Breaking the Inertia: 9 Actions You Can Take to Address Climate Change NOW

Climate activists have been urging behavior change for decades, and while we may have sympathized with them, many of us haven’t yet been stirred to action. For some, the challenge has seemed insurmountable; for others, individual action seemed trivial. Yet, COVID-19 has demonstrated that habits can transform quickly at scale and that each individual choosing to stay home contributes to the solution. Likewise, we can adapt our habits to the low carbon future, and each individual choosing to reduce their emissions has a positive impact. This letter is designed to shake off the inertia with nine tangible actions that just about anyone can take to become part of the climate change solution. The first six steps map out how to measure and reduce your individual carbon footprint, and the last three entail how you can catalyze collective action at a larger scale. We provide links and resources to get you started. This list isn’t comprehensive; it’s meant to get the ball rolling for those who want to act on climate change and don’t know where to start. Join us!

1) Measure your Carbon Footprint

Establish your baseline by finding the amount of greenhouse gas emissions you contribute annually. The UN’s Carbon Footprint Calculator takes four minutes to complete and, through simple questions on your household, transport, and lifestyle, offers an estimate of your annual carbon footprint. If you’d like a more detailed calculator, try this one.

2) Commit to Reducing your Emissions

Now that you know your carbon footprint, we invite you to commit to reducing your personal emissions by 50% by 2030. And then another 50% by 2040. And reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. This is what the Paris Agreement (and the planet) requires at a global level, so naturally those reductions also apply at the individual level. And don’t worry about having to make sacrifices – a low-carbon future will be a much more comfortable lifestyle in many respects. In the next points, we’ll share some ideas on how to get started reducing your emissions.

3) Dress with Less

When purchasing clothes, consider buying quality over quantity. The garment industry is responsible for 10% of global emissions, largely driven by insatiable consumer demand. In New York, 200 million pounds of clothes are thrown away every year, enough to fill the Statue of Liberty with garments 440 times. Slow down the fast fashion: hold on to clothes longer, and mend if necessary. If you want to stay on top of seasonal trends, you can swap clothes online or informally with friends, buy stylish second-hand clothes, or rent clothes. You can also shop from sustainable brands.

4) Travel Light

Venturing beyond the individual car to get around is good for your physical health, good for your mental health, and good for the planet. Consider biking and walking. For commuters, if there’s public transportation where you live, you may delight in the extra time to work or nap. Or consider carpooling your commute – it’s cheaper, more time productive, and leads to fewer emissions. For the times when you still need your own car, consider buying a hybrid or an electric – electric cars will be cheaper than traditional combustion engine ones by 2025. Or just rent your neighbor’s car with Turo. If you travel by plane for work, post-COVID you may find virtual conferences and video meetings suffice. If you travel for fun, consider setting a flight emission budget for yourself this year (ex: 80% of last year), and offset your travel when you buy flights (more on this later).

5) Eat Consciously

You can lower the emissions stemming from your food intake without sacrificing your favorite meal or cuisine. If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases behind China and the U.S. So start with only buying what you’ll eat. If you’re at a restaurant and don’t finish your meal, bring it back home. Who doesn’t like leftovers? Before restocking your fridge, this app can help you concoct meals with whatever is left. A significant portion of produce is discarded because it isn’t “pretty” enough for grocery stores. Seek out imperfect food subscriptions. Lastly, beef production alone is responsible for as many emissions as all of India. Try to eat less beef and dairy. If this is hard for you, you can start with Meatless Mondays or Low-Meat Lunch. You don’t have to be vegan to be part of the climate solution; choosing to consume in moderation goes a long way.

6) Offset your Remaining Emissions

Reduce what you can and offset the rest. On the UN’s offset platform you can compensate for your emissions through UN-certified projects that reduce, avoid or remove greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere in developing countries. The Gold Standard also compiles certified projects. If you’d rather not have to remember to routinely offset, TerraPass provides a monthly subscription service. The Carbon Fund is a program for corporate offsetting.

7) Vote for the Future

Climate change is one of the most defining issues for every generation alive today. Regardless of how you vote, consider making the response to climate change one of your top voting priorities. Look up candidates’ climate plans, and if they don’t have one, ask why not.

8) Invest for Impact

Capital markets play an enormous role in dictating progress towards climate change, and your capital is no exception. Start by banking with banks that won’t invest your capital in fossil fuels. The Rainforest Action Network’s report demonstrates that JP Morgan Chase continues to be the biggest culprit in profiting from oil and gas, followed by Wells Fargo and Citi. Of the large US banks, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have comparatively cleaner records, whereas smaller regional banks may be even better. If you invest in public markets, you can check your mutual funds or ETFs’ fossil fuel holdings with As You Sow’s sustainability report card, and check individual companies’ environmental-social-governance (ESG) score with MSCI. If you invest in private markets, you can contribute to innovative solutions through private equity and venture capital funds investing in plant-based meat and clean tech. To scale existing solutions, you can use debt and real asset strategies developing renewable energy and green infrastructure. And you can invest in nature itself through sustainable forestry and regenerative agriculture. This is Align’s bread and butter; get in touch with us if you’d like to learn more.

9) Invite Others to Join You

Share your emissions reduction commitment with friends and family and invite them to join you. Companions on the journey to a low carbon future not only help maintain accountability, they also make it more fun.
 
Now that we’ve gathered some ideas for how to become part of the climate change solution, it's time to break the inertia. Write us a quick note to share what action you'll take next week! After all, we’re in this together.