REDUCE YOUR GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS    BACK

Scroll to the bottom for a list of the five most important actions.

The Goal

              
If your activities cause more greenhouse gases to enter the atmosphere than you take out of the atmosphere, you are contributing to global warming.  The two greenhouse gases to minimize are carbon dioxide and methane. The goal is to decrease your net greenhouse gas emissions to zero. When your net carbon dioxide emissions are zero you become “carbon neutral”.

Why is it urgent to act now?   

            
It is urgent for us to act now because greenhouse gases are involved in dangerous feedback loops.  For example, a little warming causes the oceans and permafrost to release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  This additional carbon dioxide causes more warming, which causes more release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, more warming and so forth. There are many other dangerous feedback loops with greenhouse gases. (see Overview on Global Warming) Scientists are concerned that these dangerous feedback loops will cause warming to completely escape our control if we do not take actions now to decrease emissions

How do I become carbon neutral?

Carbon dioxide emissions come from the burning of coal, oil, and gas. This
means that your goal is to minimize the burning of these fossil fuels for your activities, and to “offset” what ever amount of fossil fuels you still cause to be burned.

The largest cause of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States is from the generation of electricity (usually from the burning of coal).  The second largest cause of carbon dioxide emissions is the burning of gasoline or diesel for transportation.

The actions for you to take are:

1. Minimize your use of electricity (unless it comes from wind, solar or other green sources).
2. Support the development and adoption of green energy (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc.)
3. Minimize your use of energy for transportation
4. Support transportation alternatives
5. Offset what ever emissions you still cause.

We will be posting more “how to” information on numbers 1-5 above in the near future.  Please check the various sections on our website for relevant information, and check back in a week or two.