30 Easy Ways To Stop Global Warming
Global warming is a serious issue affecting our world today. Modern society has become a wasteful society needlessly expending toxins into our air that contribute to climate change and environmental destruction. Global warming is caused by air pollution in the atmosphere that is similar to a sheet or a shield, in that the pollution is trapping heat and warmth from the sun. When the atmosphere is full of pollution, there is a constant wrap around the planet trapping heat. The constant heating of the planet has caused temperatures on Earth to increase at the fastest rates ever recorded!
In a scientific term, global warming is often written as ‘climate change’, although climate change and global warming are the same concern. Due to global warming, the temperature of the Earth rises, air and water currents move heat that will cool some areas of land or heat other areas of land. The Earth does not always become warmer during climate change. Certain areas of Earth may become colder depending on air and ocean currents. Due to this fact, global warming must also be referred to as climate change.
Global warming must bee seen as an economic and security threat.
~ Kofi Annan
What Causes Global Warming?
What causes global warming you ask? Coal burning power plants and automobiles are the top two contributors to global warming. The weight of carbon dioxide pollution these two sources release are in the billions of tons. To slow the warming of our climate, the population needs to take into account the needs of our coasts, forests, farms and snow-capped mountains. The weather patterns that change to due global warming affect the natural landscape that have existed long before humans began to inhabit this world.
How can I help alleviate global warming and climate changing initiatives?
How does one alleviate global warming? By reducing one’s carbon footprint! You can reduce your own waste and encourage those around you to reduce their waste as well. You can also advocate for clean energy solutions, reduce carbon emissions, and reduce water and electricity usage.
Reducing carbon emissions and energy usage sounds difficult and overwhelming to many people. However, alleviating global warming is everyone’s responsibility and can be done on an individual basis. Every choice made by an individual can relate to climate change in either a positive or negative manner. Choosing to impact global warming n a positive manner simply means altering your lifestyle a little bit each day to reduce your carbon footprint effectively.
30 Easy Ways to Stop Global Warming
1. Replace your light bulbs! Using CFL light bulbs uses 60% less energy than old fashioned light bulbs-which in turn reduces your contribution of three hundred pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Simply changing your light bulbs in the house can create a lasting impression.
2. Use a programmable thermostat. Utilizing a programmable thermostat reduces wasted energy and electricity. Turning the thermostat up or down accordingly not only saves on heating costs but reduces your household carbon footprint in one of the easiest methods available.
3. Replace air filters. Using fresh air filters reduces two thousand pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Why force your furnace and air conditioner to work harder than needed?
4. Use energy efficient appliances. Specially made appliances are created to reduce energy and increase efficiency. Simply purchase an item with an energy star label and make a small (but large) contribution to reducing global warming!
5. Turn off appliances. Televisions left in standby mode use 40% of their total energy while idle.
6. Insulate your water heater. Water that is already warm needs less energy to hear.
7. Place your refrigerator and freezer in a cooler area of the kitchen and away from heat sources. Your appliances that are used to cool will use more energy if near an appliance used to warm.
8. Leave windows open in the home for a few minutes and let sunlight come in.
9. Use double glazed windows rather than single glazed windows to reduce your energy output by half.
10. Have a home energy audit completed! You can reduce your energy usage by thirty percent! Knowing where your problem areas are at home can help alleviate wasteful energy sources.
11. Cover pots when cooking or use a pressure cooker or steamer to save up to seventy percent of energy usage. One must cook nearly every day. When cooking, make a simple choice to cover pots and pans and watch your energy usage drop with minimal effort expended.
12. Run washing machine and dishwasher with full loads. Running multiple loads in washing machines wastes water, electricity, and energy. Reducing loads and combining washing is the best utilization of time and energy.
13. Use the shower rather than the bath and reduce wasting water and energy. A shower requires much less water than a bath and less energy required for the water heater.
14. Use a low flow shower head.
15. Reduce usage of hot water. Rather than always washing clothes in hot water, use cold water. Simply changing the temperature setting can alter a great amount of energy expended through your washing appliances. Hot water is not needed for all washing cycles.
16. Use a clothesline and save power from the dryer by using power from the sun. Hanging clothes to dry is a wonderful resource and also adds freshness to your clothing the dryer cannot replicate.
17. Insulate your home and windows. Do not let energy escape!
18. Recycle! Recycling just half of the waste your household produces can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.
19. Compost wasted food and biodegradables. Rather than wasting your waste, utilize your waste and create soil. Rather than buying soil from the store and forcing further waste, create soil through composting.
20. Purchase products made of recycled materials.
21. Purchase products that have little packaging. A surprising amount of energy is wasted simply in the creation of excess packaging.
22. Reuse shopping bags. Reusing shopping bags alleviates waste of a product and waste of energy to recreate new bags.
23. Plant trees! One tree can absorb a ton of carbon dioxide during its life. The tree with also provide a sense of shelter, shade, and heat protection naturally.
24. Use solar panels. Using the power of the sun rather than electricity allows you to harness energy rather than waste energy.
25. Use wind created energy when possible. Just as harnessing energy from the sun makes sense, harnessing energy from the wind makes sense. The wind will always blow; why not use this technology to the best of our modern ability?
26. Buy locally grown produce. Most food in the nation travels over 1,200 miles to reach your home. Locally grown food reduces energy waste and carbon dioxide emissions.
27. Buy fresh food rather than frozen. Frozen food utilizes ten times the energy to create than fresh food.
28. Carpool! Rather than having ten cars and trucks on the road using gas and creating toxic emissions, having two energy efficient cars or trucks on the road can really reduce the global warming taking place today.
29. Eat less meat. Eating less meat allows less transportation of animals, less care needed for animals, and less toxic gas released by animals into the atmosphere. If less animals were needed for consumption, less emissions would be in the atmosphere.
30. Drive a fuel efficient car. A car is the second largest cause of global warming today. Not only the production of the car itself is wasteful, but the fuels, oil, and electricity needed is wasteful. In the end, the car will further produce waste through toxic emissions. Making the choice to drive a fuel efficient car will aid the aid in environment in less toxins, thereby reducing your carbon footprint.
