What Will You Do About Climate Change?

This video is about what you can do about climate change.

The most powerful thing that you can do is minimize you carbon footprint. This means doing what you can to eliminate the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide

Carbon dioxide is produced when we burn fossil fuels by heating our homes, using electricity and driving our cars.

Methane is the principal ingredient in natural gas, which we use to produce hot water for our showers and in our  clothes dryers. It is also produced through the decomposition of organic matter, such as the waste products of raising animals and in land fill. Of these, the destruction of the rainforest to produce grazing land for cattle have a double impact.

Not only are the trees which convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into oxygen no longer providing this service, but the decomposition of cow dung is producing massive amounts of methane.

So the obvious solution is to reduce you consumption of meat and meat products by not shopping at fast food restaurants that have these rainforest destruction practices. I think McDonald’s is a major player in this destructive game. Do you know other companies doing this?

Nitrous oxide is produced when bacteria break down the nitrogen rich fertilizers in the soil. The increase in use of these types of  fertilizers is increasing nitrous oxide in the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide is emitted in much greater quantities than methane and nitrous oxide.

When you send a text message, many factors are involved in calculating your carbon footprint. First of all there is the direct use of electricity to charge you cell phone. Then there is the carbon footprint contribution from the manufacture of your cell phone. The latter is an indirect effect, but it includes the carbon dioxide production of the truck that delivered the phone to the retailer, the energy used by the store to heat and light the building, and the impact of your trip to the shopping center.

Here is what you can do when it comes to putting food on your table. Find out how the food was produced, where it came from and how did it get here. Obviously, food from local farmers has a much less carbon footprint than getting something from overseas. For example, I have urged my family to avoid buying sparkling water from France or Italy because of the carbon footprint to get these products to California.

The video recommends planting a garden, buying local, and eating your leftovers.

So, what will you do about climate change?