Practical Ways To Help Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

It's drastic, but it helps to look at our options so that we can really see where our values and desires lay. If we want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and we are essentially the ones producing it, it stands to reason that, were there fewer of us, then we would produce significantly less. All that means is to control the rate at which our species is growing. In the past a large family was needed to help farm the land and help with survival. Times changed as modern conveniences took the place of sheer numbers of bodies for working the land. There is no longer a great need for families having nine children. If we can control our population growth, so too is there control over the effects we have on the environment.

And vegetarianism - or at least slowing down the amount of meat we eat as a whole - would help a lot. The amount of protein Americans take in far exceeds their body's requirements. The fact is, if we ate a healthy diet, we would not be producing nearly as much cattle. We could reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a vegetarian diet alone. We would take several steps (producing animals, feeding animals food we could be eating ourselves, slaughtering animals, processing animals, transporting animals) out of food production. Between the methane emissions and emissions of other gases that those vast numbers of animals create with their own bodies, and the emissions we create with the mechanisms of processing and moving them, those are a lot of emissions.

The planet is covered with its own pollution cleaning system. Every tree on the face of the earth absorbs carbon and reproduces oxygen. This is a good thing. The problem is that we are cutting down the forests faster than they can reproduce, thus eliminating the amount of carbon sequestration that can take place. The longer this goes on, the more the pollution will outweigh the oxygen being produced. Maintaining our forests, and the rain forests in particular, is a vital part of the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The bottom line is that the ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is right in font of us. It just requires action. We know what we need to do but sometimes finding the willingness to do it is the hardest part. By educating folks about how quickly reducing methane emissions and other greenhouse gases can turn our environment around, maybe we can call more of them to take action. We need to teach people that taking these steps is like making an investment; not only in their own future, but for their kids and grandkids as well. The planet is in our hands, we need to take care of it.