Taking Personal Responsibility for Climate Change

The other day, I went to a gathering of 50 people interested in advocating for clean energy in the United States. I rode my bike there. At least a dozen people commented on what a “good girl” I was for doing so.

We poured ourselves coffee and tea into paper cups. We ate our potluck lunch on paper plates with plastic forks. We grabbed our bottles of water. We wiped our mouths with paper napkins and we grabbed our packets of printed materials to talk about how we could help push the federal government into making clean energy a reality, starting with identifying ‘green’ businesses to be our allies in this campaign.

I mean no disrespect to the good people that gave their time to talk about the importance of renewable energy. Nor to the folks that put together these house meetings. The idea of bringing people together around clean energy is a good one and long over due.

But the experience did get me thinking about climate change and personal responsibility.

It has become very easy to say that we need sweeping institutional change since my changing of my light bulbs won’t have much of an impact. But if we look at global greenhouse gas emissions by sector, is that true?

It is hard to find consistent information on emissions percentages by sector so let’s use the World Resources Institute data to see what percent of greenhouse gas emissions are within our personal control:

13.5% of greenhouse gas emissions are transportation related, the majority of those are emissions on roads (9.9%). So, to cut those emissions, we have some personal choices we can make:

• Choose a fuel efficient car
• Choose an alternative mode of transportation like bicycle, walking or public transportation
• Choose goods that are not shipped from overseas or out of state
• Travel less

24.6% of emissions are from electricity and heat. Of those, 9.9% are residential buildings, 6.3% are oil and gas extraction, refining and processing and 1.4% is coal mining. So, cutting some of those emissions is possible on a personal level:

• Weatherize your home
• Use a programmable thermostat
• Turn down the heat and wear a sweater
• Turn off the air conditioning and open the windows
• Unplug unused appliances
• Use energy efficient appliances
• Use energy efficient lighting
• Use alternative energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal
• Purchase renewable energy credits to help fund more renewable energy sources
• Turn off lights when not in use
• Use solar outdoor lights
• Use cold water wash
• Line dry your clothes
• Run appliances like dishwashers in energy-saver mode
• Go manual instead of electric
• Keep your refrigerator full and use glass containers for storage. A full refrigerator stays colder as do glass containers

For the 10.4 % of emissions that are industry related and the 5.4% that are related to commercial buildings, we can also have an impact:

• Choose to spend your money with businesses and industries that are fuel efficient and investing in renewable energy and LEED certified buildings, producing products sustainably and reducing use of packaging.
• Encourage local businesses to become more fuel efficient. Carrot Mob has a great ‘reverse boycott’ model for doing this; ask businesses to invest in efficiency and for those that are willing, reward them by organizing a large group to come and shop there on a set day at a set time.
• Ask your city council and county board of supervisors to set minimum LEED standards for new buildings.

Land use changes like deforestation account for 18.2% of emissions. That may seem out of our control if we don’t live in a forested area, but it’s not: