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Ways You Can Reduce Your Greenhouse Gas Emissions!

 

Global Warming versus
Climate Change

The terms global warming and climate change are often used interchangeably even though they are quite different. Global warming is the rise in global tempertatures due to an increase of heat-trapping carbon emissions in the atmosphere.

On the other hand, climate change is a more general term used to refer to changes in many climatic factors (such as temperature and precipitation) around the world. These changes happen at different rates in various ways.

What's Your Impact?

Your carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide produced by every day activities.  Use TNC's carbon calculator to find out how you affect the Earth's climate and what you can do to reduce your emissions.

Trees

 

 

There is no doubt about it. Scientific research shows that the Earth’s climate is changing. Global warming is caused by the emission of heat trapping gases (such as carbon dioxide) produced by vehicles and power plants and resulting from deforestation and other conversion of natural areas to agricultural, residential, or commercial use. As these gases build up, they act like a thick blanket, over-heating the planet and threatening our health, our economy and our environment.

All of us have the ability to help combat global warming. The following tips are just a few tangible things we can do in our daily lives that will help reduce our carbon footprint.

 

1. Travel light. Walk or bike instead of driving a car. Cars and trucks run on fossil fuels, which release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In the United States, automobiles produce over 20 percent of total carbon emissions. Walk or bike and you’ll save one pound of carbon for every mile you travel.

 

2. Teleconference instead of flying. For office meetings, telephoning or videoconferencing will save time, money, and carbon emissions. Airplanes pump carbon emissions high into the atmosphere, producing 12 percent of total U.S. emissions.

 

3. See the light. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs. These energy-efficient bulbs help fight climate change because they reduce the amount of fossil fuels that utilities burn. You will save 100 pounds of carbon for each incandescent bulb that you replace with a compact fluorescent, over the life of the bulb.

 

4. Recycle and use recycled products. Products made from recycled paper, glass, metal and plastic reduce carbon emissions because they use less energy to manufacture than products made from completely new materials. For instance, you’ll save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle. Recycling paper also saves trees and lets them continue to reduce climate change naturally as they remain in the forest, where they remove carbon from the atmosphere.

 

5. Inflate your tires. Your car will get better gas mileage when the tires are fully inflated, so it will burn less gas and emit less carbon. Check your automobile monthly to ensure that the tires are fully inflated. Follow this tip and save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide for every 10,000 miles you drive.

 

6. Plant native trees. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air and use it as their energy source, producing oxygen for us to breathe. A tree in the temperate zone (found between the tropics and the polar circles) can remove and store 700 to 7,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime. A tree that shades a house can reduce the energy required to run the air conditioner and save an additional 200 to 2,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime.

 

7. Turn down the heat. Heating and air conditioning draw more than half of the energy that a home uses in the United States. Turn down the heat or air conditioning when you leave the house or go to bed. You can easily install a programmable thermostat that can save money and carbon.

 

8. Buy renewable energy. Electricity generation produces 40 percent of carbon emissions from the United States. A growing number of utilities generate electricity from renewable energy sources with solar panels, windmills and other technologies. If your utility offers renewable energy, buy it. If it doesn’t, send your utility a message asking for clean energy.

 

9. Act globally, eat locally. Food you purchase at a supermarket may have traveled thousands of miles from the other side of the world, burning fossil fuels the entire trip. Shopping at a local farmers market will help save our climate.

 

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photos © The Nature Conservancy.