There are plenty of things you can do every day to help reduce greenhouse gases and your carbon footprint to make a less harmful impact on the environment. ipopba / Getty Images
By Katie Lambert and Sarah Gleim
The United Nations suggests that climate change is not just the defining issue of our time, but we are also at a defining moment in history. Weather patterns are changing and will threaten food production, and sea levels are rising and could cause catastrophic flooding across the globe. Countries must make drastic actions to avoid a future with irreversible damage to major ecosystems and planetary climate.
<p>But what about individuals? What can we do to pitch in and help save the Earth? There are plenty of things you can do every day to help reduce greenhouse gases and your <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/minimizing-carbon-footprint.htm" target="_blank">carbon footprint</a> to make a less harmful impact on the environment. Taking care of the Earth is not just a responsibility, it's a necessity. In that spirit, HowStuffWorks has come up with 10 things you can do now to help save the planet.</p>
<h3>1. Conserve Water</h3><p>The little things can make a big difference. Every time you turn off the water while you're brushing your teeth, you're doing something good. Got a leaky faucet? You might be dripping as much as 90 gallons (340 liters) of water down the drain every day [source: <a href="https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/www3/watersense/about_us/facts.html#save_water" target="_blank">EPA</a>]. So fix it! It's easy and cheap. And stop drinking <a href="https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/why-americans-spend-billions-bottled-water.htm" target="_blank">bottled water</a>. Switch to filtered tap water. You'll save a ton of cash and help reduce a ton of plastic waste in the process.</p><h3>2. Be Car-conscious</h3><p>If you can, stay off the road two days a week or more. You'll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,590 pounds (721 kilograms) per year [source: <a href="https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle-0_.html" target="_blank">EPA</a>]. It's easier than you think. You can combine your errands — hit the school, grocery store and dog daycare in one trip. And talk to your boss about teleworking. It's a boon for you and your company. But being car conscious also means maintaining your car on a regular basis. You can improve your gas mileage by 0.6 percent to 3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure, and be sure to make necessary repairs if your car fails emission [source: <a href="https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/maintain.jsp" target="_blank">EPA</a>].</p>
<h3>3. Walk, Bike or Take Public Transit</h3><p>Walking and biking are obvious ways to reduce greenhouse gases. Plus you'll get some good cardio and <a href="https://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/exercise/sports-physiology.htm" target="_blank">burn some calories</a> while you do it. If you live in an area that's not <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/civil/why-so-many-suburban-streets-twist-and-turn.htm" target="_blank">walkable</a>, take advantage of your local <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/civil/subway.htm" target="_blank">mass transit</a> if you can. Or carpool. Even one car off on the road makes a difference.</p><h3>4. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle</h3><p>You can help reduce pollution just by putting that soda can in the <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/three-big-mistakes-we-make-recycling.htm" target="_blank">recycling</a> bin. It really does make a difference. Paper, too. Case in point: If an office building of 7,000 workers recycled all of its office paper waste for a year, it would be the equivalent of taking almost 400 cars off the road [source: <a href="https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/2013_advncng_smm_fs.pdf" target="_blank">EPA</a>]. But you can also take reusable bags to the grocery, and avoid using disposable plates, spoons, glass, cups and napkins. They create huge amounts of waste. And buy products that are made of recycled materials. It all makes a difference.</p>
<h3>5. Give Composting a Try</h3><p>In 2015, (the last year figures were available) Americans generated <a href="https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials#GenerationTrends" target="_blank">262.4 million tons (238 metric tons) of trash</a>. Only 23.4 million tons (21.2 metric tons) of that was composted. Some was recycled and some was combusted for energy, but almost half of it — 137.7 million tons (124.9 metric tons) — ended up in the <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/landfill.html" target="_blank">landfill</a>. Imagine if you could divert more of that to your own <a href="https://home.howstuffworks.com/composting.htm" target="_blank">compost</a>? It would help reduce the amount of solid waste you produce, and what eventually winds up in your local landfill. Plus, compost makes a great natural fertilizer.</p><h3>6. Switch to LEDs</h3><p><a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-tech/sustainable/cfl-bulb.htm" target="_blank">Compact fluorescent light bulbs</a> (CFLs) are great. They can last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs and they use at least two-thirds less energy, but even CFLS have issues. They're hard to dispose of because they contain mercury. Enter light-emitting diode, or LED bulbs. They emit light in a very narrow band wavelength so they're super energy-efficient. Start replacing your old incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs now (if you haven't already). They do cost more than CFLs and incandescents, but equivalent LED bulbs can last around 25,000 hours compared to the 1,000 hours that incandescent bulb might have lasted.</p>
