Column: Fighting climate change
Ah, the harbinger of fall, cooler temperatures and the leaves that are starting to turn, it is time for this year to be moving out! We can agree that this 2020 has been far from ordinary; we can only hope that as 2021 begins, we are moving in the same direction.
One direction that we can affect is that of our impact on the Earth. As we have watch the ravages of hurricanes and killer West coast fires, those of us in this little pocket of Heaven, the piedmont of North Carolina find that our weather is just about perfect, and are grateful for hurricanes that might impact us but not destroy us and for fires that are managed by our local fire departments.
Climate change is happening around us and no, it isn’t global warming, it is changes to the entire climate: more extreme weather that is affecting our planet, and when it effects this country, we should take notice and make changes.
What can we do as individuals? There are minor changes that can impact this condition. The main cause is excess carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses that warms the upper atmosphere.
How can we reduce or carbon dioxide output? Here are a few suggestions:
1. Stop eating (a lot) of red meat. Do you know that the meat industry…beef and pork mostly, uses 11 times the amount of water…5,000 gallons to produce 1 pound of meat?
More water consumption, the less for the rest of the world. The amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere comes from the emissions from all of the petroleum products necessary to energize machinery needed for production plus the methane created by cows and pigs; compared to chicken farming, creating only one –fifth the amount of emissions.
Think now about eating lower down of the food chain! Vegetarian meals may be the easiest way for you to lower your impact.
2. This has been mentioned before: unplug all devices that are consuming power. Vampire power uses $19 billion in energy every year, and any loss of power means that we are paying for power we don’t even know we are using or benefit from.
3. Drive less: well, the pandemic has certainly helped on this front. There are many more people working from home but that doesn’t mean to increase driving because you are bored!
It is still wise to combine all trips and reduce your gas consumption and emissions.
4. Plant a garden or plant a tree! Many of us remember from our days in school that plants need carbon dioxide and sunshine to photosynthesize …producing the energy for plant to grow and release oxygen into our atmosphere.
All green plants photosynthesize; if you plant trees, more carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere; even if you plant a garden, you still remove some carbon dioxide and can produce food for yourself or planting pollinator plants that attract bees which ensure that your flowering plants will be pollinated and produce fruits…win-win-win!
Think about altering your lawns to more permanent plantings; grass will sequester carbon dioxide only until it is cut; unless you use an old-fashioned manual blade push walk behind reel lawn mower, you are using power to cut grass.
Slowly reducing your grass cover and converting to permanent plantings does help.
5. Eat local when you can. We have a wonderful, seasonal resource at our Gastonia Farmers Market: local produce that hasn’t been trucked from places far away in vehicles spewing emissions.
You can support our local farmers while reducing impact on our climate.
6. Line dry your clothes…if you are working from home and take that work break to get outside and hang sheets and towels to dry, everybody wins!
Fresh air dried sheets are a crisp and feel wonderful, probably a throw back to your good old days!
Nan Kirlin is Gaston County’s recycling coordinator and her column appears in The Gazette on Sundays.