Take Action!

The Stop Global Warming calculator shows you how much carbon
dioxide you can prevent from being released into the atmosphere and
how much money you can save by making some small changes in your daily
life. It’s our hope that the calculator will promote action,
awareness and empowerment by showing you that one person can make a
difference and help stop global warming.

 

There are many simple things you can do in your daily life — what you eat, what you drive, how you build your home — that can have an effect on your immediate surrounding, and on places as far away as Antactica. Here is a list of few things that you can do to make a difference.

Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Replace 3 frequently used light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. Save 300 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $60 per year. Take the Energy Star pledge.

Inflate Your Tires

Keep the tires on your car adequately inflated. Check them monthly. Save 250 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $840 per year.

Change Your Air Filter

Check your car's air filter monthly. Save 800 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $130 per year.

Fill the Dishwasher

Run your dishwasher only with a full load. Save 100 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $40 per year.

Use Recycled Paper

Make sure your printer paper is 100% post consumer recycled paper. Save 5 lbs. of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.

Adjust Your Thermostat

Move your heater thermostat down two degrees in winter and up two degrees in the summer. Save 2000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $98 per year.

 

Check Your Waterheater

Keep your water heater thermostat no higher than 120°F. Save 550 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $30 per year.

Change the AC Filter

Clean or replace dirty air conditioner filters as recommended. Save 350 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $150 per year.

Take Shorter Showers

Showers account for 2/3 of all water heating costs. Save 350 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $99 per year.

Install a Low-Flow Showerhead

Using less water in the shower means less energy to heat the water. Save 350 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $150.

Buy Products Locally

Buy locally and reduce the amount of energy required to drive your products to your store.

Buy Energy Certificates

Help spur the renewable energy market and cut global warming pollution by buying wind certificates and green tags.

Buy Minimally Packaged Goods

Less packaging could reduce your garbage by about 10%. Save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide and $1,000 per year.

Buy a Hybrid Car

The average driver could save 16,000 lbs. of CO2 and $3,750 per year driving a hybrid

Buy a Fuel Efficient Car

Getting a few extra miles per gallon makes a big difference. Save thousands of lbs. of CO2 and a lot of money per year.

Carpool When You Can

Own a big vehicle? Carpooling with friends and co-workers saves fuel. Save 790 lbs. of carbon dioxide and hundreds of dollars per year.

Reduce Garbage

Buy products with less packaging and recycle paper, plastic and glass. Save 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.

Plant a Tree

Trees suck up carbon dioxide and make clean air for us to breathe. Save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.

Insulate Your Water Heater

Keep your water heater insulated could save 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $40 per year.

Replace Old Appliances

Inefficient appliances waste energy. Save hundreds of lbs. of carbon dioxide and hundreds of dollars per year.

Weatherize Your Home

Caulk and weather strip your doorways and windows. Save 1,700 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $274 per year.

Use a Push Mower

Use your muscles instead of fossil fuels and get some exercise. Save 80 lbs of carbon dioxide per year.

Unplug Un-Used Electronics

Even when electronic devices are turned off, they use energy. Save over 1,000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $256 per year.

Put on a Sweater

Instead of turning up the heat in your home, wear more clothes Save 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $250 per year.

Insulate Your Home

Make sure your walls and ceilings are insulated. Save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $245 per year.

Air Dry Your Clothes

Line-dry your clothes in the spring and summer instead of using the dryer. Save 700 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $75 per year.

Switch to a Tankless Water Heater

Your water will be heated as you use it rather than keeping a tank of hot water. Save 300 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $390 per year.

Switch to Double Pane Windows

Double pane windows keep more heat inside your home so you use less energy. Save 10,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $436 per year.

Buy Organic Food

The chemicals used in modern agriculture pollute the water supply, and require energy to produce.

Bring Cloth Bags to the Market

Using your own cloth bag instead of plastic or paper bags reduces waste and requires no additional energy.

*As Britain counts the costs of the worst floods in 200 years, Charles Clover argues the signs of global warming are now impossible to ignore!

Global Warming Basics What it is, how it's caused, and what needs to be done to stop it.

What causes global warming?

Is the earth really getting hotter?

Are warmer temperatures causing bad things to happen?

Is global warming making hurricanes worse?

Is there really cause for serious concern?

Could global warming trigger a sudden catastrophe?

What country is the largest source of global warming pollution?

How can we cut global warming pollution?

Why aren't these technologies more commonplace now?

Do we need new laws requiring industry to cut emissions of global warming pollution?

Is it possible to cut power plant pollution and still have enough electricity?

How can we cut car pollution?

What can I do to help fight global warming?

 


What causes global warming?


