快猫短视频

ARE you fed up with all the hot air and inaction coming from our political leaders on the subject of climate change? Heard enough about clean energy, carbon trading and emissions reductions? Perhaps you鈥檝e lost interest in an issue that seems way beyond your ability to control. Or maybe you feel you鈥檙e doing your bit to cool things down by leaving your fridge door open for half an hour each day. If any of the above apply to you, read on.

First, some facts. It is 10 years since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made its landmark statement: 鈥淭he balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate.鈥� Eight years ago, world leaders drew up the Kyoto protocol, an agreement to set legally binding targets for greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world. Four years ago, George W. Bush announced that the US would not be signing up. In February this year, the protocol finally came into force. The US and Australia were not on board, but they have since teamed up with China, India, Japan and South Korea in a pact to develop and share cleaner, more efficient technologies (快猫短视频, 3 September 2005, p 30).

The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate seems unlikely to set any targets for limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, even with everyone playing ball, Kyoto would only have led to a 5.2 per cent cut by 2012 compared with global emissions in the baseline year of 1990.

To put that into perspective, we need a reduction of 60 per cent by 2050 if we are to stabilise our climate and head off catastrophic effects, according to the IPCC鈥檚 latest estimate. Daunting, isn鈥檛 it? At this rate, if we leave things to the politicians we might well have to wait for a catastrophe before we see any action. Meanwhile things could get very bad for a very large number of people, people like you and me, our children and our friends.

But what鈥檚 the alternative? Short of running for political office, what can you and I do to help stop the roaring juggernaut that is climate change? You may think the answer is 鈥渘ot very much鈥�. That鈥檚 exactly what I used to think. Surely, I reasoned, it is industry, big business and ultimately the politicians who are doing the steering while we the public are just passengers, strapped into our seats and braced for impact. I was wrong.

A glance at who is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world shows just how much of a push you and I are giving to climate change. In the US and Australia, each year every man, woman and child emits over 20 tonnes of greenhouse gas (mainly carbon dioxide, but also some methane and a little nitrous oxide, which I have converted to CO₂ equivalents here). The figure for Brits is 11 tonnes. The bulk of these emissions are a direct result of the decisions we make as individuals: a quarter comes from transport, a quarter from homes and even for the 50 per cent or so produced by offices or industry, individual actions can make a difference. Still convinced that global warming is nothing to do with you?

Time to consider how to become part of the solution, not just part of the problem. You may have heard of the 鈥渙ne-tonne challenge鈥�, a Canadian initiative to persuade people to reduce their personal greenhouse emissions. Very commendable 鈥� as far as it goes. But remember, the IPCC wants us to aim for a 60 per cent reduction. So folks in the US and Australia should be facing up to a 鈥�12-tonne challenge鈥�, and let鈥檚 call it 7 tonnes for everyone else. Surely such a reduction is preposterous, impossible even, unless we are prepared to live like hippies or hermits. Well, no. In fact, cutting back on personal emissions is far more doable than you might think.

By making the kind of lifestyle changes I suggest below, you can cut your lifetime contribution to global warming by over 1000 tonnes of greenhouse gas. You can hit that 60 per cent target in your transport and home-based emissions, and the possibilities are even greater if you take your new attitudes to work. Multiply this up for everyone in your workplace, your street or your town, and the potential savings are huge. Through increasing awareness and individual action we can achieve not just one Kyoto-sized reduction in emissions, not two, but a cut equivalent to six Kyoto protocols. All before the politicians have decided who will sit where at the next climate change meeting.

Ten steps to saving the planet

1 Dress for the weather

An easy one to start with, but this is the fastest and cheapest way to cut back on your energy use at home. The average house in the US and Australia emits 11 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, with UK households chipping in with about 6 tonnes a year each. The largest chunk of that, about 40 per cent, comes from heating and cooling. At home, control of your domestic climate is what most threatens the global one. The solution couldn鈥檛 be simpler.

As the snow piles up against the windows in winter and the robins bang their heads against the frozen bird bath in your garden, don鈥檛 pad barefoot around your house in a T-shirt. And don鈥檛 sit in that same T-shirt in summer as you shudder at the chill of the air-conditioning while the sun beats down outside. Turning down the thermostat and pulling on more clothes in winter can cut emissions from temperature control by a third. For the average house in the developed world, notching back the heating by just 1 掳C, or setting the aircon 1 掳C higher, will cut a third of a tonne off annual CO₂ emissions. And if you鈥檙e not prepared to dress warm in winter and cool in summer, then at least invest in proper insulation; whatever your indoor climate, this can almost halve the amount of energy you use to heat and cool your house.

