reduces the demand to manufacture new things.
If you’re looking to add a furry family member, consider adopting an animal that already is alive, consuming food, and creating waste, rather than adding to the demand of people buying new animals. Before clicking the purchase button on a new piece of furniture, maybe the thrift shop in town has what you’re looking for.
Some things you have to buy new (like food), but you can still be more sustainable by considering where the item comes from. If you’re deciding between eating an egg grown in Kern County or an egg grown in Iowa, the one that traveled a shorter distance required less carbon to get to you.
Shopping sustainably also means knowing what companies you’re supporting. A quick bit of research can help you determine if you’re buying brands that align with your sustainable goals.
8. Use energy more efficiently at home
After travel, the home makes up the largest percentage of your personal carbon footprint, at nearly a quarter of your emissions.
A lot of improvements at home can be cost-prohibitive, but they don’t have to be.
If you’re not in a place to invest in your home, the most effective thing to do is get comfortable with more temperature fluctuation. Turn the thermostat down in the winter and up in the summer. Turning it down eight degrees in the winter and up four degrees in the summer will save two-thirds of a ton of CO2 per year. After that, turn off power-drainers like computers and monitors overnight, and consider unplugging your entertainment system when you leave town. Line drying your clothes saves on carbon and money, and helps your clothes last longer. And consider turning off any lights you’re not using.
If you have a little cash to spare, look to see if your utility offers an EPA-certified green power option and buy into it. Invest in low-flow shower heads, toilets, and faucets. Invest in rechargeable batteries. Swap out your incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.
And if 2023 is the year you plan to put some serious investments into your home, one of the most effective ways to reduce your carbon emissions at home is to install solar panels. A study out of Columbia’s Climate School says an acre of solar panels reduces CO2 emissions more than an acre of trees does. But that doesn’t mean trees aren’t great — after you install those panels, consider planting more trees and drought-tolerant landscaping.
9. Curb your trash
The average Californian has a disposal rate of 6.7 pounds per day. Tackling that much waste might seem daunting, so let’s start with the biggest stuff.
As much as a quarter of the stuff in your trash is food waste that could be repurposed as nutrient-rich compost for plants. If you’ve got the space, that compost can get created in your own backyard. If you don’t, sometimes your local farmer’s market or community garden will accept your scraps, or you might live near a community compost space. If you’re short on space and worried about the smell of rotting food, this reporter throws scraps in a freezer drawer so nothing smells or rots, and then takes it to a community garden every month.
Take reusable containers with you everywhere. If you’re headed out to dinner, bring Tupperware for the leftovers and save the single-use box and bag. If you’re going to the butcher, consider asking them to pack your meat in a container you’ve brought (some stores are more willing to do this than others). Get well-acquainted with the bulk section at the grocery store and bring those nuts and beans home in reusable bags (just make sure you tell the cashier the weight of the bag so you don’t pay extra).
Consider purchasing more food from your local farmer’s market, where farmers are willing to take back their egg cartons, berry baskets, and rubber bands and reuse them.
10. Recycle beyond your blue bin
Last year, California’s recycling rate fell to 40%. It’s even worse for plastic waste, since only 5% of it gets recycled in the US. While the blue bin is convenient, it doesn’t boast a remarkable waste diversion rate.
A more effective option for drink containers is redeeming them at a recycling center. The state of California will pay you for your used bottles and cans. If that extra effort isn’t worth it to you, some residents rely on recycling programs for some of their income, so consider donating your containers to a neighbor who would take them for you.
If you can’t sell or donate your old electronics, they sometimes require going to a special recycling center. You can either find one near you, or sometimes your local electronics store (think Best Buy or Apple) will take those items off your hands.
Truly living sustainably in the US today is really, really difficult. And unfortunately, many of the systems in place make that even more difficult. Our country doesn’t have endless geothermal energy like Iceland, or complex high-speed rail systems like China. But there’s still immense power in giving it a go anyway. Trying and falling short still means we’re getting closer.
Sincerely,
Caleigh Wells
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