Three everyday causes of climate change that we often overlook…
…but that we can fix
Most Americans recognize that fossil fuels are the primary cause of our climate woes. In fact, 60% surveyed in October believed that oil and gas companies are “completely or mostly responsible” for climate change, according to one high-profile poll.
For most, it’s easy to recognize the biggest sectors contributing to massive societal threat — transportation and energy. The gas-guzzling cars and trucks we drive lead the way, accounting for 29% of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions, while electricity is second at 25%, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
While we can identify some of the biggest culprits, there are other problems where we don’t immediately think climate change — but where we could be making a difference. Here are three less-considered examples (and ways to combat them).
Stoves
The problem: For generations, the gas-fired stove was an iconic totem of homey domestic bliss. We were taught that methane-powered burners and ovens were the way to go and that electric options were substandard. (Thankfully, top chefs and other experts are now beginning to push back on this myth).
Regardless of how well a stove can sear your ahi tuna, one fact is certain: Gas powered-stoves are helping fuel climate change. Even before we get to the point where we burn methane to produce a meal, our stoves are causing damage to our health through leakage. That leaking begins when the methane is extracted from the ground, transported from refineries and continues right in your kitchen — even when you’re not using your stove. In fact, gas stove leaks (a majority of which occurs when our burners are off) have the equivalent climate impact as the annual carbon dioxide emissions from 500,000 cars, according to a recent Stanford University study. (Making matters worse, “methane is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere,” the EPA explains.)
What we can do: Considering swapping out your old gas stove for an induction option is a start. But, more broadly, education is really important as most people remain loyal to the gas technology of generations past because it’s what their parents and grandparents used. The national consumer advocacy group U.S. PIRG Education Fund recently launched a campaign to get top retailer Best Buy to take a leadership role in raising public awareness on the dangers of gas stoves and help consumers choose healthier, more climate-friendly alternatives.
By adjusting their marketing materials to explain the value of electric and induction cooktops over gas, Best Buy alone could go a long way to reaching its own goal of helping customers reduce their own carbon emissions by 20% by 2030. Hopefully, this could be a start of reimagining how we cook.
Plastics
The problem: We can all picture the horrible plastic waste that plagues our oceans, but plastic’s climate impacts are often an afterthought. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that plastics are a byproduct of fossil fuels. Plastic producers are responsible for approximately 6% of the world’s oil consumption and, at the current rate, that number is expected to reach 20% by 2050. In America alone, the plastics industry is projected to generate more greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade than all the coal-powered electricity plants currently running in the country combined, according to a recent report from Bennington College’s Beyond Plastics project.
Even worse, oil and gas companies, which recognize renewable power’s booming growth, are now looking to double down on plastics to keep their businesses running.
What can we do: To begin with, we need to end our unhealthy addiction to single-use plastics — such as plastic bags and containers. Most humans get this. A new poll from Ipsos, which surveyed people across 28 countries, showed that three-quarters of people want to ban disposable plastic. In the U.S., the movement to eliminate wasteful single-use plastic continues to grow. From New Jersey to Washington, states have already passed bans on these unnecessary plastic products, including plastic grocery bags and Styrofoam containers.
But that must be just the start. Producers need to take responsibility for the wasteful packaging that they create. With the system we have in place now, polluting industries choose to pass the buck on waste management onto consumers, encouraging school children to recycle while they make profits pumping out more and more plastic. When manufacturers and sellers bear the end-of-life costs for their products — including waste collection, hauling, recycling and litter clean up — it can change the approach deep-pocketed companies have toward plastics. For example, when British Columbia, Canada enacted a producer responsibility law in 2011 for packaging and printed paper, the entity charged with dealing with it collected 78% of its waste and recycled 90% of what it collected.
In 2021, Maine proved Americans can act similarly on plastic when the state passed the first U.S. producer responsibility law for packaging. The law requires plastic producers to pay for recycling and waste disposal — and will, hopefully, also make producers think twice about using the oil-based material when it’s not necessary.
Doors and windows
The problem: While we might think of drafty doors and windows as a nuisance, these indispensable inanimate objects can also contribute to climate change. Lowering our energy use is the most expedient way to reach our clean energy goals. And, when we have windows and doors that fail to keep in heat or air conditioning, we expend more energy to keep our homes toasty in the winter and cool in the summer.
When you consider that 51% of energy expended in our homes comes from heating and cooling and that we waste a majority of our energy nationwide, we can do better. This is especially true when too much of our energy still comes from burning fossil fuels.
What we can do: Weatherizing your home is key. The government can help by offering incentives to make this happen. The bipartisan federal infrastructure bill, which passed last year, put aside $3.5 billion to invest in increasing energy efficiency and safety. The Weatherization Assistance Program offers grants to help seal up doors and windows.
Of course, moving away from gas-fired heating and cooling systems is another important way to limit the damage wasted energy has on the climate. A 2021 Environment America Research & Policy Center study found that electrifying the vast majority of America’s homes and buildings by 2050 would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking 65 million cars off the roads. For context, that’s nearly three times the number of vehicles in Texas. Cities and towns from Ithaca, New York to Berkeley, California are leading the way in this effort by taking steps to decarbonize their buildings. More must follow.
To turn the tide on climate change we must take actions big and small. Recognizing the breadth of carbon’s impact on our society is part of that process. So, while shifting to renewable energy and electric vehicles should be at the top of the list, identifying other ways for society to rethink how we cook or live is important too.
