Scientists predicted that the world would come to an end in 2012, but it didn’t. Eleven years later, the world is still on the verge of environmental collapse as humans continue to exacerbate the climate crisis. The 2012 prediction may be a miscalculation, but how many miscalculations does it take for the world to become uninhabitable? Due to global warming, places such as Antarctica and Indonesia are threatened by ice-melting and rising sea levels; the rest of the world is experiencing the same in different ways (Climate Crisis in Antarctica, n.d.). In this article, you will learn how you can contribute to the environment with fairly simple but effective efforts.
Now, you might have heard about all these ways to make the earth a better place, but I’ll mention them anyway; it never hurts to be reminded one more time.
1. Take any chances to save energy
Since coal, oil, and gas fuel most of our electricity and heat, practices such as lowering heating and cooling, switching to LED light bulbs, and washing your clothes with cold water will significantly make a difference if you apply it in your daily routine (United Nations n.d.).
2. Use public transportation, bike, or walk
If saving our world takes us to be less lazy, isn’t that straightforward? Day-to-day commutes contribute to 85 percent of daily greenhouse gas emissions (Arambula, 2021). Using public transport, walking, or biking will reduce mass amounts of greenhouse gas emissions (United Nations n.d.). According to Alayn Arambula, a computer science and mathematics major at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 37 million metric tons of carbon dioxide is saved by public transportation in the United States annually.
3. Recycle
The production of electronics, clothing, and other products more or less emits carbon dioxide, the main cause for global warming (United Nations n.d.). Thus, buying second hand items avoids further carbon emissions (United Nations n.d.). Another thing you should keep in mind is how plastic is harmful to the environment (United Nations n.d.). In this case, owning a reusable bag for grocery shopping and a metal straw for drinks helps a big deal (United Nations n.d.).
It is too late to stop global warming, but it is never too late to slow its pace.
Thank you for reading this!
References
United Nations. (n.d.). Start with these ten actions! United Nations.
https://www.un.org/en/actnow/ten-actions
Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. (n.d.). Climate Crisis in Antarctica. Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. https://www.asoc.org/campaign/climate-crisis-in-antarctica/
Arambula A. (15 Dec. 2021). HOW MUCH DOES PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION HELP THE ENVIRONMENT? CITY OF McALLEN. https://www.mcallen.net/blogs/metro/2021/12/15/how-much-does-public-transportation-help-the-environment#:~:text=U.S.%20public%20transportation%20saves%2037,and%20switching%20to%20public%20transportation.
