2024 is the hottest year recorded. Average global temperature rose to 1.6C above preindustrial levels, according to data from EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) – an increase that led to extreme weather events and “suffering in millions man “, as group experts told the guardian.
Less than a month in the New Year, the fires are torn by Los Angeles’s huge swath, which rises thousands of thousands. Donald Trump, a climate denier, has pulled the country out of climate agreements and setting efforts to hinder the increase in average global temperature.
All of this has resulted in a growing sense of lack of climate reliance on experts and laity alike. Governments and corporations play a major part of responsibility. But what can individuals do in the face of massive, global threats?
“Everyone has an impact,” said Darcy Hoover, senior resource specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “Corporations are made up of individuals, states are made up of individuals. We need action at all levels.”
What are the most effective steps one can take to reduce a person’s environment? And how does one influence others to act? We asked the experts.
Learn that you can make a difference
The first step in taking climate action is to know that your actions are important.
“I think people are excited or as they need to be an expert to do some of this action, and really, not really,” said Samantha Harrington, director of the audience experience in Yale Climate Climate Connections.
Experts also encourage people not to fall into perfection. Many are limited to what actions they can take due to economic, geography or personal circumstances.
“You’re not a bad person if you can’t afford it now to get a heat pump instead of using your gas oven,” Harrington said. Even if you can do it now is to get an available water bottle, or bring available bags to the grocery store, it starts. “Everything you can do things.”
Resources like Carbon Conservancy’s Carbon Footprint Calculator will help you identify the places in your life where you spend the most energy and think about how to make changes.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycling
One of the most common -beneficial environmental protection is the classic “reduce, use, recycling”.
“That’s a hierarchy,” Hoover explained; Reducing a person’s consumption is the most important, followed by the reuse of the goods, and then reviewing them.
Expanding the life of products and buying items that are well manufactured and longer can go a long way to reduce the amount of waste being made, Hoover says. And when it comes to time to get rid of an item, try giving it up oi -recycle so it doesn’t end with a landfill.
“If there is anything in your life designed to be used once and then throw away, imagine if there is an alternative to that matter,” Hoover added. For example, plastic water bottles can be replaced by available water bottles, and prevent single-use cutlery if a trip with cutlery is available.
Check where your money is going
Meditate on what products, services and companies you support in your money, and what effect it has on the planet. Fast fashion, for example, is an environmental disaster – tons and tons of cheap Clog Up Landfills and Beaches, and plastics from synthetic fabrics flow through the waterways.
Buying higher quality clothing that lasts longer or second shopping can reduce this type of waste, says Katharine Hayhoe, scientific chief for the conservancy of nature.
“My resolution last year I decided to buy as many clothes as I could second,” Hayhoe said. “I love them! They are affordable and unique.”
See also any investment you may have. Harrington suggests checking what your 401 (K) or other funds are invested and what financial institutions are with you. “Many banks support and financial fossil fuel projects,” he said. If you can, you can consider transferring your money to the sustainable environment.
See what you eat
It is no secret that making food has a huge impact on the environment. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, agricultural accounts for 23% of greenhouse gas leaks. Here, almost 60% came from making meat only. What’s more, most of the food available is wasted.
“We can waste nearly 40% of the food supply in this country,” Hoover said. “It has a huge impact. It means an associated amount of those resources that go into making food is wasted too.”
This does not mean that everyone needs to be vegan immediately, experts say. While it is true that meat has a very high effect of environmental resources, ultimately the most sustainable way to eat is the way you are preserved.
“Say you go a cold turkey vegan for a few weeks, and then you decide you can’t do it anymore and stop,” Hayhoe said. “It’s best to say, I’ll make meatless Monday, or I’ll include two vegan recipes in my regular route of recipes.”
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To reduce someone’s food waste, Hoover suggests checking resources such as the NRDC website SaveThefood.com, which will help you calculate exactly how much food you will need for weekly food planning or For a party, without wasting too much.
Unplug
An easy way to reduce energy intake in your home is to iplug the devices and kill power strips when they are not used, says Saniya Leblanc, a professor at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at George Washington University .
“Even if we don’t use them, electronic devices can still consume electricity,” Leblanc said. Experts refer to this energy attached as “vampire loads”, which can be “overwhelming” in terms of one’s energy output, Leblanc says.
“So put things down,” Leblanc said. He couldn’t help it, say, his toaster every time he left home, he admitted. But before the trips were long, he opened all the devices in his kitchen.
Be great
One of the main tenets of maintenance is the efficiency – the less efficient, the more energy you are likely to use.
“If you run errands and need to use your car, plan in advance so you can combine many small mistakes on a trip,” Hoover said.
And when you use your car, you can help it run better by making sure your tire pressure is at the right level, Leblanc says. “With the right tire pressure, your car can move better and burn less fuel,” he said.
And consider how flying you are. Air travel is a major source of carbon leaks. Some travels are clearly necessary, such as travels for work or to see the family. But think of ways to cut off. Can you make many events on a trip? Does a meeting need to be personal, or can it be virtual? Can you ride a train or car instead?
“Now, more than 80% of the conversations I give are virtual conversations,” Hayhoe said. “And I’m only traveling when I can bondle events on a journey to make the carbon and the time worth it.”
Speak up
While reducing the day -to -day use of energy is essential, the experts go away with far and away the most important environmental action that a person can do has nothing to do with their carbon footprint: this is to use the their voice.
“Most people in the US have been alarmed about climate change,” Harrington said. “We don’t have to talk about it because we think it’s more illegal than it was actually.”
Talking to our family, friends and neighbors about our environmental concerns and the actions we take will help motivate others to take action as well. Consider the “neighborhood impact” on the use of solar panels. A 2015 paper in the Journal of Economic Geography found that one of the strongest predictors of solar panels installed somewhere is if another neighborhood house is already with them. Hayhoe said he noticed it in his own life.
“We got solar panels, and within a year we saw solar panels entering our neighborhood,” he said. “It’s about showing people what you are doing, and making it contagious.”
It can also be done at work. Ask if the meetings that need travel can be virtual instead, and if the materials really need to be printed. These steps may seem small, but they can have a huge impact. Hoover said that before the NRDC, he worked for an organization who worked to encourage large companies to use recycled papers. “I was surprised to see these big companies signing in, and I realized that in many cases, this is the result of an advocate in the company talking to people they need to talk to,” he said.
Political speech, by reaching out to your local and state representatives, is also important. Studies have shown that Congress and Congress staff regularly underestimate how much their constituents are about climate change, as they do not hear from their constituents about it.
Finally, Hoover said that one of the most significant actions we can take for climate is to vote in local and federal elections. “Vote for policy manufacturers who will make the kind of changes you are looking for,” he said. “Elect officials and supporting policies that promote environmental protection and development.”
