Purpose on the Planet - The Sustainable Living Playbook: If individuals & households focused on 20 high-impact climate actions in 4 key categories - 🥣Food, 🏠 Home, 🛒Shopping & 🚘 Travel - it could produce 25% of the emissions reductions needed for us to stay below 1.5°C!
TOP 20 HIGH-IMPACT CLIMATE ACTIONS FOR HOUSEHOLDS AND INDIVIDUALS
Waste
Home
Food
Travel
Distributed Solar Photovoltaics
Insulation
Public Transit
LED Lighting
Carpooling
Solar Hot Water
High-Performance Glass High-Efficiency Heat Pumps
Recycling
Electric Cars
Reduced Plastic
Hybrid Cars
Smart Thermostats
Reduced Food Waste
Composting
Telepresence
Plant-Rich Diets
Recycled Paper
Electric Bicycles
Low-Flow Fixtures
Discover how a series of practical household measures can provide 25% of the total emissions reductions needed to remain below 1.5°C!
We Have the Power!
YOU and your actions are critical to the climate solution! Each of us has a unique contribution to make, and science has shown that together we have the power to create a climate-stable future. In fact, the climate action think-tank, Project Drawdown , determined that individual and household actions could reduce a whopping quarter of the total emissions reductions needed to avoid dangerous climate change rise above 1.5°C. Even for climate-conscious individuals, it can be all too easy to lose track of the actions that produce the greatest carbon-reduction impacts. To serve as a guide, Project Drawdown has stack- ranked a list of desirable individual and household conservation measures. The result is a list of high-impact, practical actions that families can take to collectively reduce global emissions by as much as 25%! We Can Change Our Future!
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The Playbook aims to facilitate and accelerate the process of creating this sustainable future by aligning the initiatives above with 4 actionable areas: Food, Home, Shopping, Travel. It also outlines a process for doing it — Learn, Adopt, Model, Nudge, Advocate & Donate through which individuals and communities can power measurable, collective change! Of course, you will ultimately choose the level of personal commitment you will devote to each segment. … After all, it’s only YOUR active participation that helps all of us bring positive change to life! Building communal willingness to make fresh personal choices is the vital link to beating two of our greatest environmental challenges: reduction of CO2 emissions and development of a global consumption rate that our planet can sustain. What is the Goal of the Sustainable Living Playbook?
People & Planet Climate Action Sustainable Lifestyle
T he per capita CO2 footprint in high-income countries is 10 times that of low-income countries! This means the bulk of behavior change needs to occur in countries that created the climate crisis in the first place! There are 4 key areas for reducing our average individual carbon footprint from 6.3 tons to 2.1 tons by 2030.
MODEL & NUDGE Installing solar panels will inspire your neighbors to do the same. It’ll also put your electricity provider on notice that citizens want their power to come from renewable sources, not fossil fuels. Eating a plant-rich diet and cutting meat consumption signals to stores and food producers that we want less high-emitting meat and dairy production, and healthier plant-based choices instead. Using—and asking for— better public transport as well as walking/biking infrastructure can make it easier for you and your neighbors to reduce emissions from driving cars. The 3 principles for a Circular Economy provide a holistic plan for a sustainable future: - Design out waste & pollution - Keep products in use longer - Regenerate natural systems Food
Home LEARN & ADOPT As the chart indicates, home energy usage represents the largest single source of personal emissions (34%). By addressing it, you can reduce your home energy bills too! A third of all food emissions in the US comes from red meat and dairy products, while chicken and vegetables have up to ten times smaller footprints per serving. Food
SOURCES OF HOUSEHOLD EMISSIONS
16.8%
16.8%
33.8%
Food
Home
19.4%
Shopping
19.4%
Transport
30%
Source: Environment International
30%
Travel
Travel accounts for around 30% of family emissions! Why? — Every single gallon of gasoline burned creates about 8,887 grams of CO2.
Shopping
45% of global emissions come solely from the production of things we buy every day. It’s not enough just to “green” consumption —it is essential to reduce consumption!
Shopping
Given that all purchases indirectly support the continued production of that product or brand, we can impact our future with simple daily shopping choices and habits. A Circular Economy emphasizes the need to eliminate all forms of waste. Ask yourself: Is this a one-time use item or can it be reused or refilled? How was it produced and packaged? Be a Conscious Consumer! Check out the video below to take 10 initial steps to being a Conscious & Conscientious Consumer!
"If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production."
Pete Seeger
Home
C hange begins at home, and energy usage is actually the largest single source of personal emissions. Good news - just by being more mindful, you can lower bills and emissions by up to 30%, and model this mindset for your entire family. See the 10 top tips video above and then test your knowledge below on how you can reduce your household emissions. Next, consider how to carry your positive new energy consumption habits into your workplace, too!
Take the Quick Quiz - It’s a Race Against Time!
Heating
Cooking
1.7%
31.3%
Lighting
2.8%
Water Heating
Are You the Brightest Bulb in Your House for Conserving Home Energy Usage?
Top 8 Home Appliance Expenditures
Washer/ Dryer
13.6%
3.7%
Cooling
10.7%
TV/Computers
Refrigeration
3.9%
See How Much You Really Know...
4.9%
Source: 2021 EIA Annual Energy Outlook Report
Travel S ince it’s so closely associated with fossil fuels, this may be the one area where we‘re already best-informed on our earth-conscious options: Drive appropriate vehicles – Make your next car an electric or hybrid. Get around greener – Share a ride with others or travel by bike, public transit, or on foot. Also, as the infographic suggests, plan thoughtfully in advance whether traveling for business or pleasure. Heavy luggage uses more fuel per trip. And so does the waste you create by relying on "single-use" items during your travels. Fly less – Stay local and do a video call, or find another way to go! If you have to fly, find a non-stop flight!
Food
O ur Shorten-Your-Food-Chain graphic outlines multiple stages in the food distribution process that are the most likely contributors to higher emissions and food waste. This topic alone provides a range of opportunities through which we can all nudge family members, neighbors, or food providers to make more earth-friendly choices. Check it out below…
Can You Shorten Your Home Food Chain? The many ways to get food from the farm to the table
”Race Against Time” Quick Quiz
Are You a Master of the Fine Art of Reducing Food Waste?
Find Out How Good You Are!
People Power
Be a Force-Multiplier!
LEARN: Familiarize yourself with climate solutions and how you can help deploy them. Check out the practices that, taken together, can curtail our climate decline. See how concerted action from all of us can really impact the future of our world. ADOPT: Apply what you learn to become more climate friendly at home, at work, in your volunteer activities and hobbies, as you travel—in every aspect of life! MODEL: Nothing has a more profound impact on our outlook than the actions of our peers. Modeling is a proven way to effect change, particularly since it doesn’t attempt to directly persuade others to alter their points of view! NUDGE: Use modeling’s (mildly!) louder sibling, which comes in many shapes and forms. It can be a thoughtful chat, a quick suggestion, a principle-based purchase decision, or a very public act that carries a more overt message! ADVOCATE: Urge leaders to go all-in on halting climate decline. Suggest specific ways in which these change makers can exert influence in their particular domain or local area to drive positive action. Once we know which solutions are most effective, we can amplify our personal efforts by choosing to influence others.
How One Act in the Present Can Impact Our Future World
“Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.” Plato
Purpose
....Or, DONATE here to adopt a 4-in-1 Personal Climate Action Plan and to receive 12 months of our Sustainable Solutions series.
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