Save the Planet

Save the Planet, Be Carbon Neutral

By Jim Stewart, PhD, Earth Day Los Angeles

Recent scientific results show conclusively that global warming is caused by carbon dioxide (and other green-house gases) from human activity. Americans emit about 24 tons of CO₂ equivalent per year per person.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, including over 2,000 of the world's climate scientists, says that unless greenhouse gas levels in the air are drastically reduced starting immediately. Earth's average temperature could rise by 11^o F by 2100, producing devastating effects. Sea levels will rise 20-70 feet, flooding many populated areas of the US and the world. Food and water supplies will fall drastically, in addition to over 1 million species becoming extinct.

The good news is that you can inexpensively eliminate your contribution to global warming. You can be carbon neutral by making an annual contribution to a carbon offset program, which funds high quality greenhouse gas offset projects. But burning fossil fuels produces more than just CO₂. Health studies show air pollution causes asthma, cancer, premature and low birth weight babies, heart attacks and generally higher risk of death. And similar health impacts have been found for electricity production, especially from coal (which provides 50% of Los Angeles' electricity). In addition, the global oil supply is dwindling. So each of us needs to drastically reduce our energy consumption of all forms. Below is a series of steps you can take, many of which are low cost.

1.   Become carbon neutral!   Go to www.CarbonCounter.org, www.c-bluehorizons.com or www.CarbonFund.org (choose the wind energy option), fill in the form with your energy use and sign up for a monthly (usually less than $20 per month) or annual contribution from your credit card to fund measures that will neutralize your carbon output.
2.   Drive Less, Take Transit or Bike or Walk! A well-tuned car with properly inflated tires bums less gasoline - cutting pollution and saving money at the pump. If you have two cars, drive the one with better gas mileage whenever possible. Better yet, skip the drive and take public transit, walk, or bicycle when you can.
3.   Write your leaders now. Urge them to use existing technology to raise fuel economy standards to 40 miles per gallon. Get your city to become a Cool City by signing on to the Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement. (www.seattle.gov/mayor/climate)
4.    Sign up for Green Power. Renewable energy solutions, such as wind and solar power, can reduce our reliance on coal-burning power plants, the largest source of global warming pollution in the United States. If you live in Los Angeles, call LADWP (800-473-3652) and sign up for Green Power. Some other municipal utilities also offer it (but not Edison).
5.   Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. Especially those that bum the longest each day. Compact fluorescents produce the same amount of light as normal bulbs, but use about a quarter of the electricity and last ten times as long.
6.   Save energy at home. Start with caulking and weather-stripping on doorways and windows. Each degree you lower your thermostat in the winter, cuts your energy bills by 3 percent (see www.socalgas.com). Ask your utility company to do a free energy audit of your home to show you how to save even more.
7.   Become a smart water consumer.   Install low-flow showerheads and faucets. Then turn your hot water heater down to 120̊F and see hot-water costs go down by as much as 50.
8.   Buy energy-efficient electronics and appliances.   Replacing an old refrigerator or an air conditioner with an energy-efficient model saves electricity bill and cuts global warming. Look for the Energy Star label on new appliances or visit their website at www.energystar.gov. Get rebates, see www.ladwp.com for details or call 1 800 246 0441 for free pick up service, or check your own utility's website for home appliance rebates.
9.   Plant a Tree, protect a forest. Planting shade trees around your house absorbs CO₂, and reduces air-conditioning bills. Call LADWP to have FREE shade trees delivered to your house 800-473-3652.
10.   Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!   Producing new paper, glass, and metal products from recycled materials saves 70 to 90 percent of the energy and pollution, including CO₂, that would result if the product came from virgin materials. And please...buy recycled products!
11. Mount a local campaign against global warning. Educate your community about how it can cut global warming pollution. Support measures at the national, state, and local level that:
    -    Make automobiles go further on a gallon of gas;
    -    Accelerate the use of clean, renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind;
    -    Increase energy efficiency and conservation; and
    -    Preserve forests around the world.
12.   Buy less. Consumerism is a pattern of behavior that helps to destroy our environment, personal financial health, and human institutions. See www.verdant.net for info on how to reduce consumerism.
13.   Grow your own food, and buy local produce to save transportation fuel. And compost your food scraps.
14.   Install solar panels on your roof
15.   Get Connected! Sign up for regular updates, such as the Sierra Club's global warming action network: www.sierraclub.org/globalwarning/e-newsletter/
16.   Educate your business, church and school about how they can save money and the planet. Get your company to become carbon neutral by using the Climate Neutral Network: www.climateneutral.com
Key Web Resources about Energy and Global Warming

Carbon Offset Sites

1.   ClimateCrisis.net provides info about the science of global warming and the film An Inconvenient Truth, plus an easy calculator for your emissions. Then go to www.NativeEnergy.com or others below to become carbon neutral.
2.   The Climate Trust funds high quality greenhouse gas offset projects. An easy way to become carbon neutral is to go to www.CarbonCounter.org to calculate your CO₂ and enter your credit card.
3.   E-Blue Horizons offsets emissions and contributes to The Conservation Fund: www.e-bluehorizons.com
4.   Carbon Fund helps you go beyond carbon neutral to "Zero Carbon" (choose wind option): www.CarbonFund.org
5.   Climate Neutral Network helps companies implement a Climate Neutral strategy: www.climateneutral.com
6.   American Forests will plant trees to absorb your CO₂: www.americanforests.org
7.   AirHead has compiled emissions data for hundreds of consumer goods, especially appliances: www.AirHead.org

Advocacy Sites

1.   Sierra Club has good info on solutions for global warming including clean energy and higher mpg cars: www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming/get_involved
2.   Environmental Defense has a lot of info, including a great "tailpipe tally" totaling the pollution from just about any car: www.environmentaldefense.org/tooljpop.cfm7tooNtailpipe
3.   Union of Concerned Scientists - combines scientific research with public education, advocacy: www.ucsusa.org
4.   Physicians For Social Responsibility - dedicated to protecting public health and the environment, www.psr.org
5.   The Climate Institute - devoted to public education and efforts to curb global warming, www.climate.org
6.   Overcoming Consumerism describes how you escape the consumerism trap: www.verdant.net
7.   World Wildlife Fund - WWF has large web site on global warming impacts, www.worldwildlife.org/climate
8.   Climate Action Network - A worldwide network of over 340 NGOs: www.climatenetwork.org

Science Sites

1.   The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the authority on global warming, www.ipcc.ch
2.   U.S. Global Change Research Program web site provides a wide variety of information on the science of global warming, as well as education information, www.usgcrp.gov
3.   Environmental Protection Agency web site on global warming has much info, including a state by state chart of electric utilities and the pollution they emit. http://yosemite.epa.gov/OAR/globalwarming.nsf/content/index.html

Post Fossil Fuel Sites

1. Post Carbon Institute explores options without fossil fuels. It has excellent links: www.postcarbon.org/
2. Richard Heinberg has helpful writings on the oil crisis and what communities can do to prepare: www.museletter.com