How Your Spending Can Influence Climate Change

As they say in just about every economics class, “consumer spending is 2/3 of GDP.” Assuming that’s true for the moment, consider what impact that has on climate change. Just think about what consumer spending is – it’s the money you spend of stuff. That includes your bills and the items you buy just as much as the food you eat. Your consumer spending, along with that of the vast North American populace, is capable of making some very serious changes in the way things are done. This is for good or for ill.

As a society we get to figure out just what our impact will be, and we can best accomplish grandiose goals by directing our most powerful weapon against the problem: consumer spending. The power of governments is dwarfed by what the power of the dollar in 6 billion hot little hands can do. What you buy can influence the choices of those around you and the atmosphere of the planet, by extension.

By now, everyone knows what climate change is. Formerly known to many as global warming, the term climate change is far more descriptive. It describes the chaotic climate we see at ground level as compared with the more energetic atmosphere taken as a whole. Regardless, it is a foregone conclusion among most that the countless studies that warn of dangerous weather conditions, fires, droughts, floods and rising sea levels are, in fact, for real.

This has caused people to rethink how their consumption habits affect the world around them. Most people want to do the right thing, especially when its fashionable to do so, as has recently become the case. Since climate change is the net result of 6 billion people making choices, then 6 billion people trying to change can have some impact, too.

Energy usage is a topic of major interest, for many reasons. Mainly, the burning of fossil fuels contributes the vast majority of carbon into our atmosphere. Other globalized practices that are made possible by having cheap energy for transport also have a carbon budget. Since renewable energy still only accounts for less than 20% of global energy production, much of that being wood for fires, also known as “biomass heating.”

This concept in the emerging field of sustainable development reflects how much carbon was produced in each step of the manufacture and often circuitous transport of an item that you might purchase at a local store. Large American chain-stores are full of objects that are better traveled than most Americans. Food also has a carbon footprint that includes highly energetic compounds like nitrogen fertilizer and petrochemical-derived pesticides before you even figure in the average 1,700 miles that an average piece of produce has traveled during the mid ‘aughts.

Warnings about “global warming” were not nearly as persuasive until some of the major storms that played out as major dramas on television. Also influential is the rapid and likely permanent increase in the price of petroleum. This energy premium has forced development into alternative energy sources that have benefited greatly from the consumer base and private investment that allows manufacturers to make micro wind turbines and flexible solar panels that one can choose to spend their disposable income on rather than consumer electronics.

How people get their food is also going to have a huge impact on the way those in North America adjust to a dwindling supply of oil and finally get around to addressing climate change. Agriculture consumes even more petroleum in North America as transport does. Consider that transport is directly related to 10% of GDP, and you’re talking about a vast economy that has been largely ignored in the late 20th century.

Sustainable development practices are also targeting energy intensive operations such as aluminum smelting, road construction and home building for green redesign. Planners and architects are trying to design communities that will encourage localism, so people can save carbon while staying and buying things close to home.

North America uses more than its fair share of petroleum therefore, it emits far more than its fair share of carbon dioxide. That cheap energy is so closely tied to a booming economy, governments that aren’t tiny islands in the Pacific have been less willing to make binding commitments to reduce carbon emissions. However, as the largest emitters of carbon, we can also be the biggest savers, by taking time to consider all our purchases from a climate change point of view.

More Than Just Recycling

Preventing climate change is about more than recycling, but it’s a good place to start. Every little bit helps, and saving money on energy bills certainly has proven to be a good motivator. Though the increase in the price of oil does increase the price of just about everything, decreasing the amount of money people are able to spend on those items that contribute to important numbers like GDP.

Spending your money sustainably, not only has the benefit of reducing your contribution to the climate change problem, but also demonstrates your commitment to changing the way “business as usual” is conducted.

Environmentally Conscious Ways To Make Your Shopping Green

Just because consumerism got us into the climate change mess that threatens everyone’s livelihood and safety, doesn’t mean that the collective “we” can’t change our spending habits to support a solution. There are plenty of ways you can adjust your spending habits into a more of a green shopping experience. They fall into the generalized categories of buying more durable goods, purchasing items that are sustainably and ethically brought to market and buying used.

