What You Can Do!

50 Tips to Help Climate Change

The Biggest threat to Climate change is the emission of CO² into the air. Here are some useful tips on how to reduce the release of CO² into the air, cutback on energy use, save money and help save our planet!

1. Car Pool to School or Work or use Public Transportation.
2. Bike or Walk instead of driving somewhere it helps the environment and is great exercise!
3. Buy a Hybrid car when you’re looking for that next big purchase.
4. Use bio-fuels in your car Bio-fuels are produced from crops such as oil seed rape or sugar beet, and burning them produces lower emissions of climate-changing gases.
5. Make sure tires are fully inflated. Under-inflated car tires cause your car to have greater fuel consumption.
6. Change your air filter regularly.
7. Support your small town community by purchasing local and organic foods. This will cut down on energy, money and fuel used to transport products from around the world.
8. Recycle aluminum, by recycling one aluminum drink can is enough energy to run your TV for 3 hours.
9. Turn the thermostat down by just two degrees in the winter and up 2 degrees in the summer can save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year as well as money on your electric bill.
10. Keep your heat off while no one is at home, or set a timer so it shuts off before you leave and right before you come home.
11. Use thicker curtains to keep in heat and close them right before the sun sets.
12. Turn your lights off when leaving a room!
13. Use compact florescent light bulbs. They use less electricity and last much longer!
14. Unplug cell phones and other chargers once electronic devices are fully charged.
15. Keep fridge and freezer doors closed as often as possible. This can also help you to loose those extra pounds put on during the holidays.
16. Pressure cookers and steamers use a lot less energy and also are very healthy method to use while cooking.
17. Only use washing Machine and dish washer when there is a full load.
18. Avoid using dryers as often as possible. During the summer hang the clothes out on a clothes line.
19. Print Wisely! Think twice before clicking the print button while at the office or in class.
20. Make sure all house hold appliances and office equipment is unplugged when not in use. Even if electrical equipment is switched off it still is using energy when plugged in.
21. Use solar panels and other renewable energy sources.
22. Teleconference instead of flying and paying for travel costs.
23. Remember to recycle and try and use more recycled products such as recycled paper.
24. Plant Trees
25. Use Less Hot Water for heating water uses a lot of energy or switch to a tankless water heater. It can save you up to $390 in heating bills per year.
26. Make sure water heater does not exceed 120 degrees and insulate it.
27. Change your shower head to a low flow shower head.
28. Avoid products with a lot of packaging for this will cut down on the amount of garbage you produce per year.
29. Use energy star qualified products such as dishwasher, washing machine, dryer etc.
30. Use a push mower when cutting the grass. This consumes no fossil fuels therefore it does not emit greenhouse gases.
31. Make sure walls are insulated in your home. Making sure lofts and the upper floors of a house are insulated properly will keep the house much warmer during the winter.
32. Switch to windows that are double- pane, this will also help keep the heat in during those cold winter months.
33. Make sure doorways and windows are properly caulked and weatherproofed.
34. Replace old electronics with new energy efficient ones.
35. Buy large size/quantity products to avoid excess packaging.
36. Use reusable grocery bags rather than continuously using the plastic bags at the store.
37. An average American diet contributes about 1.5 tons of green house gasses per year. You can help reduce this by removing meat and dairy products from your diet one day a week.
38. Don’t idle your car. You can also turn off your engine if you are waiting for more than 30 seconds to help cut down on the toxic fuel emissions from your car.
39. Buy a fuel efficient car.
40. Change your air conditioning filter as recommended.
41. Heat your water using your stove rather than a microwave.
42. Install low flow sink faucets in your bathrooms and kitchen areas.
43. Drive less aggressively.
44. Try and drive 10 miles less per week.
45. Use reusable mugs for coffee instead of Styrofoam cups.
46. Use washable dishes and silverware when having a party.
47. Buy some vintage instead of new clothes from the mall.
48. Take showers instead of baths.
49. Buy Carbon offsets for what you can’t reduce.

Resources:

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefing_notes/50_climate_top_tips.pdf

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/index.html

http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/whatyoucando/ http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_actionitems.asp

http://green.yahoo.com/pledge/create

-Amanda Bussett, Ithaca College Student