<h3>7. Live Energy Wise</h3><p>Make your home more <a href="https://home.howstuffworks.com/green-living/home-heating-and-cooling-efficiency-tips.htm" target="_blank">energy efficient</a> (and save money). Your home's windows are responsible for <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/design/windows-doors-and-skylights/update-or-replace-windows" target="_blank">25 to 30 percent</a> of residential heat gain and heat loss. If they're old and inefficient, consider replacing them. Also be sure your home has proper insulation. Insulation is measured in terms of its thermal resistance or <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/weatherize/insulation" target="_blank">R-value</a> — the higher the R-value, the more effective the insulation. The amount of insulation your home needs depends on the climate, type of HVAC system, and where you're adding the insulation. Smaller things you can do right away include replacing your air filter regularly so your HVAC system doesn't have to work overtime. Keep your window treatments closed when it's extremely hot and cold outside. You can also consider installing a programmable thermostat like <a href="https://home.howstuffworks.com/nest-learning-thermostat.htm" target="_blank">Nest</a> so your system isn't running (and wasting energy) when you're not home.</p><h3>8. Eat Sustainable Foods</h3><p>Today, large-scale food production accounts for as much as <a href="https://nctce.com.au/what-is-sustainable-food-a-guide-to-eating-more-sustainably/" target="_blank">25 percent of the greenhouse emissions</a>. So how do you eat sustainably? Choosing food from farmers that aim to conserve the natural resources and have as little impact on the land as possible. But even buying as much as you can from local farmers makes a different. Eating more whole grains, vegetables, fruits and nuts, and less red meats and processed foods does too. Grow your own fruits and vegetables. You can <a href="https://home.howstuffworks.com/starting-a-vegetable-garden.htm" target="_blank">grow a garden</a>!</p>
<h3>9. Plant a Tree (or Two)</h3><p>In 2018 the United Nations' <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary-for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-1-5c-approved-by-governments/" target="_blank">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report</a>, the U.N. suggests an additional 2.5 billion acres (1 billion hectares) of forest in the world could limit global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) by 2050. That's a lot of trees, but you could plant one or two, right? One young tree can absorb<a href="http://urbanforestrynetwork.org/benefits/air%20quality.htm" target="_blank"> CO2 at a rate of 13 pounds</a> (5 kilograms) per tree. Every. Single. Year. And that's just an itty bitty baby tree. Once that tree reaches about 10 years old, it's at its most productive stage of carbon storage. Then it can absorb 48 pounds (21 kilograms) of CO2 per year. Trees also remove all other kinds of junk from the air, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and <a href="https://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/when-it-comes-to-air-pollution-tiniest-particles-might-be-worst.htm" target="_blank">small particles</a>. So go ahead, plant a tree. It's good for everybody.</p><h3>10. Give Up Plastics</h3><p>The statistics are shocking: People around the world <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/interactive/beat-plastic-pollution/" target="_blank">buy 1 million plastic drinking bottles</a> <em>every minute</em>, and use up to <em>5 trillion </em>single-use plastic bags every year. Humans are addicted to plastic, and hardly any of it — about 9 percent — gets recycled. A staggering 8 million tons (7.25 metric tons) ends up in the ocean every year. <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/conservation/issues/10-ways-to-stop-using-plastic-now.htm" target="_blank">Break the cycle</a>. Stop buying bottled water. Say no to plastic shopping bags and use cloth bags instead. Don't use <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/conservation/issues/americans-use-500-million-straws-every-day-would-you-pledge-go-strawless.htm" target="_blank">plastic straws</a>. Drink from a reuseable cup instead of a plastic one. Avoiding plastic can divert a ton of waste from the oceans and landfill.</p>
<p class=""><em>This story originally appeared in</em> <em><a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/" target="_blank">HowStuffWorks</a></em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2646032543#/" target="_self"></a> <em>and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A glacier is seen in the Kenai Mountains on Sept. 6, near Primrose, Alaska. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey have been studying the glaciers in the area since 1966 and their studies show that the warming climate has resulted in sustained glacial mass loss as melting outpaced the accumulation of new snow and ice. Joe Raedle / Getty Images
By Mark Mancini
On Aug. 18, Iceland held a funeral for the first glacier lost to climate change. The deceased party was Okjökull, a historic body of ice that covered 14.6 square miles (38 square kilometers) in the Icelandic Highlands at the turn of the 20th century. But its glory days are long gone. In 2014, having dwindled to less than 1/15 its former size, Okjökull lost its status as an official glacier.
