reducing greenhouse gas emissions means a change in lifestyle.
it means thinking about where things come from and where they go when we're finished with them.
it also means thinking about the impact our everyday activities have on people and ecosystems in our own neighborhood and as far away as antarctica.

10 steps to reducing your personal greenhouse gas emissions:

1. bike for life!
2. choose public transportation
3. turn down the heat!
4. weatherproof your home
5. use compact fluorescent lightbulbs
6. eat right
7. use a clothesline
8. reduce, reuse, recycle
9. switch to renewable energy
10. tell a friend...or government official...or corporation...

1. bike for life
   "When I see an adult on a bicycle I do not despair for the future of the human race." - H.G. Wells

   leave your car in the garage hop on a bike and ride with the knowledge that you're saving money, improving your health AND doing all this emission free! if you don't have a bike, rent one to see how you like riding or pick one up at a garage sale. next all you need is a helmet, lights and reflectors and you're on your way. if you'd like to educate yourself further about the ins and outs of cycling pick up "Effective Cycling" by John Forester or "Urban Bikers' Tricks and Tips" by Dave Glowacz. once you're whizzing past traffic jams or coasting down a country road, however, you'll know the most important thing: cycling is fun, easy, and empowering.

   by using your bike or walking for short trips (25% of car trips in the U.S. are one mile or less) and working up to longer rides, you'll be decreasing your own green house gas emissions. in a year, the typical North American car will add close to five tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. every car commuter who switches to biking saved an average of 400 gallons of gas a year.

   with a good map of your area that includes bike trails and side roads you can bike to work, on errands, on visits and for exercise. with the proper gear you can do this during spring, summer, winter and fall. to learn more about how to incorporate biking into your life read "Divorce Your Car" by Katie Alvord.

2. choose public transportation
   let someone else do the driving. sit back, and relax with a book, with the knowledge that you're helping to cut congestion, save land, boost the economy and make transportation more equal and more community oriented.

   choosing public transportation, of course, also helps the environment. "In general, transit use fewer British thermal units (BTUs, a measure of energy) per passenger per mile than do cars and light trucks. While a single-occupant car uses 5 000 BTUs per passenger mile, a train car carrying 19 people uses about 2 300 and a bus carrying the same number only about 1000. Transit can also cut emissions. Going by bus instead of by car cuts nitrogen oxide pollution by 25 percent, carbon monoxide by 80 percent and hydrocarbons by 90 percent per passenger mile. Taking rail cuts nitrogen oxide by 77 percent and carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons by 99 percent" (Divorce Your Car by Katie Alvord).

   the more often more people abandon their cars for public transportation, the more money government will invest in it, which in turn will encourage more public transportation users, creating the incentive for more funding, etc. so, pick up a bus schedule, find the stop nearest to your home, work, school, etc, and let someone take you for a ride.

3. turn down the heat!
   because most heating systems depend on the burning of fossil fuels, reducing the amount of heat we use in our homes will also reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere.

   believe it or not, turning the heat down just 1° farenheit will prevent the emission of 203 pounds of carbon dioxide per year!
   and why stop there? instead of turning up the heat when you're cold, try putting a sweater on, or a warm pair of socks.

4. weatherproof your home
   in addition to turning down the heat, ensuring our homes are properly sealed and well-insulated allows us to make the most efficient use of our heat.

   a single household can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 1300 pounds per year by sealing air gaps in walls. an extra 2000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions can be avoided by adding insulation in the walls, basement, and attic of a house.

5. use compact fluorescent lightbulbs
   there are a wide variety of energy efficient fixtures now on the market. one good example of how to save energy (and thus greenhouse gas emissions) with energy efficient products is compact fluorescent lightbulbs:

   a compact fluorescent lightbulb is an amazing little invention. it produces the same amount of light as a traditional bulb, but uses a fraction of the electricity to do so. whereas an incandescent lightbulb uses 75 watts of electricity, a compact fluorescent uses a mere 18 watts.

   what's more, a compact fluorescent bulb lasts 13 times longer, which means fewer replacements. this translates into more spare time that can be spent thinking of other ways to reduce household greenhouse gas emissions(that was a joke).

