7 Things You Can Do to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
How Much the World Warms Depends on Us
One of the questions I am most frequently asked about climate change is “what can I do”. Indeed, the problem is so big, and the scale of the global response required, so large, as to reduce many of us to believe there is little if anything we can do about it. The reality is that we can do a lot — our climate future is ours to determine.
In remarkably stark terms, the scientific community is telling us the time for addressing climate change is running out. Any further delay “will miss a brief rapidly closing window to secure a livable future.” Although scientific uncertainties remain, a striking conclusion mostly missing from the press coverage and messaging is that how bad it gets depends a lot — often primarily — on human decisions. The single greatest source of uncertainty about future climate is human behavior. Household decisions about what we eat, how we power our homes, and what transportation choices we make account for over 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. How we live our lives can either make things a lot better or a lot worse. The more we understand this, the less likely we are to succumb to climate anxiety and the more likely we are to take climate actions.
