How to stop global warming

You’ve probably heard our planet is in trouble: glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, and wildfires, hurricanes, and heat waves are becoming more severe. And you’ve probably had friends, influencers, and media outlets tell you how to help: “Don’t use plastic straws” “Go vegan” “Only use reusable bags.” Butwhile these tips may be helpful, are they actually impactful? As it turns out, a lot of the trendy global warming solutions do notmake the biggest impact. While it’s beneficial to cut your plastic straw usage, they only account for .0025% of the plastic in our oceans, according to The Atlantic. Not to mention, our So what does? Global warming, explained Let’s start from the beginning. Global warming is caused by too many ‘greenhouse gases’ in our atmosphere – aka, gases that trap heat and warm our planet. The #1 sector responsible for greenhouse gas emissions in the US is transportation, and cars account for 82% of this, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Electricity production comes at a close second. Why do transportation and electricity harm our planet so much? To generate power for these sectors, you need to burn fossil fuelslike oil, gas, or coal. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, which makes up 82%of the gases in our atmosphere that trap heat, according to the EPA. In other words, too much transportation and electricity means too many gases in our atmosphere that warm our planet. But there are other causes of glo...

To stop This is called climate mitigation. There is not one single way to mitigate climate change. Instead, we will have to piece together many different solutions to stop the climate from warming. Below are descriptions of the main methods that we can use. Many of these solutions are already being implemented in places around the world. Some can be tackled by individuals, such as using less energy, riding a bike instead of driving, driving an electric car, and switching to renewable energy. Other actions to mitigate climate change involve communities, regions, or nations working together to make changes, such as switching power plants from burning coal or gas to renewable energy and growing public transit. Use less electricity. Taking steps to use less electricity, especially when it comes from burning coal or gas, can take a big bite out of greenhouse gas emissions. Worldwide, electricity use is responsible for a quarter of all emissions. Some steps that you can take to use less electricity are simple and save money, like replacing incandescent light bulbs with LED bulbs that use less electricity, adding insulation to your home, and setting the thermostat lower in the winter and higher in the summer, especially when no one is home. There are also new technologies that help keep buildings energy efficient, such as glass that reflects heat, low-flow water fixtures, smart thermostats, and new air conditioning technology with refrigerants that don’t cause warming. In urban a...

• • • • 10 Ways to Stop Global Warming Want to help stop global warming? Here are 10 simple things you can do and how much carbon dioxide you'll save doing them. Change a light Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Drive less Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You'll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don't drive! Recycle more You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste. Check your tires Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve your gas mileage by more than 3 percent. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Use less hot water It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water by taking shorter and cooler showers and washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water (more than 500 pounds of carbon dioxidesaved per year). Avoid products with a lot of packaging You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you reduce your garbage by 10 percent. Adjust your thermostat Moving your thermostat down just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Plant a tree A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Turn off electronic devices Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer, when you're not using them, will save you thousands of pou...