6. eat right
   check out the climate change caravan food declaration

7. use a clothesline
   household appliances are greenhouse gas emitting beasts. did you know that the average clothes dryer uses 1060 kilowatt hours of electricity and results in 1738 pounds of carbon dioxide each year? using a clothesline or drying rack year round can will avoid these emissions altogether.

   and since we're on the subject of clean clothes, you might be interested to note that washing clothes in hot water uses 1080 kilowatt hours of electricity and emits 1771 pounds of carbon dioxide each year of use. using cold water in your washing machine uses only 99 kilowatt hours and emits 162 pounds of carbon dioxide annually. and the clothes are just as clean!

8. reduce, reuse, recycle
   the famous three r's are not immediately associated with climate change. but because almost every product we buy requires energy to produce, greenhouse gas emissions are inevitable.

   reduce: by limiting the amount of material goods we purchase, we can reduce the amount of goods we end up throwing away.
   two things to ask yourself before making a purchase are:

   1. 1. how long will this item last?
   2. do i really need to buy this?
   buying quality products and buying only things that can't be borrowed, leased, or skipped altogether will enable you to buy fewer things in the long run. this means fewer emissions resulting from production.

   reuse: reusing things diverts them from the waste stream. there are a wide variety of items commonly thought of as disposable that are actually durable enough to be reused infinitely. glass bottles, jars, yoghurt containers, and plastic bags can all be used to store things long after the product advertised on their label has been consumed.

   more to the point, why not avoid buying disposable items in the first place?

   • reusable coffee mugs
   • cloth napkins, diapers, grocery bags
   • refillable pens and pencils
   what do all of these things have in common? they are all one-time investments that replace the typical disposable products used. if you can reuse it, you can reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating the need to produce more.

   recycle: in 1996 recycling in the united states prevented the release of 33 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. that's because recycling uses the materials from a used good (such as an aliminum can or piece of paper) to make something new instead of processing raw materials. in some cases, this saves vast amounts of energy because it demands less processing. for example, recycling aluminum cans saves a mind-boggling 95% of the energy required to make the same amount of cans from virgin resources. so keep recycling those cans! and find out what other materials (paper, cardboard, plastic, batteries) are recyclable in your municipality.

9. switch to renewable energy

   electricity in Canada for the most part comes from three sources: macro-hydro, fossil fuel(coal, natural gas, oil) and nuclear. All of these sources result in serious ecological problems.

   renewable energy can be derived from solar electric(photovoltaic cells), passive solar(solar hot water), wind, micro hydro, geothermal and biomass. Of these options only biomass contributes to climate change.

   depending on where you live in Canada, there are two ways of switching to renewable energy.

   it is possible to power an individual house off of renewable energy. This rquires a large financial investment ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 depending on the energy consumption and wind and solar regime. To make this less of a burden, it is possible to incrementally implement a system to provide a house with renewable energy: wind and solar . For example, a solar hot water heater can be purchased for around $3000 from a Canadian company.

   as energy markets deregulate across Canada, it is possible to purchase electricity that is considered 'green power'. In Alberta, energy can be purchased from wind turbines. This option is not available to most Canadians but will soon be.

10. tell a friend...or government official...or corporation...

    tell a friend how to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.this will double your returns!

    tell a government official you are concerned about climate change and what you expect them to do as your representatives:

    Prime Minister Jean Chretien	Fax(613)941-6900 Email: pm@pm.gc.ca
    Minister of Environment, David Anderson	Phone(819)997-1441 Fax(819)953-3457 Email: david.anderson@ec.gc.ca
    Minster of Natural Resources and Energy, Ralph Goodale	Phone(613)996-2007 Fax(613)996-4516 Email: rgoodale@NRCan.gc.ca

    your MP's contact details can be found by clicking here.

    tell the corporation that supplies your oil or electricity, or the manufacturer of your car, or even the people who make your toothpaste that you are concerned about climate change. find out if they have a policy to reduce their emissions or to make their products more environmentally friendly. let them know you're going to hold them to it! you can find the contact details on the internet, on the product packaging, or on an invoice.

useful links

• Rocky Mountain Institute
• Emissions Calculator
• Toronto Renewable Energy Co-op
• Canadian Wind Energy Association
• Retscreen
• Carfree.com
• Climate Change Solutions