People are smart. Some people have solutions. Some Most people can actually make a change whether you are smart or not. I’m an optimistic individual but I live and understand and know how reality works. No one will give attention to the issue (Climate Change) especially when they cannot perceive what you’re talking about (think atheist/religion).
Well, this year, it has been very obvious and it’s now time to act. We should. Texas is experiencing snow/hail when they’re a warm region.
Toronto is experiencing warm weather when we should be a frozen hell right now. I know Toronto’s is caused by El Niño you smarty pants: Warm ocean water forming and resulting to warm winds(?)…warm water…which is caused by greenhouse effects > caused by, yup, you guessed it: us. It’s natural, but it does not have to be this intense, not to mention you’re trying to normalize the fact that you’re blowing warm winds close to the arctic circle? You have a crack on your head? STFU before I give you one.
Alright going back, I know people will not pay attention to matters until they perceive it. I also know some people will be cynical about it, worse pessimistic about it.
I am here to throw in some ideas on how to help in any and every way you can. You know tons of ways already. I think some of my ideas are not common and I hope my ideas can help you if it applies to you.
I think the reason why people do not act accordingly is because the proposed solutions do not apply to them or it is something beyond their control. For example, you can’t ask a person to plant tons of trees or you can’t ask someone to stop driving….when they don’t drive.
I’ve divided my ideas in 3 levels: individual, group, company. I intend to give you ideas that you can directly, easily, and logically do. I am not going to ask you to attempt an entire nation but as you go level by level, I’m sure you’ll draw the line somewhere where you can’t do things by yourself. That’s ok. What I would want you to consider is that maybe you know someone who can, or someone who knows someone who can, or use your skills to everyones advantage (e.g.: if you’re a graphic designer, make some infographics. marketer/advertising/comms person? broadcast that shit)
Individual:
- Live in a winter country? Patch up those spots where heat leaks and cold comes in. In our household, the vent is the main cause. The flaps outside are destroyed due to high winds so as ghetto as it sounds, we unscrew the grill on the vent and place a cardboard to essentially ‘close’ the vent. Otherwise the vent takes in cold air from outside.
- Live in a tropical country where public transportation is unreliable, traffic is severely congested, and you spend hours on the road? I suggest thinking about working from home. If you’re a slacker, that’s more time for you to slack. If you’re a professional, less time to prepare and commute means more time to either you or your work. How you will break it to your boss, I’ll leave that to you.
- I am not going to tell you to stop driving. Some people actually need it, some people (like me) it’s just luxury (side note: personal solution/promise is that I will sell my car 2017). I will not be the judge and wallow on this BUT what I will tell you is that you can improve your driving. No, not in a racer type of way but more on the economical perspective. You know when you’re at a stop then the green light goes on? You consume more gas by slamming on that gas pedal compared to gradually and slowly picking up speed as you go.
- Drive more highway if you can. You know when you compare city/hwy mileage before you bought your car? Think about it, that’s also lesser liters of carbon up there.
- People suggest to “warm up” your engine first before driving. Admit it or not, it’s idling. Yup.We live in a townhouse. What I do is that when I start my car I “warm it up” by coasting through the small streets up until I exit the complex. Get it? Turn on your car and let the car naturally push you forward without stepping on the gas at all (that’s coasting). It’ll be slow, that’s ok. You were supposed to be stationary compared to previous anyway. This way, not only did you “warm up” your car already, you’ve also covered some meters already which is “less driving distance” to your work 🙂
- Measure your gas consumption at least in one interval (one month or week). See how you perform. What you’d want to do is to measure your consumption in a good road setting (no traffic) vs a high-traffic one. Once you’ve determined these and you see the big gap, normally this is enough for you to scare and motivate yourself.
I live close to work (yup, driving’s just a luxury for me) and so it’s given that I shouldn’t eat so much gas. I have two routes I can take, one better than the other. It also makes a difference if I leave at 4pm compared to 5pm. For experiment purposes, I tried the worst scenario (traffic route + 5pm) and based on my findings with the idling, stop-go, and just heavy traffic, not only did it take me almost 3x longer to go home, but it also ate 2 days worth of gas from home to work. Now you don’t have to be a tree hugger to see it. I love money like everyone else and I don’t like wasting it. That’s a lot of $$$ wasted. Now I leave early (come to work early too), plan routes 24/7, I don’t need GPS. yada yada yada. - Buy a tree(or seed) if you have the backyard for it. You’re lazy and I know you won’t do it if I say PLANT one so just buy one. You don’t have to take care of it. Just go to walmart or something, buy some seeds then dump it to the ground. That’s it. Then let mother nature do it. I will not ask you to watch it, take care of it, etc. Of course it’s better if you do, but if you’re a nurse/doctor/lawyer/stewardess and you’re barely home, what can you do right? At least you tried.
Plants absorb CO2. Trees eat more than grass and shrubs since they have to metabolize more and keep those trunks up etc. Faster-growing plants eat more than slower ones, because metabolism. So in our dilemma, fast growing trees are the most effective. - Start travelling if you haven’t done so already. Travelling in itself is fun and very rewarding. We can stop it at that. We can have an entirely new conversation with that.
It gives you a different (sometimes better) perspective on things…on life actually. But for our context, it can give you a whole new perspective on transportation. Back then you probably think that driving is badass, especially if you drive a nice car. To an extent, it is. But what’s awesome if you have to drive yourself compared to using ViaRail(a train) from Toronto to Montreal where you can do a ton more(eat, sleep, play) compared to driving where you’re just driving and you’re worried for 6 hours straight for trying to be safe on the road.
You will change your perspective on transport luxury when you’ve gone to Japan and see their efficient bullet train not to mention Switzerland’s second most efficient transit system.A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transport
— paraphrased from Enrique Penalosa, former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia
- It doesn’t stop there. You think using your bike is lame? Wait til you get to Amsterdam/Sweden/Denmark to name a few. Bikes are obviously economical and it makes sense, especially when you live in cities like their capital cities. They will motivate you to use bikes, trust me:
(Sorry you said something about biking being lame?)- Entire emerging nations like China use bikes because it just makes sense. Some nations like Philippines use of lot of motorcycles not (think not of Ducati, but more like vespa)
- Lastly but the most important for now, educate your friend or your offspring. Your friend drives like a mofo? call him out. You have an offspring? Educate them. You should know by now why this is the most important step.
….the other levels I ran out of time for today. I wrote this for an hour. I’ll continue on the other levels soon.
