BY: ALI WATSON, MD, RSN
Climate change is a daunting reality.
The past six years have been the warmest on record. Most of this can be attributed to the excessive release of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere from industrial and human activities in the past several decades.
While warmer temperatures may not seem so bad from a surface level – climate change is very harmful and can negatively influence almost every aspect of life as we know it.
The good news is we have power to be resilient and overcome climate change through stronger advocacy and action. Here are five simple actions you can take today to reduce your carbon footprint and become a climate warrior!
1. Know Your Contribution.
Calculate your carbon footprint here. This neat tool developed by the Nature Conservancy will give you how many tons of carbon dioxide you generate per year and compare that to others in the United States. Knowledge is power. Knowing where you fall and where you can improve is a great first step in making small changes to a more eco-friendly lifestyle.
2. Be Energy Efficient at Home.
Around 20 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions are tied to household consumption – largely from heating, cooling, and powering homes. From making simple changes in our habits at home, we can all collectively reduce these emissions greatly. Consider the following as simple first steps in making your household greener:
3. Fly Less and Drive Less.
Transportation is one of the greatest contributors to carbon emissions. For instance, New York Times reporter Tatiana Schlossberg calculated that one round-trip flight between New York City and California would generate approximately 20 percent of greenhouse gases an average car emits over a single year! As for driving, the EPA found that the typical passenger vehicle emits around 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, which accounts for about 30 percent of the average American carbon footprint. The moral here is to try reducing your dependency on flying and driving when possible.
4. reduce, reuse, recycle.
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. A classic message, but nonetheless important since the average person generates around five pounds of trash per day. With all the trash we make, around only a third of this is recycled or composted. These three simple actions can minimize the emissions associated with energy needed to produce and transport new products, along with the disposal of waste and trash. Here are some quick suggestions to partake in all three!
5. revitalize your plate.
5. Revitalize Your Plate. Prioritize plant-based foods over animal-based foods. While both have a place in our diet, research continues to reinforce eating more plant-based foods for both environmental and health reasons. Along with sprucing up the plate with more plant-based foods, reducing the amount of food we waste is another way to revitalize your plate. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates we waste about 30 – 40 percent of food in the entire food supply. Most of this occurs at the retail and consumer levels.