All of you have calculated your emissions and you have surely discovered the unexpectedly high impact of some of your behaviors (eating meat, flying to a sunny destination, etc.) on your total footprints.
Are there any behaviors that you are really willing to change or to improve for the sake of the environment? What challenges do you encounter or think you will encounter while trying to change these things? What help, support, and insights from others would make your life easier with these new behaviors?
Let's discuss these issues and make our pledges here!
Now It's Time for Action >
New study: 80% reductions of emissions needed above Paris pledges
According to a new study, in order to keep warming to 2°C (which is still too much!) countries need to increase their Paris Climate Accord pledges by 80%!
https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/02 … t-targets/
That means we can do this but we have a lot of work to do!
What are you willing to do to help we as a species reach this goal?
I am willing to start eating less meat. I noticed that food was the highest part of my carbon footprint results. I know that changing my diet all of the sudden is going to be hard, but I want to decrease my carbon footprint. I plan on limiting myself to eating beef once a month and adding more vegetables to my meal. I have discussed this plan with my family, and we have agreed to see how it goes. I think that this will reduce my carbon footprint and increase my health.
Dear Keisha, yes I agree that food choices are "low hanging fruit" (haha) when it comes to readily available ways for most of us to make a difference in our personal carbon emissions. I also think your idea to do it little by little "and see how it goes" is a good approach. It's important to maintain a balanced diet, and for many people, they are not aware of exactly how to replace meat with a plant based diet in a healthy manner. It's important to do research!
I have been mostly vegan for 15 years now, and I'm as healthy as ever. I also have gotten much better as a cook, with the challenge of making plant-based meals interesting and tasty.
I also realized that I should answer my own question in my original post!
I am going to commit to more focused political action to try to press my state and national political leaders to take bold action on cliamte change. The new Biden administration talks about being committed to bold climate action - now we need to press them to ensure that this talk turns into tangible results.
I hadn't been eating meat because of taste, but now I have also given up dairy and feel much healthier. Interestingly, foods taste so much better and I'm not as hungry on a vegan diet. I like that I'm doing something to help the environment at the same time. I've also been shopping at the farmer's market more, and I've learned about lots of vegetables that I didn't know about before.