Every so often, a well-meaning article will spring up urging readers to take action to combat climate change, pollution, and energy waste.
The problem starts when the author shares tips encouraging readers to take the fate of the planet into their own hands by, say, biking 20 miles to work every morning, raising their own chickens, or reusing toilet paper. That's about the time most people start to tune out.
They want to help the environment, they really do — but they're not necessarily interested in making drastic lifestyle changes.
But a new report by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has compiled a series of simple recommendations that they claim could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one billion tons — or about 15% of total U.S. carbon emissions.
The key here is simplicity, things that John Q. Public would actually do. They're free or cheap to implement and can save you some serious cash in the process.
Here are 5 tips you can implement immediately, with minimal effort...
1) Carpool or telecommute to work once a week
Since passenger transportation accounts for almost a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gases and 75% of the workforce commutes solo to work every day, there's a lot of ground to make up here.
In a perfect world, we'd all have great access to public transportation. Living in Baltimore City — where the notion of public transportation is a cruel joke — I can totally vouch for the fact that the world is far from perfect. To get to work, I'd need to take the light-rail system, several buses, and perhaps even a paddle-boat ride to cross the Inner Harbor.
But it's easy enough to find someone who lives in your area to hitch a ride with one or two days a week. And — depending on with whom you're riding — it can be a refreshing alternative to a solitary commute.
And as technology becomes further ingrained into the workforce, working from home is getting to be a pretty seamless transition. Ask your boss if he or she will let you stay home once a week, and add a friendly reminder that they'll be saving money on electricity while you're doing your part for the planet.
2) Maintain your vehicle
Improper vehicle maintenance wastes billions of gallons of gasoline every year. According to the NRDC report, under-inflated tires in the U.S. caused more greenhouse gases than the 65 smallest greenhouse-gas emitting countries combined.
So when you see a FREE AIR sign at the local gas station, top off those tires.
While we're talking cars, the NRDC provides a simple tip for pack-rats like me: get all of that heavy clutter out of your car. Haul those golf clubs out of the back seat and either store them in your house or donate them to someone if you're no longer using them.
Cut the clutter and you'll cut your emissions.
3) Slay those energy vampires
Vampire power or phantom power refers to the appliances that are slurping energy even when you're not using them. Ignoring those power leeches can cost you 5% to 15% of total energy use.
The main culprits are computers, game consoles, and televisions.
One easy way to manage this is to plug these appliances into power strips, and simply flip the switch off when you're not using them.
And as someone who works on a computer starting first thing in the morning, I know that shutting it down every day is a bit obnoxious. It's super-convenient to get to my desk, jiggle the mouse, and have the desktop roar to life in a flash. But by shutting your computer off (or putting it to sleep) when you're finished for the day, you can save $90 in annual energy costs.
The Department of Energy recommends shutting off your monitor if you aren't going to use it for more than 20 minutes, and powering down the entire system if you're not going to use it for more than two hours.
4) Wash clothes in cold water
Almost all of the energy consumed by your washing machine is to heat the water and, the truth is, water does not have to be hot to clean your clothes. Unless you uncorked a bottle of red wine onto your favorite white shirt, the advancements in detergents and washing machines should be able to remove stains minus piping hot water.
In fact, one company is releasing a washing machine later this year that barely uses any water at all.
5) Swap poultry for red meat twice a week
Food is one of the most contentious issues on the green scene. A diet consisting of local, organically raised produce and vegetables is easily the most sustainable form of eating. As famed foodie Michael Pollan says: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
But telling the broad swath of Americans that they shouldn't eat meat is like telling the French that they shouldn't drink wine...
The global livestock industry is responsible for about 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. Between the global deforestation required for grazing... to the tremendous amount of methane that livestock produce... the average pound of beef consumed in the U.S. is responsible for 20 pounds of emissions.
A pound of chicken only requires about 2 pounds of emissions to reach your plate.
According to the report, by replacing red meat with chicken twice a week, you could reduce greenhouse gas emissions as much as if you consumed only locally-grown products for the entire week.
When you do get a hankering for a steak, grass-feed beef is the sustainable way to go.
The report offers even more tips on how to stay sustainable without resorting to extreme measures like reusing toilet paper. You can read the rest of them at the NRDC website.
Be Well,
Jimmy
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