<p>A plaque was later commissioned to honor the vanishing landmark. At the somber installation ceremony, around 100 people gathered to pay their respects, including hikers, scientists and Iceland's Prime Minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir. Speaking to the press, Jakobsdóttir <a href="https://time.com/5655006/iceland-glacier-funeral/" target="_blank">warned</a> that if current trends continue, her country stands to lose even more of its iconic <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/glacier.htm" target="_blank">glaciers</a> in the near future.</p>
<p><em>This story originally appeared in <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/difference-between-global-warming-and-climate-change.html" target="_blank">HowStuffWorks</a>. </em><em>It is republished here as part of</em> <em>EcoWatch's partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story.</em></p>
<p>The evidence is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/24/scientific-consensus-on-humans-causing-global-warming-passes-99" target="_blank">overwhelming</a>: Greenhouse gas emissions (and other human activities) are radically transforming the planet on which we live. As a result, California's <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/11/the-many-ways-climate-change-worsens-california-wildfires/" target="_blank">wildfire</a> season is getting longer; thawing permafrost has destabilized Russian <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/10/thawing-permafrost-destroying-arctic-cities/" target="_blank">infrastructure</a>; and yes, most of the world's glaciers are swiftly <a href="https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers/questions/climate.html" target="_blank">retreating.</a></p><p>With public concern on the rise, two relevant terms have entered the lexicon: "Climate change" and "global warming." These are often treated like synonyms, but they have different meanings.</p>
Climate and Weather
<p>Before proceeding further, there's another bit of terminology that we probably should clear up. The <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/atmospheric/weather-and-climate-whats-difference.htm" target="_blank">difference between climate and weather</a>. Weather is the short-term <a href="https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/arctic-meteorology/climate_vs_weather.html" target="_blank">state of the atmosphere</a> in a specific corner of the world. Humidity, temperature, wind speed, atmospheric pressure and visibility are all <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/noaa-n/climate/climate_weather.html" target="_blank">factors</a> that help dictate the weather at a particular moment in time.</p><p>In other words, weather doesn't last very long. It unfolds over the course of days, hours or even minutes. Therefore, it's liable to change quickly — which is why so many of us yearn for constant updates. Whenever you ask if your hometown is "supposed to get any rain" on a given day, you're inquiring about the weather.</p><p>Don't confuse weather with climate. The latter is far broader in scope. Basically, climate reflects an area's <em>long-term</em> weather averages and trends. Those are often established by <em>decades</em> (at least) of meticulous observation. Given the difference in scale, it makes sense that the climate is much <a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/weather-vs-climate" target="_blank">slower to change</a> than the weather.</p><p>And yet changes do occur. Averaged together, all the world's regional climates form what scientists know as the "<a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/weather-vs-climate" target="_blank">global climate</a>." This is liable to evolve and fluctuate over time — as are its regional components.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMTEyNjUxNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNTUwNzQ0M30.SQrF2KmhcQM2uPzBDKvQFc7sZhMvm20maoihbcwJVck/img.jpg?width=980" id="d0e2d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="43aa4c2ddef3878cb2dc3d971c8b1485" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
So far, 2018 is the fourth hottest year on record. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal temperatures are shown in blue.
