BACKGROUND: We all know about the consequences of burning gas and oil to drive our vehicles and to heat and cool our homes: wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, and increasingly deadly heat waves. Are we, our children, and grandchildren doomed to live in a world with increasing disasters? NOT IF EACH OF US—ALONG WITH OUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD—ACT TO CHANGE OUR PIECE OF WHAT IS INVOLVED.
Currently, the worldwide average of Greenhouse Gas (GHG)* emissions is 4.6 tons per person per year. The Paris Agreement of 2015 agreed on a goal of 2.3 tons per person per year. The emissions of governments, militaries, and corporations make up about one half of the total, leaving the other half, roughly 1.2 tons for each of us residents of the planet as our personal "GHG budget". Here are the most effective ways that each of us can reduce our GHG emissions to 1.2 tons per year:
- Make plans now for when your furnace quits, to replace it with an electric heat pump system powered by renewable energy. This is the most important thing you can do.
- In the U.S., the yearly average GHG emissions per gas-fed car is 5 tons. When possible, replace your gas-powered car with an electric vehicle fed from a fossil-free source.
- Beef is surprisingly ‘GHG-expensive’: eating half-a-pound of beef a week causes almost 1 ton of GHG emissions/year—almost all your total yearly budget! Eat less, or no beef at all.
- Flying is especially ‘GHG-expensive’. A single flight from NYC to LA and back can cost you between 0.6 and 1.2 tons of GHG, depending on class, wind, stopovers, and fullness of the cabin. One round-trip can cost you your entire GHG budget for the year.
ACTION: Discuss the facts above with your family, friends and community. Make a plan and begin to do everything you can to reduce your personal GHG emissions.
*GHG emissions include carbon dioxide, methane and other global warming gases.
Please use the info in this Action Alert to write a letter-to-the-editor of your local paper.