Discontinuing Discount Items

For starters, the raw materials needed to make most durable goods are obtained either through drilling or mining in environmentally sensitive areas. They are, at the very least, brought to market with a great deal of carbon-belching equipment or travel. Many goods that are made inexpensively use chemicals and toxic substances that are harmful to the local environment where they’re made. Adults and children alike are at risk from such mass-produced items over time.

You can support more durably and domestically produced items by shopping local. For most budgets, this may mean buying fewer things, but spending a bit more on well-made items that have been crafted less than an ocean away. Domestically-produced goods also have the advantage of being made in a place were environmental laws are enforced, protecting another environment from bearing the brunt of your purchase practices.

Green shopping isn’t just about buzz-words like “organic” or “eco-something.” It’s a commitment to understanding how things are made and how they get to you. It means considering how things are made, how they get to you and even how the people who make them are treated.

Recycling your water bottles isn’t enough – though, considering how many are thrown away, that would be a good start. You need to consider how much plastic your purchase decisions are making as well as just where that water is coming from.

For example, the environmental and social consequences of some major water manufacturers who located bottling facilities in India were profoundly negative, despite their protests to be “green.” It isn’t ethical or very smart at all to assume that the more developed world can get away with polluting other parts of the world. When you shop, consider where each item comes from. If there’s packaging or travel that can be reduced by making another choice, go for it.

Another tenant of green shopping is to purchase items using as few fossil fuels as possible. Online shopping fits that bill, using what some estimate to be 1/16 the amount of fuel when the operation of a store is considered. Green shopping is about looking at every aspect of your purchase and doing your best to harm none. And, as evidenced in recent years, cutting carbon is highly fashionable.

Gifting Green

When it comes to giving gifts, you have plenty of options. Consider an upcycled gift, for instance. Such items are thoroughly new items made from old component parts. They are a hybrid type of fashion and consumer goods, in a sense.

Another green shopping idea is to use the occasion of a birthday to make a charitable donation to a group or organization that you know the recipient is affiliated with. There are no carbon or pollution-producing side effects to mar such a gift. Of course, this would not be the best option for teenagers or children, but plenty of adults would consider this a fine gift.

Natural Materials

Not only are there a great many old or vintage items that are made of natural materials, but there are also quite a few new markets for such materials that have sprung up. Consider withdrawing your support for the chemical industry and taking a stand for your personal and environmental health by replacing your bedding and bathroom towels with cotton, linen, silk, wool, hemp or bamboo. The same is true of clothing. Try trading our you wardrobe over time to support organic fiber farming.

Even the choice of what sort of furniture is an element of a green shopping ethic. Bamboo, for example, is a highly renewable and adaptable resource. It makes great flooring and furniture (among many other things) that you might not expect from this humble grass.

Replacing wood with bamboo when it comes time to replace your old, worn-out furniture saves a great deal of carbon. Since the trees remain standing, they are able to remove excess climate-change inducing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. That they also provide habitat for animals and are a unique natural habitat, doesn’t hurt either.

Second Life of Goods

Our culture is awash in extra stuff. The tremendous surge in trade and barter sites on the Internet suggests that people are starting to take used items very seriously. Green shopping is just as much about buying used when possible as finding neat new uses for old junk. You can upcycle your own goods, transforming them into exactly what you need with some slight modifications.

Some places are really going the extra mile towards giving their customers the whole “green shop” experience. Buying things doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It can be a wonderful thing that you share with your friends and neighbors by shopping green, durable, natural and sometimes used items, locally.

Here Are Some Easy Ways To Recycle

When you think of recycling do you think that you don’t have the time or energy to do it? Do you see visions of hundreds of thousands of empty plastic bottles in some far-away factory getting ready to be melted down? Do you think that recycling is something that has to be hard; otherwise if it’s not hard, then it doesn’t count? You may have thought this at some time and so felt justified for not recycling. I’m here to tell you that you are mistaken; recycling isn’t something difficult, or something you have to go out of your way to participate in; and it’s easy; and it still counts toward recycling.

