Humans are having an unprecedented impact on the planet. Global warming is a reality and, increasingly, a human tragedy. Acting responsibly, caring for those who are affected by disasters and being good stewards of all creation are moral issues. Thankfully, global warming is also a solvable issue.

It will take a number of changes to reduce, stop and then reverse the amount of CO2 with which we pollute our atmosphere. So one of the things required to achieve this change is for enough people to believe change is possible and effective. Thankfully, global warming is a solvable issue.

Some people, especially those whose wealth and power has depended on burning fossil fuels, have a self-interest in stopping these changes being implemented quickly. ‘Climate change scepticism’ makes ‘just taking a pause and keeping an open mind’ sound reasonable, when what is required is solving this issue. Thankfully, global warming is a solvable issue.

Branding people who study and honestly report changes in the environment as ‘alarmists’, ‘Chicken Littles’ or ‘doom-sayers’ makes it sound reasonable to do nothing as if doing something was futile. Thankfully, global warming is a solvable issue.

Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth says: “Each one of us is a cause of global warming but each of us can make choices to change that with the things we buy, the electricity we use, the cars we drive. We can make choices to bring our individual carbon emissions to zero.”

Here are 25 things we can do to help solve global warming:

1) Efficient Appliances such as:
* The last time I bought an electrical appliance I bought one of the most efficient.
* I have mostly energy efficient light bulbs in my house.

2) Efficient use of appliances such as:
* If I use cooling I keep the thermostat high and if I use heating I keep the thermostat low.
* My home has insulation.
* I use a water-saver shower head.
* I have the hot water system thermostat set low.
* I recycle household waste,

3) Efficient cars such as:
* My car is has a hybrid or low-emission diesel engine.
* I use fuels with alcohol or ethanol where available.
* I have asked my government or car manufacturers about raising standards for fuel economy and emissions.

4) Other transport such as:
* I walked somewhere this week.
* I rode a bike somewhere this week.
* I caught a tram, bus or train this week.

5) Sustainable energy such as:
* I have called my electricity provider and switched to renewable energy.
* I have solar hot water at home.
* I had a meat free day this week.

6) Carbon capture and storage such as:
* I have planted a tree this year.
* I participate in a carbon offset scheme.
* I have asked my government to introduce a carbon trading system.

7) Personal sharing such as:
* I have talked to someone older than me about climate change and the need to do something about it.
* I have taught someone younger than me a way they can help save the environment from this crisis.
* If I prayed this week, I prayed for people to do more to care for the planet.

Public policy such as:
* I have called the radio or written to the newspapers encouraging people to save the environment.
* I vote for people/parties with good policies to solve this crisis including:
- joining international efforts to stop global warming.
- reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
- freezing Co2 emissions.
* I have written or spoken to a politician about climate change.

If every individual reduced their carbon emissions by doing just the first three things the amount of CO we put into the atmosphere each year would be frozen at current levels. With the other areas and wider cooperation we can reduce carbon emissions further - even to zero. Global warming is a solvable issue.

(If you want to challenge yourself, give yourself a score out of 25)

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 at 8:12 am by just_nigel and is filed under environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.