We’ve all had that one assignment due on Friday, where we know we should work on it throughout the week, but instead we save it all until Thursday night. Hopefully we finish it, but sometimes we don’t. Or that job application that is due the 31st of May, but it’s only May 5th. You still end up finishing the application on the 30th. Our lives are constantly filled with deadlines like these, and the further away they are, the less we tend to worry about them. But as time shortens, the more we panic, and realize it may be too late to do what needs to be done. I have time, is what we always think. Sometimes we do, but sometimes we don’t. But still we always think we have more time than we actually do. Now while we each have our own individual deadlines, there is one deadline that is ultimately going to impact us all, and is coming up sooner than we think: the deadline on climate change.
Our planet is changing every day, and it is a possibility that much like the assignment we choose to finish on the last day, it will be too late to do anything about it if we choose to do nothing now. While there is no technical deadline on when climate change will cause too much damage to our planet to be fixed, every day we are losing time to help the ecosystems around the world from struggling due to its impact.
Climate change, in simple terms, is the earth warming, causing irreversible weather changes to the planet. Global warming is primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels, which are producing nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions (United Nations) . Carbon dioxide accounts for the largest percentage of greenhouse gases filling the earth, but these gases are not only created by the burning of fossil fuels. They are also created by other human activities, such as how we manufacture goods, cut down forests, and more. With no way for these gases to escape the atmosphere, the earth heats. Earth has increased in temperature by 1.8° Fahrenheit since the early 1800’s, specifically the pre industrial revolution. While this may seem insignificant, the impacts of global warming expand far beyond just the temperature of the earth. The temperature increase is causing water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, glaciers melting, decreased biodiversity, and extreme weather. While one of us alone may not be able to fix these issues, as individuals we can contribute to fixing, or at least slowing down, the rapid changes being made to the planet.
To reduce your individual impact on climate change, you can reduce your carbon footprint. Your carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases that are created by your actions. The average carbon footprint in the United States is around 16 tons of carbon dioxide released each day. To put it in perspective, the global average carbon footprint is four tons, and the average commute to and from work in the U.S. releases about 1 ton of carbon dioxide. To keep our planet from rising 2.7° Fahrenheit by 2050, the average global footprint will need to drop to two tons per individual. If we are not able to do this, and the earth continues to heat, the weather around the world will only become worse, creating heavier hurricanes, more wildfires, and an increase in other severe weather conditions. It is understandable that it can be hard to find ways to reduce your carbon footprint due to time, money, and lifestyle restrictions. But there are still small ways that we can help, and here are five of the simplest things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint and impact on climate change.
Use your washing machine with cold water.
One of the easiest things that you can do is to switch from washing your laundry with warm water to washing your laundry with cold water. While this may seem like it will do nothing, by reducing the temperature of the water you are limiting the amount of work you are putting on your water heater, and cutting the amount of energy required for just one load of laundry in half. Less energy production means less carbon fuels being used and put into the atmosphere. This will also save you money, and all it takes is one hit of a button on your washing machine. You can also air dry your laundry, which will also save energy of the dryer.
Bundle online purchases.
When you have a few things to order from the same website, wait to order everything at once rather than ordering multiple items at different times. This will reduce the amount of plastic that goes into packaging each item, while also reducing the carbon output of each item with less time that they are in trucks and vans getting delivered. Along with this, if you are willing to wait, select a slower delivery option to reduce the amount of vans and trucks that your package goes through. In 2019, transportation created the largest share of carbon emissions in the United States, so before you decide to ship something like your Amazon Prime items, think about putting them all in one order or not selecting Prime instead.
Adopt eco-friendly takeout practices and save reusable containers.
When taking out leftovers from a restaurant, or picking up an online order, try to limit the amount of extra utensils, napkins, straws, and unnecessary plastic bags that generally are given to you with your food. This will reduce the amount of plastic that is going to waste, plastic that eventually will end up in a landfill or the ocean. Food and food packaging accounts for 45% of all the material found in landfills. While it may not seem like one straw or a few napkins can have that big of an impact, think about if you are at a restaurant and every person that has dinner in one night asks for no straw with their beverage. That could be potentially hundreds of straws that are now not ending up in landfills or oceans. So while the impact of one small change you are making may seem small, you are actually contributing to a bigger cause. After this, instead of throwing away your containers or utensils, you can reuse these items instead of them ending up in landfills where they will take hundreds of years to decay. This also applies to plastics you can find in a grocery store, specifically produce bags. You can save hundreds of plastic produce bags from being used by using reusable produce bags. While many of the bags in grocery stores are now compostable, there are many that are still plastic so it is best to get your own. You can find these reusable bags at nearly every grocery store or online store, ranging from around two dollars to twenty dollars depending on how many bags you are looking to purchase. You can also buy reusable bags for snack items, and those will cost in the same general price range.
Buy used clothing and appliances.
Every year in the United States 34 billion pounds of used textiles are discarded. Of these textiles, which include clothing, bedding, towels, and more, 66% of all textile waste is sent to landfills. By buying used clothing, you are reducing the amount of these textiles being thrown away. Even if you are buying new clothing and either returning it or donating it, those pieces of clothing are getting sent abroad to other countries that do not want the clothing, so it is piling up in landfills or being burned instead. The best thing you can do is buy used clothing, which is now much easier to find with shops like Goodwill or The Salvation Army. There are also online thrift shops, like Thredup and Thrifted.com which have great options for thrifting online. You can also save a lot of money by buying used clothing that half the time still has new tags on it anyway.
Recycle wisely.
Recycling can do amazing things for the environment, but only if it is properly done. One ton of recycled plastic saves 5,774 kWh of energy, 98 million BTUs of energy, 16.3 barrels of oil, and 30 cubic yards of landfill space. To recycle wisely, make sure your recycling is completely separated from your trash. Doing so will save energy from having to separate household trash from recyclable items.
As high school students, it is understandable that it can be extremely hard to care or have time to make changes to your life that will help the environment. If you are looking to help but are not sure if these ideas are an option for you, The Online Public Health Center has a website with a variety of different ideas. There are three bars at the top of the page, each being for money, time, and effort. Here you can select what you are looking for in terms of how many resources you can put into helping. The planet is changing everyday, and if we learn to change with it we can help our planet and us. Hopefully, these things will help you to consider doing something about climate change.