Do you have a terrible habit of leaving lights on when you leave a room? The first way to conserve energy and count yourself in as a “recycler” is to turn off lights as you leave a room. Sounds easy, right? Well, that’s because it is easy. The only thing you have to do is remind yourself that you no longer are going to waste energy by leaving lights on in a room that no one is occupying.

The change may not happen overnight, but it will happen. Is this a difficult change? No, and everyday it will get easier. When you see your electric light bill it will get even easier again!

The other way to begin recycling is to change your light bulbs. That simple act of replacing a burned-out bulb with one of the new, energy saving kind will really be a big help. The newer bulbs use up to 75% less energy when lighting a room and they will last up to ten times longer. How can you beat that? And there wasn’t any effort on your part; all you have to do is replace the bulb with the new and improved bulb and you will make an even bigger impact on your electric bill.

There are easy ways to stay on track with recycling, and you don’t have to look very far to find them. In today’s economic down turn any saving towards your household expenses is a huge plus. Saving the environment with these recycling efforts on your part is an even bigger saving!

Are You Recycling Everything You Can?

Have you heard of an energy audit? Cities and towns all over the country have started doing this, where an auditor comes to your home and helps you to see where you could make changes that will not only help you conserve energy but will help you save money! What a bonus it is to save money by doing the right thing.

There are so many changes you can make in your home to impact the way we recycle and in the end, will help you keep some of the money in your pocket.

Having recycling bins set up so that you can properly sort the items that are recycled is a great first step. That activity alone can cut down greatly on the items that end up in the landfills rather than where they can be recycled.

Keeping your televisions, DVDs, stereos and computers plugged in to a power strip or surge protector rather than directly into the wall and then turning off the power strip will cut back greatly on power “leaks” that can cost you money on your utility bill. Being aware to turn these items off, is the first step, and then having them plugged into the power strip will just further the action for saving money and energy.

Don’t leave a light on when you walk out of a room and no one else is in there. And have you changed your light bulbs from the traditional ones to the compact flourescent kind? Did you know that the newer lights use 75% less energy to run and they will out live a traditional light bulb by up to 10 years? Make the changes that need to be made in your home.

Don’t run the dishwasher or the washing machine unless they are full. It’s a waste of energy and water to run a cycle through the dishwasher when it’s only half full. Don’t turn it on until you have a full load to wash and then just wash them all at once.

Use microfiber cloths for cleaning all kinds of surfaces like furniture, counters and sinks. The bonus is that these items can be tossed into the washer and are perfectly able to be reused again and again. Think of the savings in paper towels alone! Talk about a win-win; if we use fewer paper towels, then that means fewer trees need to be cut to make them in the first place. How can we go wrong with thinking like that?

Take shorter showers and see if you can pick up a shower head that is a water-conserving item, already in place, that will save you money and you’ll never even notice the difference during your shower.

There is so much you can do in the efforts to recycle, just be sure you’re doing your part.

Alternative Energy and Recycling

Alternative energy is a fantastic energy source and is a major plus to benefiting the environment and its recycling efforts.

One of the most exciting things about recycling as a social phenomena, is the ability of waste reduction schemes to help foster other “green” technologies and programs. Given the serious social, climatological and political ramifications of reliance upon fossil fuels, anything that helps encourage the use of alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, tidal, geothermal and hydro power is a massive benefit to society.

The connection between recycling and alternative energy, aside from both being “green” solutions to waste and pollution problems, is political as well as personal. For instance, someone who is motivated to be passionate about recycling is likely to be an advocate of carbon-neutral power. This is true for governments as well as individuals. There are even technologies that can actually produced bio-fuel from previously landfilled materials such as plastic and organic-waste derived methane.

Alternative energy is being sought by more and more people on an individual basis and in economic production. Not only in many instances does it save money but environmental awareness is becoming more prominent.