Carbon dioxide and other air pollution that is collecting in the atmosphere like a thickening blanket, trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm up. Coal-burning power plants are the largest U.S. source of carbon dioxide pollution -- they produce 2.5 billion tons every year. Automobiles, the second largest source, create nearly 1.5 billion tons of CO2 annually.



Here's the good news: technologies exist today to make cars that run cleaner and burn less gas, modernize power plants and generate electricity from nonpolluting sources, and cut our electricity use through energy efficiency. The challenge is to be sure these solutions are put to use.


Is the earth really getting hotter?


Yes. Although local temperatures fluctuate naturally, over the past 50 years the average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in recorded history. And experts think the trend is accelerating: the 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1990. Scientists say that unless we curb global warming emissions, average U.S. temperatures could be 3 to 9 degrees higher by the end of the century.


Are warmer temperatures causing bad things to happen?


Global warming is already causing damage in many parts of the United States. In 2002, Colorado, Arizona and Oregon endured their worst wildfire seasons ever. The same year, drought created severe dust storms in Montana, Colorado and Kansas, and floods caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in Texas, Montana and North Dakota. Since the early 1950s, snow accumulation has declined 60 percent and winter seasons have shortened in some areas of the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington.



Of course, the impacts of global warming are not limited to the United States. In 2003, extreme heat waves caused more than 20,000 deaths in Europe and more than 1,500 deaths in India. And in what scientists regard as an alarming sign of events to come, the area of the Arctic's perennial polar ice cap is declining at the rate of 9 percent per decade.


Is global warming making hurricanes worse?


Global warming doesn't create hurricanes, but it does make them stronger and more dangerous. Because the ocean is getting warmer, tropical storms can pick up more energy and become more powerful. So global warming could turn, say, a category 3 storm into a much more dangerous category 4 storm. In fact, scientists have found that the destructive potential of hurricanes has greatly increased along with ocean temperature over the past 35 years.


Is there really cause for serious concern?


Yes. Global warming is a complex phenomenon, and its full-scale impacts are hard to predict far in advance. But each year scientists learn more about how global warming is affecting the planet, and many agree that certain consequences are likely to occur if current trends continue. Among these:

• Melting glaciers, early snowmelt and severe droughts will cause more dramatic water shortages in the American West.
  
  
  
  
• Rising sea levels will lead to coastal flooding on the Eastern seaboard, in Florida, and in other areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico.
  
  
  
  
• Warmer sea surface temperatures will fuel more intense hurricanes in the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
  
  
  
  
• Forests, farms and cities will face troublesome new pests and more mosquito-borne diseases.
  
  
  
  
• Disruption of habitats such as coral reefs and alpine meadows could drive many plant and animal species to extinction.
  
  
  
  

Could global warming trigger a sudden catastrophe?


Recently, researchers -- and even the U.S. Defense Department -- have investigated the possibility of abrupt climate change, in which gradual global warming triggers a sudden shift in the earth's climate, causing parts of the world to dramatically heat up or cool down in the span of a few years.



In February 2004, consultants to the Pentagon released a report laying out the possible impacts of abrupt climate change on national security. In a worst-case scenario, the study concluded, global warming could make large areas of the world uninhabitable and cause massive food and water shortages, sparking widespread migrations and war.



While this prospect remains highly speculative, many of global warming's effects are already being observed -- and felt. And the idea that such extreme change is possible underscores the urgent need to start cutting global warming pollution.


What country is the largest source of global warming pollution?


The United States. Though Americans make up just 4 percent of the world's population, we produce 25 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution from fossil-fuel burning -- by far the largest share of any country. In fact, the United States emits more carbon dioxide than China, India and Japan, combined. Clearly America ought to take a leadership role in solving the problem. And as the world's top developer of new technologies, we are well positioned to do so -- we already have the know-how.


How can we cut global warming pollution?


It's simple: By reducing pollution from vehicles and power plants. Right away, we should put existing technologies for building cleaner cars and more modern electricity generators into widespread use. We can increase our reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind, sun and geothermal. And we can manufacture more efficient appliances and conserve energy.


Why aren't these technologies more commonplace now?


Because, while the technologies exist, the corporate and political will to put them into widespread use does not. Many companies in the automobile and energy industries put pressure on the White House and Congress to halt or delay new laws or regulations -- or even to stop enforcing existing rules -- that would drive such changes. From requiring catalytic converters to improving gas mileage, car companies have fought even the smallest measure to protect public health and the environment. If progress is to be made, the American people will have to demand it.


Do we need new laws requiring industry to cut emissions of global warming pollution?


Yes. The Bush administration has supported only voluntary reduction programs, but these have failed to stop the growth of emissions. Even leaders of major corporations, including companies such as DuPont, Alcoa and General Electric, agree that it's time for the federal government to create strong laws to cut global warming pollution. Public and political support for solutions has never been stronger. Congress is now considering fresh proposals to cap emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollutants from America's largest sources -- power plants, industrial facilities and transportation fuels.