Ralf Goebel / GEMA
Times Change
<p>Ok, so what exactly does the term "climate change" mean? By the <a href="https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glossary?keys=climate+change" target="_blank">broadest definition</a>, climate change includes any and all long-term fluctuations in one or more climate-related variables — such as average rainfall — within the same location.</p><p>Note that this applies to both regional climates and the global climate itself. So let's say northern Europe saw a dramatic spike in rainstorms and the trend continued for decades on end. That hypothetical scenario would count as an example of regional climate change, no matter what happened elsewhere in the world.</p><p>On the other hand, global warming is — well, global. More to the point, the term refers to an increase in a planet's average <a href="https://pmm.nasa.gov/education/articles/whats-name-global-warming-vs-climate-change" target="_blank">surface temperature</a>. And here on Earth, that's definitely been climbing.</p><p>The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that between the years 1880 and 2016, our home planet's average <a href="https://www.livescience.com/37003-global-warming.html" target="_blank">surface temperatures increased</a> to the tune of 1.71 degrees Fahrenheit (0.95 degrees Celsius).</p><p>Mind you, this is nothing to sneeze at. A planet-wide temperature shift of only a few degrees can have enormous ramifications. Fifteen thousand years ago, in a geologically-recent ice age, our world was only about <a href="https://www.livescience.com/58891-why-2-degrees-celsius-increase-matters.html" target="_blank">9 degrees Fahrenheit cooler</a> (5 degrees Celsius) than it is today. And yet, that temperature was enough to keep almost a third of the planet's surface blanketed in ice.</p><p>Ah, but we're getting off-track. The main takeaway here is that global warming is a form of climate change — but climate change doesn't always manifest itself as global warming.</p>An Unprecedented Problem
<p>Strange as it may sound, the recent warming caused by our greenhouse gas emissions may be provoking an increase in both <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/climate/climate-change-floods-droughts.html" target="_blank">flooding and droughts</a>. While certain areas across the globe now receive enhanced precipitation, soils in some dryer parts of the world stand to <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/peril-and-promise/2019/05/climate-change-contributed-to-droughts/" target="_blank">lose a great deal of moisture</a>.</p><p>To learn more, we reached out to <a href="https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~nsteiger/" target="_blank">Dr. Nathan Steiger</a>. An atmospheric scientist at Columbia University, Steiger studies the effects that variations in climate have had — and still have — on human civilizations.</p><p>"Historically, societies were impacted most by the same kinds of disruptive climate events that occur today: prolonged and extreme heat and cold, droughts and floods," he said via email. "Often these climate changes in the past simply happened to people due to no fault of their own ... But sometimes these disruptive climate extremes were made worse by human mismanagement of their environments."</p><p>He points to agriculture-driven <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/104/33/13268" target="_blank">soil erosion</a> as an example of the latter. "Areas that lose thick, rich soils are more susceptible to drying out during droughts, thus making the droughts even worse than they would have been."</p><p>In 2019, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1401-2" target="_blank">Steiger co-authored a comprehensive study</a> which appeared in the journal, Nature. Using <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/tibetan-ice-core-could-reveal-clues-about-climate-change.htm" target="_blank">ice cores</a>, coral samples, historical records and other lines of evidence, his team reviewed the history of climate shifts — large and small — over the past two millennia.</p><p>During that swath of time, there were a number of aberrant periods, including the unusually hot "<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-study/global-warming-dwarfs-climate-variations-of-past-2000-years-study-idUSKCN1UJ2DC" target="_blank">Medieval Climate Anomaly</a>" which lasted from 800 to 1200 CE.</p><p>Most of these events were regional in nature. Yet, Steiger and his colleagues found that for <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1401-2" target="_blank">98 percent of the planet</a>, the single hottest period during <em>the last 2,000 years</em> was the late 20th century, when global temperatures were absolutely soaring.</p><p>So let's do a quick recap. More than 20 centuries of human history, our forebears never had to withstand any climate-related phenomenon that was as universally impactful — or frankly, alarming — as modern-day climate change.</p><p>Aren't we lucky?</p>
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