A guide to reducing your greenhouse gas emissions
- Drive less. Walk, bus, ride a bike. If you are buying a car, buy a very efficient vehicle.
- Don't fly.
- Get an energy audit for your home to find weaknesses in your insulation.
- Retrofit your home with efficient insulation, doors and windows.
- Close curtains at night in winter, upgrade to insulating curtains or shades for your windows.
- Plant a deciduous tree to shade west-facing windows in summer.
- Install a solar hot-water heater.
- Lower your thermostat in winter, raise it in summer.
- Use energy efficient lighting, such as compact fluorescent or LED lights.
- Install a water-saving showerhead
- Clean or change the air-filter of your furnace regularly.
- Find out if you can purchase electricity directly from renewable sources and pay a premium.
- Use cold (or warm) water to do your laundry instead of hot.
- Hang your clothes to dry whenever possible.
- Turn off the lights when you leave a room.
- Turn off all electronic equipment when not in use. Buy equipment that doesn't use power when it is turned off.
- Eat locally produced, and when possible organic, food.
- Eat vegetarian meals several times a week.
- Plant a vegetable garden. Compost your food scraps for fertilizer.
- Recycle!
- If you are building a home, build ultra-efficient.
- Live in a smaller house, or live with more people.
- Install solar panels on your roof
- Vote for political parties committed to real change, who have an economic plan for encouraging conservation and renewables.
- Consider your impact on the earth in all your decision making.
There are many ways that you can make a difference, but the gist is this: change your consuming habits to use less, consider energy efficiency in all your choices, change your voting priorities, buy organic food , eat less meat, plant a garden, and walk more. If you take the time in your life to do these things, you may even find you have a better quality of life.
