Engaging in Climate Action (I): What Each of Us Can do Now

Introduction: 

This section and the next are about Climate Action—the steps we can and must take to contain Global Warming within the limits set in the Paris Accords. This section is mostly about personal actions that each of us can take right now; the next section is mostly about collaborative actions. “Action,” you will note, is the common word.  

 If we are going to slow the impact of Global Warming and preserve the planet for future generations, we have no choice but to take action now—even if but to make plans for how we, as individual citizens, are going to transition our personal lives as far as we can and as soon for the shift away from fossil fuels to clean energy.

 

General Statement:

The overwhelming majority of climatologists (and others from related sciences) attribute Global Warming to the dramatic increase in the release of Green House Gases, chiefly C0-2 from the burning of fossil fuels, which accelerated with the start of the Industrial Revolution.

 

Boston is not immune. The City’s recent Climate Action plan notes that in the last 100 years, the average temperature has increased 1 degree; since xxx it has increased xx degrees, and if that trend continues, by the end of this century, Boston could have temperatures 5-6 degrees higher, with days in the 90’s and has predicted that without effective action there will be xxx days in the 90’s by the end of this century, and another xxx days in the 100’s in Boston.

To slow this trend, anything and everything that reduces the burning of fossil fuels. Look below for specific actions you can take.

This is not a comprehensive list, but it is a start. If you’ve discovered another positive action, send us story.  (See Section V of the website.)

 

 

Climate change is the defining crisis of our time and it is happening even more quickly than we feared. But we are far from powerless in the face of the global threat. As Secretary-General António Guterres pointed out in September, ‘the climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win.'” – United Nations Website

 Things We Can Do On Our Own

Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle . . . (and try) Doing Without

• Reduce your ‘resource consumption’—e.g. be alert to the pressures of consumerism and consider the difference between wants and needs; don’t throw things out until they have really ‘lived’ their useful life and then consider if you might now ‘do without.’
• Reuse store containers for food instead of buying new ones.  There is already too much plastic in the world; we shouldn’t have to purchase more.  The Post Office seems quite generous with rubber bands.  Save them. Cut scrap paper  into a handy size for notes-to-self or for shopping lists.  
• Repair clothing, shoes, appliances—anything you can—until it is clear that it’s useful life is over.  And then . . .
• Recycle what is finished—or find a new home for something that might still be useful for another person
• Do Without: Ask yourself the question before replacing: Is this something I can happily do without.

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