Put on an extra layer and turn down the heating a degree or two. Turn off lights and appliances when you don't need them. Replace light bulbs with LEDs or other low-energy lights. Make simple changes to how you use hot water, like buying a water-efficient shower head.
What important contributions can individuals make in response to climate change?
Policies can help individuals and communities reduce their carbon footprints by making low-emission development and modes of transportation more convenient. For example, enhanced public transportation, bike paths, and walkability can promote smart growth while reducing urban sprawl and traffic congestion.
How do individual actions affect the environment?
Your actions affect the environment. For example: When you use a car, bus, or airplane, oil is burned, sending greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and changing the global climate. Fueling these vehicles also involves extracting oil from oil wells in the ground.
How important is personal initiative in the fight against climate change?
When we take personal responsibility for our actions, we deepen our commitment to environmental sustainability. Living in accord with one's political vision is a way of laying the foundations for the world we want to see—to engage in a kind of “prefigurative politics” that makes the future into the now.
What is the government doing to stop climate change?
Government research and development programs, such as the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy, can drive progress in clean energy technologies and bring them to commercial use. Voluntary programs, like the Natural Gas STAR program, work with businesses to reduce emissions, often with public recognition.
What is the world doing to help climate change?
For example, improvements to energy efficiency and vehicle fuel economy, increases in wind and solar power, biofuels from organic waste, setting a price on carbon, and protecting forests are all potent ways to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and other gases trapping heat on the planet.