How to Prevent Climate Change in Your Everyday Life

As we’ve seen over the past few years, our Earth’s temperature is changing, drastically.  According to Cool Earth, the Earth has “warmed by 1°C since the middle of the 19th century, and could reach 1.5°C before the middle of this century at the current rate of warming.”  This change in temperature is due to the amount of carbon that is released into the air.  When carbon is released into the air it goes up into our atmosphere and gets stuck there. This causes heat to stay trapped inside of our atmosphere, overall, warming the planet.  

Some people may wonder why this chain of events matters, but when you look at the changes in our environment that have happened because of the change in temperature, it is easy to see.  Ice caps are melting, the sea level is rising, animals are going extinct, and so much more. But what can we do to prevent more of this from happening? 

One of the many things you can do to prevent this climate crisis in your everyday life is by unplugging your charger when you’re not charging a device.  Even when you aren’t charging a device, if your charger is plugged in it will still use energy. According to Huffpost, “In the U.S. alone, “vampire power” is responsible for draining up to $19 billion in energy every year.”  Unplugging your charger when you’re not using it is very easy and will save so much energy.

Another way you can help prevent climate change in your everyday life is to line dry your clothes.  Using a dryer can raise your carbon footprint by a lot. As stated on Green America, “Air-drying your clothes can reduce the average household’s carbon footprint by a whopping 2,400 pounds a year.”  Line drying your clothes is a very simple and easy thing to do.  And if saving the environment isn’t enough to convince you to stop using a dryer, dyers also destroy your clothes.  On Green America, they say, “The lint you find in your dryer is evidence of your wardrobe literally wearing away. When you stop using your dryer, you’re conserving your favorite clothes longer and saving the cost of replacing them before their time.”  Switching to line drying is another great way to minimize your carbon emissions.  

The last way you can help the Earth is by eating organic and locally-produced food.  According to Cotap, “It has been estimated that 13% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions result from the production and transport of food.”  Eating locally grown and organic food can improve your carbon footprint.  Even when you are buying food from your local farmers market, you aren’t just supporting local businesses, but also saving the greenhouse gas emissions that would’ve come from buying it at a grocery store.   

By unplugging our charging cords when we are not charging anything, line drying our clothes, and eating organic and locally produced food we can help our Earth survive this crisis.  You may think, I can’t change anything. I’m just one person. But if everyone comes together to try and change how we live, we can change the world.