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What You Can Do

If human activity is the cause of climate change, then human activity can also be the solution. Check out what you can do to save the present and protect the future from the worst climate change impacts:

1. Switch to Green Power. Currently, 34 states and the District of Columbia offer alternatives for customers who want to purchase green power. For a complete list of green power options, visit the US Department of Energy’s Web site.
2. Buy Green Tags. If your energy company doesn’t offer green power, you can offset your carbon dioxide emissions by purchasing “green tags,” or compensatory energy credits that add renewable power to the grid equal to the power you use. Numerous green tag programs exist; Green America partners with NativeEnergy.
3. Make your voice heard. We target corporations such as ExxonMobil, Ford, GM, and Peabody Energy, urging them to take responsibility for their role in global warming and invest in renewable energy.  Visit our actions page now.  
4. Improve your Efficiency. The best and cheapest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to improve your energy efficiency at home and at work.
5. Go Solar. With states offering residential renewable energy incentives as high as $20,000 (and the federal government offering a $2,000 incentive through 2007), solar energy is more accessible than ever before, not to mention an excellent long-term investment. Get our Green American, The Promise of the Solar Future, to learn more. (PDF)
6. Green Your Transportation. Carpool, vanpool, take a bus, ride a train, or step on the subway. Better yet walk or ride a bike. Using mass transit, fuel-efficient vehicles, and your own energy to get around is a wonderful way to take control of your impact on climate change. Americans could save 1.5 million barrels of fuel a day if fuel economy were improved by 5 mpg.  If you have to drive or you’re flying, consider purchasing carbon offsets for your trip. Get our Guide to Sustainable Transportation. (PDF)
7. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  Resource extraction, manufacturing, and waste disposal are all energy-intensive processes.  Cutting down on the waste stream cuts down on all of these processes, which cuts energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.  Reduce the amount you consume to begin with.  Reuse everything you can, from magazines to packaging to yard waste.  Recycle paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, battery, textiles, and electronics.  Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a TV for three hours, and recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours.  Check out the EPA's "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" guide.
8. Eat Locally. From farm to dinner plate, food grown in the US travels 1500 miles on average. Distances are substantially longer for foods imported from elsewhere in the world. [source: Local Harvest] Add on the energy used for packaging and refrigeration, and your food can carry hefty carbon emissions. When you visit a farmers market, subscribe to a CSA, or buy local produce at your grocer you are saving thousands of miles. Just think what you save when you purchase handcrafted goods and gifts from local producers.
9. Eat Less Meat, Or None At All.  Raising animals for meat is a major contributor to the leading causes of global warming.  It requires massive amounts of energy, water, and land during all stages of production.  More than one-third of all fossil fuels produced in the United States are used to raise animals for food.  It takes about 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of meat – grain which could be eaten directly by humans.  According to scientists at the Smithsonian Institute, the equivalent of seven football fields of land is bulldozed every minute to create more room for farmed animals, releasing tons of carbon dioxide.  Cows are also a huge source of greenhouse gases – in this case, methane.  Reducing the amount of animal products in your diet has a huge impact.  Learn more from Vegetarian 101.
10. Use Less Water.  Using less water reduces the need for energy to both treat and heat that water.  The average American household expends about 14 percent of its energy usage on heating water. That adds up to nearly 4 percent of the country's total energy use and emits about 260 million tons of CO2 [Source: NRDC].  Take shorter showers, install low-flow shower heads and low-volume toilets, and see this guide for 97 more tips,
11. Use Your Investor Power. If you invest in power companies that continue to rely on coal, voice your concerns with unsustainable technologies and ask them to disclose their role in creating climate risks, assert that you prefer to invest your dollar in cleaner technologies. If you invest in mutual funds, tell the company that you expect them to vote for sustainability on climate risk resolutions.

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