Stricter efficiency requirements for electric appliances will also help reduce pollution. One example is the 30 percent tighter standard now in place for home central air conditioners and heat pumps, a Clinton-era achievement that will prevent the emission of 51 million metric tons of carbon -- the equivalent of taking 34 million cars off the road for one year. The new rule survived a Bush administration effort to weaken it when, in January 2004, a federal court sided with an NRDC-led coalition and reversed the administration's rollback.


Is it possible to cut power plant pollution and still have enough electricity?


Yes. First, we must use more efficient appliances and equipment in our homes and offices to reduce our electricity needs. We can also phase out the decades-old, coal-burning power plants that generate most of our electricity and replace them with cleaner plants. And we can increase our use of renewable energy sources such as wind and sun. Some states are moving in this direction: California has required its largest utilities to get 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2017, and New York has pledged to compel power companies to provide 25 percent of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2013.


How can we cut car pollution?


Cost-effective technologies to reduce global warming pollution from cars and light trucks of all sizes are available now. There is no reason to wait and hope that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will solve the problem in the future. Hybrid gas-electric engines can cut global warming pollution by one-third or more today; hybrid sedans, SUVs and trucks from several automakers are already on the market.



But automakers should be doing a lot more: They've used a legal loophole to make SUVs far less fuel efficient than they could be; the popularity of these vehicles has generated a 20 percent increase in transportation-related carbon dioxide pollution since the early 1990s. Closing this loophole and requiring SUVs, minivans and pick-up trucks to be as efficient as cars would cut 120 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution a year by 2010. If automakers used the technology they have right now to raise fuel economy standards for new cars and light trucks to a combined 40 m.p.g., carbon dioxide pollution would eventually drop by more than 650 million tons per year as these vehicles replaced older models.



For more information on hybrid vehicles, see NRDC's hybrid guide.


What can I do to help fight global warming?


There are many simple steps you can take right now to cut global warming pollution. Make conserving energy a part of your daily routine. Each time you choose a compact fluorescent light bulb over an incandescent bulb, for example, you'll lower your energy bill and keep nearly 700 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air over the bulb's lifetime. By opting for a refrigerator with the Energy Star label -- indicating it uses at least 15 percent less energy than the federal requirement -- over a less energy-efficient model, you can reduce carbon dioxide pollution by nearly a ton in total.

Join NRDC in our campaign against global warming.


 

Arctic Climate Impact Assessment

Global warming is happening now, bringing changes to our climate and our world. Yet the climate is changing at an accelerated pace in the Arctic region. In the past few decades, temperatures in the Arctic have risen at nearly twice the rate as in the rest of the world, disrupting the region and its people in many ways. A new overview report of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, Impacts of a Warming Arctic, explores these impacts in depth.

The Arctic region has long fascinated humankind, sparking holiday myths, motivating explorers, and inspiring people to create clever solutions for living in extreme cold. Yet Arctic dwellers from Alaska to Siberia have noticed, within their lifetimes, significant changes in local climate. Scientists have now quantified these trends: climate change is already occurring in the Arctic, and happening at an accelerating pace. 

Mounting evidence of climate change in the region motivated international organizations to call for a four-year study of Arctic climate known as the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA).  The Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum with eight Arctic country members and six Indigenous Peoples organizations, and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) representing 18 national academies of science released its report Impacts of a Warming Arctic in November 2004.

The report establishes evidence of rapid climate change in the Arctic over the last half century and projects much larger changes ahead. Global climate models use emissions scenarios based on the anticipated greenhouse gas emissions from factors such as economic growth and energy consumption to project future climate outcomes. The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment researchers selected the mid-range emissions scenario used by the 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 



Contents:

•  Changes observed in the Arctic over the last century

•  Projected changes in the Arctic over the next century

•  Impact of Arctic warming on global sea-level rise

Observed changes in the Arctic over the last century

For a springtime diversion, one Arctic community wages bets on the exact timing of river ice breakup; the winners have picked on earlier dates in recent years. Today's icebreakers transit the Northwest Passage with relative ease compared to the 19th century explorers. The overwhelming volume of scientific data in the ACIA report presents unmistakable trends that amplify this anecdotal evidence.

Temperature: Mean annual surface air temperature over the past 50 years has increased 3.6 to 5.4°F in Alaska and Siberia and decreased by 1.8°F over southern Greenland.



Sea ice: Sea ice extent in late summer decreased 15 to 20% over the past 30 years (see above).

Glaciers: Between 1961 and 1998, North American glaciers lost about 108 cubic miles of ice—about equivalent to spreading one foot of water over California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. 

