Going Emissions-Less

Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Ahhhhh… Air.  I love it. But you know what I don’t love so much? Breathing in polluted air.  I am not alone, as October 3rd marks California’s first Clean Air Day.  It’s also National Walk to School Day, making October an ideal month to recognize the environmental and human need for clean air.  Let’s honor Clean Air Day and Walk to School Day by adopting the Everyday Eco-Habit of Going Emissions-LESS!  

 There are some pretty dirty statistics in regard to clean air today.  Asthma has increased by 75% since 1980 in the US.  More than 16,000 Americans, who have never smoked, die from lung cancer every year.  And the city I live in, Los Angeles, is considered the dirtiest city by ozone in all of the US!  So we have some work to do to reduce our emissions for cleaner air – if not for our environment, then just for our health!    

Not only do emissions affect air quality, but they play a huge role in the effects of climate change. I am often asked what I see as the biggest environmental problem we face.  My answer, by a landslide, is climate change.  Climate change is a HOT (pun intended:) topic these days, with last month’s Global Action Climate Summit, this past year’s severe fires and rains, and California’s recent commitment to less than zero emissions by 2045.  

What even are emissions?  Emissions are gases or particles, like carbon dioxide and methane, that are put into the air or “emitted”, by various sources like cars, buses, factories, airplanes, lawn mowers, even volcanoes and fires.  Emissions can generate greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, trapping heat and creating rapid climate change.  This climate change has been increasing at a rapid rate and is having a huge environmental impact on our world.  But climate change is a natural process, you say?  Well, according to the USGS, the amount of carbon dioxide produced by human activities averages over 20 billion tons per year while the average volcanic activity, the naturally occurring climate change, only averages about 200 million tons per year.  Even if you aren’t convinced humans are causing climate change, humans can nonetheless do something to make it better. 

I want to encourage you not to be overwhelmed by climate change or to get dismayed by the politics surrounding it.  Instead, just do your “Everyday Person” part by adopting the Everyday Eco-Habit of Going Emissions-LESS.  As with the other Eco-Habits, I promise this too is easy. And one of the coolest (yes, pun intended again:) things about this Eco-Habit is there are SO many different ways to do it.  

A great place to start is to take the Coalition for Clean Air Pledge.  I used to be on the Coalition for Clean Air’s Board and can tell you firsthand it is a legit organization fighting for YOU to breathe in clean air.  I challenge all of us to take this pledge on October 3rd to celebrate Clean Air Day.  We can then focus the rest of the month on implementing our pledge and other steps to improve our air.  

As the Pledge suggests, one simple thing you can do is drive less.  Did you know a typical car emits about 6.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year!?  That’s a lot of CO2!  A few ways to drive less include carpooling, planning your outings so your drive time is shorter, using a shared Uber or Lyft, biking, walking, taking a bus, train, subway or other public transportation, or even taking that meeting by phone instead of meeting in person.

Another way to go Emissions-LESS is to drive a hybrid or electric vehicle.  Hereis an awesome graph on electricity sources and annual vehicle emissions.  There are so many reasonably priced electric and hybrid cars out there now, so it is no longer cost prohibitive to do so.  If you live in the Southern California region, then check out these eco-friendly cars from My Green Friend LAcarGUY here!  Do you already drive an electric or hybrid car?  High Five!  Now, imagine if you carpooled in one!  Talk about low emissions!  

Another way to go Emissions-LESS is not to idle when you’re in your car.  It could be as simple as checking your Insta, texting, or looking at your map before you turn on the car.  Not idling is especially important when waiting for your kids to get out of school.  In fact, the non-profit organization I co-founded, Grades of Green, has a great toolkit on how to implement “No Idle Zones” at your school.  

 Another action you can take to go Emissions-LESS is to be mindful of flying.  An airplane produces an average of 5.3 pounds of CO2 per mile. So, one flight from LAX to NYC, roughly 2,450 miles, produces around 65 tons of carbon dioxide!  Consider offsetting your carbon emissions from your flights through Gold Standard, Green-e, and Climate Action Reserve.

A less obvious way to Go Emissions-LESS is shopping locally.  Wouldn’t it be nice to take a bike ride to your local farmers market for your groceries? 

Since so many of us shop online these days, another way to reduce emissions is to combine shipments for your online shopping orders.  All of this will cut down on transportation, saving you gas $ and cutting down on the emissions from the delivery truck that isn’t delivering packages to your door all the time.   

You can go Emissions-LESS at home too by simply turning off your electronics, including lights, TV’s, DVD players, computers, and any other electronic gadgets which need energy to run, like my son’s favorite, the Xbox.  The energy for these electronics is being produced by factories that are creating emissions.  Even when they’re simply plugged in but not “on”, these electronic devices still use phantom energy.  This “ghost energy” might come back to haunt your electricity bill. It can account for almost 15% of the total monthly bill!

You can even switch from a gas-powered lawn mower to an electric or push mower.  My Green Friend Lauren told me her husband gets a great workout pushing their hand mower every week!  And simply using cold water in your washing machine can reduce emissions.  

A surprising way to Go Emissions-LESS is to reduce your consumption of meat.  What?! Yup, methane gas, produced by the “back ends” of cows, is a greenhouse gas that has a large impact on climate change. Consider going Meat-LESS, even just once a week, to cut way back on emissions!  Going Meat-LESS is a topic we will discuss in more detail in a future post.  

And don’t forget about putting some oxygen back into the atmosphere!  You can plant a tree or a native plant.  Trees and plants release oxygen which combats the negative effects of emissions and climate change.  Check out one of my favorite environmental groups, TreePeople, to learn more. 

 As you have hopefully gathered by now, there are countless easy breezy actions we can take to reduce our emissions, keep our air clean, and do something about climate change. Take a minute to take a deep breath and be thankful for the air around us.  Next, let’s all start Going Emissions-LESS together by taking the Coalition for Clean Air Pledge on Clean Air Day October 3.  The rest of this month, let’s focus on taking any of the actions listed in the Pledge or in this post.  Let us know what actions you’ve pledged to take and send us pictures of you in action!  

By adopting the Everyday Eco-Habit of Going Emission-LESS, YOU are creating small Everyday Eco-Habits that will collectively have a huge impact on our air and climate.