1) "You're better off eating vegetables from Argentina than red meat from a local farm." This step focuses on the importance of reducing your meat consumption, as the production of red meat and dairy is significantly carbon-intensive. A study is cited that found "a typical household that replaces 30 percent of its calories from red meat and dairy with a combination of chicken, fish and eggs will save more carbon than a household that ate entirely local food for a full year."
2) "Take the bus." This suggestion states that "If you drive to work alone every day, your commuting alone eats up more than your entire carbon budget for the year." Switching to public transportation, or even active transportation such as biking, would significantly improve your footprint.
3) "Eat everything in your refrigerator." With the amount of food that is wasted (about 40%), diverting your food from the landfill will reduce methane output from decomposition, as well as the amount of food that needs to be produced. Making meal plans and shopping lists will help reduce the amount of food you waste, and also save you money!
4) "Flying is bad, but driving can be worse." Flying economy is preferred to flying first class since first class seats take up more space and leads to more flights for the same amount of passengers. On the other hand, taking a seat on a plane is less detrimental than driving cross-country.
5) "Cats and dogs are not a problem." Contrary to common belief, pets do not contribute to climate change. Even though their diets are primarily meat, they are eating the meat that is "unfit for human consumption," which would have been disposed of anyway.
6) "Replace your gas guzzler if you want, but don't buy a second car." When you buy a second car, you are "encouraging the manufacturing of all those raw materials and metals." A better option would be to trade your car for a one with better gas mileage.
7) "Buy less stuff, waste less stuff." Here the article discusses the impact of consumer goods. In short, it is important to only buy what you need, and recycling what you can. This will reduce the amount of goods that need to be produced and the amount of trash that goes into landfills.
These 7 tips will help anyone reduce their contribution to climate change. Because it is difficult to change your habits, I suggest that you tackle them one at a time. It's easy to feel overwhelmed or insignificant in your efforts. But I assure you, living a less carbon-intensive lifestyle, aside from contributing to the greater good, will also save money and improve your health. These are improvements that I believe everybody should find worthwhile.
