21 Ways To Reverse Climate Change As An Individual
Climate change is defined as the persistent increase in global average temperatures due to increased carbon emissions from human activity such as fossil fuel use, cutting down forests, manufacturing processes, food production and over consumption of goods.
Essentially, it’s directly linked to all the processes of industrialization.
Climate change is commonly thought of as becoming a concern in the 1970s, however, new research suggests people have been concerned about climate change since the 1830s.
The reason I’m sharing this fact is so you’re aware that climate change isn’t all your fault, you were born into a pre-existing situation.
You can think of climate change as a generational problem you inherited from your ancestors, but we don’t need to blame our ancestors in order to come together to solve it. Each generation has played their part in where we are today and each generation is just doing their best to survive their circumstances.
That said, climate change is having an impact on our world as 2024 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record. Thankfully, there are things you can do about it today, right now.
Don’t underestimate your power and the influence you have on the world. You don’t have to wait on governmental or corporate action to change things, your individual persistent actions can make a difference.
The smartest people at the Nature Conservancy believe we have until about 2050 to change our ways and reach a net-zero in carbon emissions.
This very simply implies for every activity you take to increase your carbon footprint, you have to take one action to decrease it. You need to balance your environmental damaging actions with environmental healing actions.
Since human activity related to the modern world is part of human survival, and human survival requires consumption, we won’t completely get away with making no mark on the environment. The compromise is that we need to adjust by counteracting anything that increases a carbon footprint with things that reduce it.
It’s not too late to turn things around. Even after 20 years of studying this issue, both professionally and personally, I still believe change is possible.
When I first started studying this topic, the outward appearance of climate change wasn’t as visible as it is today, but that’s okay. The more people see the consequences of climate change, the more we, as a society, become motivated to change it.
Below are a few ways you can incrementally reduce your carbon footprint and restore the environmental damage that has been done in the past.
I’ve broken out these methods to reduce the effects of climate change by the highest carbon emission categories below.
21 Ways To Slow Down & Reverse Climate Change
Electricity
1 - Be conservative with your home energy use
Think about all the ways your home is using energy and reduce your usage or make that usage more renewable. For example, if you need to power an outside greenhouse, must you run electric to it or can you do solar? Do you need every charging device plugged into the outlets?
2 - When replacing electric devices, consider the energy efficient option
The good news is that even if the “energy star” version is out of your target price range, most newer models are automatically more energy efficient than the older versions.
3 - Go LED
LED lighting is more energy efficient than the traditional incandescent alternatives and they make very pretty options in LED now.
4 - Don’t need it
Do your chores during the day so you don’t need lights at night. Open the windows for natural temperature control on mild days. Use your window treatments to passively reflect heat out in the summer and let heat in during the winter.
Transportation
5 - Bundle your trips
Driving, flying and shipping people and things creates new carbon emissions. You have to use transportation, but how can you be more energy efficient about it?
6 - Bundle shipments to the house or office
As an example, you have to buy something online, ask your other household mates if they need anything from that shop before clicking add to cart - maybe they do and it can save boxes/reduce trips.
7 - Plan your trip for optimal gas usage or mileage
Before you leave, check the maps to identify the most direct, streamlined routes.
Agriculture
8 - Think twice about living the steak life
It’s fine every now and then, but beef is known to be a high carbon footprint crop. Perhaps there are lower cost protein options you also like.
9 - Processed foods
The more a food is processed, the more manufacturing emissions go into making it. Reducing your carbon footprint also means you reduce your processed foods intake, which may be better for your health, too.
10 - Rethink your overall food usage
Food production creates a lot of carbon emissions from fertilizers to shipping; there’s a huge amount of energy that is expended in agriculture. What about purchasing vegetables you like from local farm stands? That decreases your shipping emissions.
Are you optimizing your food usage by purchasing things you like and not forcing yourself to buy things to just rot? Avoiding non-essential food purchases will reduce fertilizer use going towards making stuff you don’t like. For example, I don’t like carrots so buying those creates carbon emissions all to create something I dislike. Are there similar things you’re doing, that you can stop doing, to help the planet?
11 - Compost food scraps
You can save vegetable and chicken scraps separately in your freezer to make broth. This helps minimize waste and reduces the consumption of new packaged broth products.
Industry & Manufacturing
12 - Recycle and reuse goods
Do not create new demand unless you need to for justifiable reasons. Manufacturing processes create new carbon emissions so repurpose what you have.
13 - For everything new you buy, recycle an old thing
You will need new things, as old things wear down. Can you drop off the old thing at metal recycling? Does a neighbor need it? Can the parts be harvested to create something else?
14 - Streamline your materials usage
When you’re creating things, think about the waste you might create and identify how you can minimize it. Almost all carbon neutral or carbon friendly practices usually seek to repurpose and minimize waste.
For example, you need heavy cream for a recipe but not the whole pint. Consider other recipes you can make this week to use the rest.
Deforestation
15 - Paper use
Deforestation is a major factor in the way the world is able to absorb excess carbon. Think about your paper use. Do you need that thing that’s packaged in a big paper box and then also in 1,000 more tiny cardboard boxes? Maybe you can manage with something that uses less packing.
16 - Pause before buying new wood for new builds
Consider your new wood needs. Maybe you need it, maybe you can scan the sides of the roads to see if there’s anything repurposable first.
17 - Receipts and packing slips
Hard copy receipts are becoming a thing of the past. Do you absolutely need a paper receipt or is an email copy fine? Select email or text when the option is available.
18 - Reforestation
If you are lucky enough to manage a woodlot, reforest it with new trees suited for your area as old trees die. Protect current mature trees by watering and nurturing them. Mindfully cut trees to support regeneration.
Oil & Gas
19 - Reduce your precious oil and gas needs
If possible, make the switch to electric or solar. If necessary to use either, do what you can to conserve these limited resources. For example, add more insulation around areas where oil heat is used so that the heat it produces lasts longer.
20 - Adjust your thermostat
Maybe you don’t need it that warm and can wear a sweater.
21 - Keep the heater maintained
Change the filter and get it serviced so that it’s converting fuel to heat in the most efficient way.
So there you have it! A few techniques for slowing down your output of carbon emissions, so you can give the planet some time to catch up and heal.
One of the best ways to stop the increase of your carbon footprint is to really consider your life choices from an energy consumption and conservation perspective. I look to the natural world for inspiration. Both plants and animals provide insight into how we can be more mindful of our energy use through how they conserve their own resources.
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