Climate Change

What You Can Do about Global Warming

Because emissions of heat-trapping gases in the United States are so high and continue to accumulate in the atmosphere, Americans have a special responsibility and opportunity to reduce global warming. Here are some ways you can help:

Take Personal Action

Reduce your personal contribution to global warming and set an example for others by using less gasoline, natural gas, oil, and electricity (especially electricity generated from coal-fired power plants) in your daily life. Here are three suggestions:

Reduce the amount of gas you burn by choosing a fuel-efficient car or other transportation that uses less (or no) fossil fuel per person, such as trains, subways, and buses; car pools; walking; and biking.
Buy efficient appliances that use less electricity. Look for the Energy Star, awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Reduce every day electrical use. Develop a plan to reduce daily electricity use around your home. Ask each member of your household to take responsibility for a different electricity-saving action, such as turning off lights when leaving the room, unplugging appliances when they are not in use, using compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), and only running dishwashers or washing machines with full loads.

Encourage Community Action

Work within your community to promote energy efficiency and use of clean energy. Here are some good places to start:

Make it easier for community members to use energy-efficient transportation. For example, promote community carpooling plans and the construction of bike lanes, and urge local businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations to install bike racks.
Encourage the use of clean, renewable energy in publicly funded projects. For example, suggest that new construction or significant remodeling projects incorporate passive-solar techniques.
Work with your local electric utilities. Encourage them to promote energy efficiency and the use of clean, renewable energy sources.
Check the UCS Activist Resource Center for tips on working with policy makers and the media.
Influence U.S. Action
The United States needs to play a leadership role in addressing global warming, and you can help make this happen.
Write to your local newspaper about the significance of global warming and the need for U.S. leadership, or respond to stories and letters that dismiss global warming.
Write or call President Obama to let him know you expect him to be an international leader on this issue.
Contact your U.S. representatives and senators to encourage them to support actions that reduce the emissions of heat-trapping gases.
Ask your governor, state legislators, and public utility regulators to promote energy efficiency, nonpolluting transportation alternatives, and the development of clean, renewable sources of energy, such as solar and wind power.

Why We Should Be Concerned About Global Warming

Emperor Penguins Whether or not you believe that humans are the cause of climate change, it's hard to deny the accumulated studies suggesting that the earth's atmosphere is warming. Many will still argue that it doesn't matter: the climate goes through cycles, so what's a few degrees up or down?

An article published in Nature provides a statistical analysis of literally thousands of observations of natural systems from around the world, taken between 1970 and 2004.

Among the warming-linked changes seen in the study are the timing of plant flowering, bird nesting, ice melting, salmon migration and pollen release; declines in populations of polar bears, krill and penguins; and increased growth of Siberian pines and cool-water ocean plankton.

There seems to be a clear picture forming of significant change in biological systems. Again, does it really matter if a few species go extinct or fruit ripens earlier or later? In some respects, we don't know how much it matters, but that in itself is reason to be cautious. Business as usual is to deplete the earth's resources - both the living and the stored - so arguments that "there is no proof of anthropogenic climate change, so we should just do nothing" are fallacious. We aren't doing nothing now; we are actively changing the environment in which we live. If we clear the oceans of fish, what does that do to the rest of the food chain? Biodiversity is important for a number of reasons, and one is to provide ecological resilience. It's easy to forget that we are part of the chain, and while we may be able to overcome some obstacles, we are not immune to the laws of nature.