There are some solutions to Global Climate Change which are painfully obvious to an outside observer. I feel like the kid pointing out the emperor has no clothes. Here are three suggestions on how to fix the US’ contribution to Global Climate Change
- Stop subsidizing cars and roads. Stop bailing out car companies. Stop funding for electric cars. Seriously, you don’t need a two ton death trap to drive two miles to the grocery store and back. Go buy an ATV. Twenty-seven percent of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is from transportation.1 Need to get to work? Get a dirt bike. Use trails instead of roads. In Michigan, our roads are reduced to rubble every year. Let’s just leave it. Do the trucking companies need roads? Let them pay for it. I bet they need a lot less roads than what we have now.
- Stop subsidizing meat production. A quarter pound of beef requires 14.6 gallons of water, 13.5 pounds of feed, 64.5 square feet of land, and 4 pounds total carbon footprint.2 A quarter pound. If you want meat, then you pay $20 for a burger. Otherwise, stick with a plant based diet.
- Stop providing coal power plants. No centralized electricity if you want to get crazy. If you want to turn on the lights at home, I hope you charged your solar powered batteries at home! Here’s a terrifying image from the EPA:
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In 2014, Coal power plants produced 2,101.1 million metric tons CO2.4 Million. We don’t need to fund clean energy, we just need to stop funding fossil fuel.
It’s easy to get caught up in this trap of, “the government provides X, how do you provide it without government?” The answer is you don’t! We’re talking about saving the earth. Presumably you care about future generations. We can either take drastic measures now, or emergency measures later.
1https://www.epa.gov/transportation-air-pollution-and-climate-change/carbon-pollution-transportation
2https://www.businessinsider.com/one-hamburger-environment-resources-2015-2?op=1