Conservation Basics for Global Warming Carbon Rookies

Sure there are people out there looking to avoid any and all air travel, in what I think is a somewhat misguided (but good intentioned) attempt to limit their greenhouse gas emissions. Right to the point of looking at crossing the Atlantic by cargo ship. But, lets face it, that is not practical, and take it from me, the ship's crew regards every passenger a pest. (Keep in mind that air travel only contributes about 2% of all GHG.)

What is really missing here are some common sense ways that you can reduce your 'carbon footprint' without having to make sacrifices. After all, that is the basic problem, while you might be willing to limit your lifestyle for the good of the planet; most other people (Like former Vice President Al Gore) are really not going to do much if it impacts their current lifestyle. So here is a short list of basic things that are or are nearly sacrifice-free. Sure, your not saving much, but added up among millions of people conserving, and you will make an impact. And who knows, once you get in the habit of doing the simple things, the harder ones might be easier to accomplish, if needed:

Use a bank card/credit card whenever possible. - Using cash or checks requires the physical movement of cash and checks. Also by using electronic means of payment, the Government will not need to mint more money. With that in mind, carry some change with you, especially pennies so that you can limit or eliminate receiving any coinage as change for small cash purchases.

Pay Bills Online whenever Possible - Why send anything through the mail when you can pay bills electronically.

Subscribe for Electronic Statements only - If any of your accounts permits you, stop receiving paper copies of invoices and statements from bank accounts, credit cards, insurance, etc. - Added 26 March

Fly Direct Whenever Possible - There are two different theories to routing air travel, direct and hub-and-spoke. Hub and spoke using bases to consolidate travelers and then move them on a larger plane to another hub, where passengers are flown to their final destinations. Of course direct is either a single or least number of flights to get you point to point. The new Airbus A380 is betting on the Hub and Spoke transport method and Boeing's 787 is betting on point to point transportation. Either way, both new planes are going to be much better for the environment that what is currently in the air. That is technology working for you.

Do not buy Tax Free Items - Never, ever buy tax-free items on the plane. It is idiotic to have goods adding non-essential weight to an airplane, that could be better used carrying cargo or additional passengers. Most of those goods are already available in stores at home.

Use the most economical shipping options when ordering online - Do not use next day shipping. It will be shipped by air, which is the worse option for the environment. You only need to plan in advance if you want something.

Do not subscribe to catalogs, magazines and newspapers - They are wasteful uses of paper and even recycling them uses energy and emits greenhouse gasses.

Do not print unless absolutely needed - Printing of course uses paper and often the printed item is read once and then tossed away.

Look where the Product was Made - You don't need to buy American (Or wherever you happen to be located) for Patriotic reasons. You can do it for the Environment. Buying locally made products has a number of benefits; encourages local employment, and reduces the transportation demands to get the product from the manufacturer to the market. In addition, you can support products that are manufactured with due regard to the Environment. Not only does it take more energy to transport products from China, but also the factory in China may pollute more than a factory in the US, not to mention the plant that generated the electricity. Despite neither country being held to the Kyoto Agreement, the US has much stricter standards concerning plant emissions than China does, as well as better enforcement to ensure compliance. (Although, if you live in a port city, that product shipped in might have a greener logistics chain.)

Turn off items not in use - Common sense really, but how many of you have lights that are on all the time. Many items, like TVs consume energy even if the item is off, using standby power, which consumes about 5% of all energy consumed in the US. So if you do not plan on using something for a while, unplug it from the wall, especially if it has a transformer and especially if you are going away on vacation.

Don't Start the Car until you are ready to drive it - This should be an environmental no-brainer, but for some reason remote starters for cars are getting increasingly popular. This is in addition to the dedicated group who runs out to their car and starts it up to either warm it up or cool it down.

Here are some more that will require a small sacrifice, or cost you some money, but I suspect that these will not be a problem for the majority of us, just for those who are telling us to conserve:

Buy Energy-Efficient Products - The most obvious item for change are energy-efficient light bulbs, but this goes for most everything. Surely a traditional TV consumes more energy than a flat screen, although I doubt the wife will ok it's purchase on ecological grounds. However, a flat screen for the computer is very affordable, so get rid of that old monitor. (TVs and monitors consume power to keep the monitor warm so that you get an instant picture when you turn it on.)

Do not fly First or Business Class - These classes waste so much space on the plane. Either a smaller plane could be used to carry that amount of passengers, or the plane can be refitted to carry more passengers if the whole plane was economy class.

Stop Smoking - Face it, lighting up releases greenhouse gases. There are some people who say that the growing of the tobacco makes the process carbon-neutral, but that fails to take into account any indirect carbon emissions, which are probably substantial since any good the plant does is negated in the process of burning it. That leaves nothing left over for harvesting, processing and transporting the products.

Don't do Illegal Drugs - Sorry to have to tell you this, but the illegal drug industry is not green. They transport the drugs in fuel-burning speedboats or route the drugs in such a way that wastes vast amounts of energy. Then there is the need to transport and hide vast quantities of cash.

Do not burn things - How about not burning candles except during a blackout. Stop using the fireplace. Same with retiring the barbeque, or at least exchange the charcoal grill for one using natural gas. Need to get rid of those leaves during the fall? Don't burn them, turn them into compost. - Added 26 March

So there you go. Nothing there is a real burdon and together those small energy savings will add up.

One thing Governments can do, especially in Europe, is to reduce the tariffs on items to reduce the importation of tax-free items by travelers and tax tourists. This has a double effect in that often the items, especially alcohol, are first sent out to tax-free shops and then re-imported by the person returning home. Often this re-importation is done via air travel.

Don't kill yourself over reducing the release of greenhouse gasses. Your not the problem. Anyway, technology is producing an increasing number of ways to make the world greener. Take the generation of electricity. Currently about half the fossil fuels used to generate electricity is wasted due to the current inefficient way of generating electricity. What is need is more efficient electrical plants. That is where the real carbon savings lie.

Don't kid yourself either if your living in Europe under the 'protection' of the Kyoto treaty. Your Governments have been fighting global warming with accounting tricks.

Feel free to add your own sacrifice-free ways of making the planet less warm in the comments.