Annual household saving: 0.33 to 2 tonnes

2 Get out of the car

You鈥檝e heard it before, but it bears repetition: if you can use public transport, do. On a like-for-like basis, taking the bus or train rather than your car cuts your greenhouse emissions by about 60 per cent. A commuter making a 30-kilometre round trip in a five-door hatchback, for example, will save 1.5 tonnes of greenhouse emissions a year by taking the train instead. If you drive an SUV, you double that saving. Better still, if your journey is short, use a carbon-neutral means of transport 鈥� get on your bike or walk. It may seem suicidal in the car-dominated urban spaces most of us inhabit, but by refusing to surrender the remaining footpaths and cycle tracks you can make it clear to the town planners and politicians that you need an alternative to car travel. If they don鈥檛 listen, there is always the walk to the polling booth. (And if you really cannot get out of the car, see number 5)

Annual household saving: 1.5 to 12 tonnes

3 Get into composting

On average each of us throws away 10 times our own body weight in rubbish every year. Once the truck-loads of waste are collected, about 60 per cent is taken to landfill sites where it is compacted down into an airless, putrid mass. This is the perfect breeding ground for stinky bacteria called methanogens that convert your organic waste into the powerful greenhouse gas, methane. For every kilogram of potato peelings, tea bags and grass clippings these microbes digest, they produce methane with a climate change impact equivalent to about 2 kilograms of carbon dioxide. If you live in an average household, you will be chucking out around 3.5 kilograms of food a day. Two-thirds of this could be composted. And by composting you won鈥檛 just be cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions, you will also be saying goodbye to pongy trash and producing a wonderful source of free plant food. Get yourself some mail-order composting worms via the internet and you鈥檒l see results in double-quick time. Even if you don鈥檛 have room for a compost bin, many areas in the UK and US now have a 鈥渃ompostables collection鈥�. Annual household saving: 1 tonne

4 Fly less, especially short haul

When it comes to getting around, road travel may be the worst offender, but coming up fast in the rear-view mirror is jet travel. On average, it accounts for 6 per cent of personal annual greenhouse gas emissions 鈥� that鈥檚 around two-thirds of a tonne for the average Brit and over a tonne per Yank or Aussie. The burgeoning market in budget flights has helped fuel a steep rise in greenhouse emissions and worse is surely to come. The IPCC predicts that by 2050 the contribution that flying makes to global warming may have quadrupled.

Some air travel is hard to avoid, but many short-haul flights now operate between destinations also well served by trains. Going by train rather than plane on these journeys can reduce your emissions by 75 per cent. Even when there is no alternative, you can compensate for the harm your flight causes. It is cheap and easy to offset emissions through schemes such as Climate Care (), which lets you buy into projects that fund sustainable energy and reforestation. If you happen to be involved with the organisation of international conferences, think carefully where you locate them 鈥� the right choice can save hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ emissions. Best of all, go electronic and try virtual conferencing to avoid that flight altogether.

Annual household saving: 1 to 3 tonnes

5 Change your driving habits 鈥� or better still, your car

This is a big one. Of all our energy-guzzling activities, car driving is the most profligate, accounting for 40 per cent of the average person鈥檚 greenhouse gas emissions outside work. The upside of this is that simply changing the way you drive can make a big difference. Cruising at 8 kilometres per hour below the speed limit rather than the same amount above it may feel odd at first, but the long-term benefits to your fuel bills will compensate. On a 10-kilometre commute to work, you will also clock up a quarter-tonne saving in greenhouse emissions over a year. Add to this the virtuous habits of avoiding short and unnecessary journeys, car-sharing and keeping your vehicle properly serviced, and you could cut your car鈥檚 greenhouse emissions in half.

If you happen to drive an SUV, you should consider more drastic measures. Emissions from a big four-wheel drive can reach 12 tonnes a year. Swapping this bull-barred behemoth for a smaller-engined model (1.3 litre maximum) will at least halve this. While you鈥檙e at it, consider getting a diesel. Greenhouse emissions from a diesel-driven car can be up to 10 per cent lower than the petrol equivalent. Alternatively, if you鈥檙e concerned about the polluting particles that diesels emit, opt for a dual fuel (petrol and liquified petroleum gas or compressed natural gas), hybrid (petrol and electric) or biofuelled car (usually a mix of petrol and ethanol), and cut your car鈥檚 greenhouse emissions by anything from 20 to 100 per cent.

