At this point, no credible scientist disagrees that the human impact on climate change is real and catastrophic.
The next American president will/must sign the Kyoto protocol (and its successor) and Americans, as the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, will need to regulate their output and commit to 80% reduction in emissions by 2010.
A few conscious steps to take immediately with regards to technology usage and personal responsibility:
- Purchase an LCD – not a Plasma. LCD uses less energy than Plasma uses. It simply takes less power to illuminate the crystal versus the gas. LCDs also contain less mercury so if they end up in landfill or recycle, there’s less toxins to deal with. Plasmas are the worst televisions for the environment.
- Convert all light bulbs to CF. 25-45% savings in consumption. Conserve all used bulbs and deposit with hazardous waste disposal (the mercury is toxic).
- Purchase personal solar chargers for items such as cell phones and notebooks – and please convert that aging desktop PC/Monitor to a notebook if you have not already. Using rechargable battery cells is an excellent way to reduce the amount of consumption added by excessive technology devices.
- Invest in power strips. Attach all appliances that display unecessary LCD time readouts. Turn off when away from home.
- Water heater set to 95F. It’s good enough for showers and uses a lot less gas or electricity.
- Reduce beef consumption. Cattle farming is excessive in its energy use, and not an efficient way to create protein for human consumption. It is time to recognize this and commit to survival that is not rapacious. Einstein noted that the world would have to move to vegetarianism if it wanted to survive. We are now at that decision crossroad.
- Turn off lights in your apartment, office or store. Collectively, we must reduce coal burning electricity conversion as much as possible while looking for clean burn options.
- Reduce your travel. It’s part of the Think Global/Act Local initiative. Limit to one plane trip a year. Use teleconferencing for business meetings.
- Stop speeding. Acceleration increases consumption of gasoline in an auto by up to 50%. Yes that’s right. You can increae your MPG simply by slowing down. Try 5 MPH below the speed limit to start. Sweet spot on passenger sedans is usually in the 50 MPH range. Coast downhill where possible. Use parking spaces that do not require reverse to get out – it uses more gasoline. Remove excess baggage from trunk. Take off any roof racks if not in use. I have successfully proven this in application – over 40 MPG on a 99 Rav 4.
- Reduce your living space. Read up on the small living movement. Less space requires less energy to heat and light, and less opportunity to add fixtures and appliances that consumer energy. Less than 1000sf is generally acceptable for energy efficiency.
- Finally, the tough one. Stop having children. Population is increasing past the point that we can safely use available resources to maintain it. In the future, populations may need to be regulated by license or other incentives but it’s got to happen until we as a species will act in concert to maintain the planet.