Annual household saving: 2 to 12 tonnes

6 Remember the appliance of science

After heating and air conditioning, the biggest drains on energy at home are electrical appliances and lighting, which together account for 4 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in the average US and Australian household and about 2 tonnes in a UK household. Our desire to own the latest plasma screen television, home cinema system, outsized fridge and trendy electronic gadget makes this a boom sector. Opting for the most efficient models and for low-energy light bulbs can lower emissions by up to 30 per cent.

But it isn鈥檛 as simple as that. Tonnes of plastic and metal go into making appliances, and rushing straight out to get the model with the highest efficiency rating wastes all this embodied energy. The trade-off here means that as a rule of thumb, if your appliance is less than 5 years old and still working, hold onto it. Just make sure it is running as efficiently as possible: keeping your fridge coils and door seals clean, for example, can cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 200 kilograms a year.

And finally, don鈥檛 forget to turn off all those appliances when they are not in use. In the US alone, standby power is responsible for 30 million tonnes of greenhouse emissions each year. Pull the plug and you can cut your home energy-related emissions by up to 10 per cent.

Annual household saving: 0.5 to 1.6 tonnes

7 Avoid flatulent and jet-setting food

Food is easily overlooked as a contributor to global warming, but it can make a big impact during production and transport. For a family in the developed world, emissions from food can total over 4 tonnes a year. Chopping back woodland, ploughing up soils and planting crops leads to big greenhouse emissions. Farming also produces large quantities of two powerful greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide.

What you choose to eat will make a difference here. Eating less meat and dairy will equate to fewer methane-belching ruminants 鈥� a cut of just two cow-based meals a month can reduce your family鈥檚 annual greenhouse gas emissions by a third of a tonne.

More important, though, is where your food comes from. Look at the country-of-origin labels in your supermarket trolley and you will realise that your groceries are better travelled than you are. A 2001 study by Sustain, the UK alliance for better food and farming, reported that the 26 items in a shopping basket of organic food had together travelled almost 250,000 kilometres, accounting for 80 kilograms of greenhouse gas. Maybe your weakness is for wines that have been shipped halfway around the globe. Perhaps you can鈥檛 resist exotic or out-of-season fruits. If so, think of this: by eating local produce, you can cut your food-related greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent. For the ultimate travel-free food option, grow your own.

Annual household saving: 0.33 to 3.6 tonnes

8 Learn the 3 Rs

鈥淩educe, reuse, recycle鈥� should be the mantra of anyone who is serious about saving the planet. Of these three Rs, reduce is king. Extra packaging, an avalanche of junk mail and a widespread craving for retail therapy mean our houses and our bins are filled with new stuff as quickly as we can earn money to buy it. By refusing to be seduced by things such as single bananas heat-sealed in plastic and resisting the urge to order his 鈥榥鈥� hers patio heaters you can help stem this unsustainable tide of products, packaging and their associated emissions. Where you can鈥檛 reduce, reuse. This is not always an option, but when it is you can make a huge difference. For example, if everyone in the UK used each plastic bag twice, the energy used in the manufacture of 4 billion bags could be saved every year. Recycling is the third option. It won鈥檛 save the energy required to transform your recycled metal, glass or plastic into new cans, bottles, toys or whatever, but it will at least save the energy associated with producing the materials themselves.

Annual household saving: 1 tonne

9 Improve your ethics at work

The fight against global warming may begin at home but it needn鈥檛 end there. Turning a light off has the same planet-saving potential at work as it does at home. Ditto choosing energy-efficient office appliances and making use of their energy-saving settings. You can save up to 2.5 kilograms of greenhouse gas for every kilogram of paper, simply by using both sides for printing and ensuring that all the discarded memos, faxes and photocopies of buttocks get recycled.

Annual saving: the sky鈥檚 the limit

10 Go green at the final checkout

Death comes to us all, but the trend of defying the process of decay through airtight bronze caskets and earthquake-proof vaults means that, along with our corpses, we also bury huge amounts of concrete, steel, copper and bronze 鈥� 1.5 million tonnes of concrete and 100,000 tonnes of steel a year in the US alone. This final testament to your conspicuous consumption can mean an extra tonne of emissions. Reject this world of silk linings and embalming fluid and instead opt for a natural burial (see, for example, ), and you can avoid the ultimate climate-warming legacy. Saving: up to 1 tonne