Vegetation: White spruce, the most valuable timber species of the North American boreal forest, experienced sharp declines as summer temperatures frequently exceeded the tree's critical threshold temperature.

Marine Animals: Almost no seal pups, dependent on sea ice, survived in Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence during the ice-free years of 1967, 1981, 2000, 2001, and 2002. 

Fisheries: Warming in the Bering Sea after 1977 has increased the herring, Pacific cod, skates, and flatfish species, and Pacific salmon commercial catches have been high since 1980. 

Indigenous Culture: Peary caribou populations on Canadian arctic islands plummeted from 26,000 in 1961 to 1000 by 1997, affecting people whose culture is intertwined with caribou.

Projected changes in the Arctic over the next century

Climate shifts detected in the Arctic serve as an early warning for global climate impacts. Listed below are a few of the projected changes based on a mid-range emissions scenario.

Temperature: Mean annual surface air temperature over the Arctic region (north of 60° latitude) is projected to increase 3.6°F by 2050 and 8°F by 2100. 

Sea ice: Summer average sea ice extent is projected to dramatically decrease by at least 50% by 2100. 

Glaciers: Surface air temperatures are projected to warm enough in this century to initiate long-term melting of the Greenland ice sheet.

Vegetation: Forests will expand northward into the current tundra regions. Although forest growth increases carbon dioxide uptake, this beneficial effect will be overwhelmed by the release of large stores of methane and carbon dioxide as tundra regions thaw. The increased absorption of solar radiation by forests, compared to the more reflective tundra they will replace, will also lead to net warming. 

Marine Animals: Ringed seals are entirely dependent on sea-ice for their survival and will be the most vulnerable to reduced sea-ice projections. Polar bears are also dependent on sea ice and their preferred diet is almost exclusively Ringed seal. If there is almost complete loss of summer sea-ice polar bears may not survive as a species.

Fisheries: Warming may improve fish stocks of cod and herring but threaten cold water stocks such as northern shrimp.

Indigenous Culture: Caribou and reindeer depend on tundra vegetation, and will be affected as projected vegetation zones shift northward and the tundra area diminishes significantly. The shifts in terrestrial and in particular marine species dependent on sea ice threaten traditional food sources for indigenous people.

Navigation: The Northern Sea Route navigation season is likely to increase from the current 20 to 30 days per year to almost 100 days per year by 2080. 

Ozone: Arctic climate shifts are expected to delay recovery of the northern stratospheric ozone layer. 

Arctic impact on global sea-level rise

One of the ways a warming Arctic could directly impact the rest of the world is by raising global sea level. The place at which the sea surface intersects with the land depends on many factors such as tides, local atmospheric effects such as storm surges, sinking or uplifting of a land region, the temperature and salinity of ocean layers, and how much of the world's water supply is stored on land in lakes, groundwater, snow, and ice. 

Polar regions currently store vast amounts of water on land as frozen ice sheets and glaciers.  Fully 3.1 million cubic kilometers of ice is contained in the Arctic glaciers—roughly equivalent to 1.3 times the volume of seawater in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists are working to better quantify, through measurements and models, the rate at which this ice will melt and be released to the ocean.  The ACIA report projects that combined land-based Arctic ice melt will contribute a little over an inch of sea level rise over the next 60 years and nearly 3 inches by 2100.

The IPCC 2001 report, based on the full range of emissions scenarios, projected an overall global sea-level rise of between 4 inches and 3 feet by the end of this century. The bulk of this sea-level rise is based on the thermal expansion of the ocean from warming. In light of the new data presented in the ACIA report, scientists will be able to better project the Arctic contribution to expected global sea-level rise. Although a couple of inches may not sound like a significant increase in sea level, consider that low-lying coastal areas, such as parts of Louisiana or Bangladesh, are very vulnerable to every inch of sea-level rise.

Reference: ACIA, Impacts of a Warming Arctic, Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, 2004

World's largest photovoltaic power plants

Construction of a 40 MW solar generation power plant is underway in the Saxon region of Germany. The Waldpolenz Solar Park will consist of some 550,000 thin-film solar modules. The direct current produced in the modules will be converted into alternating current and fed completely into the power grid. Once completed in 2009, the project will be one of the largest photovoltaic projects ever constructed. Currently the biggest PV plant in the world has an output capacity of around 12 megawatts.

The CIS Tower, Manchester, England, was clad in PV panels at a cost of £5.5 million. It started feeding electricity to the national grid in November 2005.

A large photovoltaic power project has been completed in Portugal, the Serpa solar power plant is at one of the Europe's sunniest areas. The 11 megawatt plant covers 150 acres and is comprised of 52,000 PV panels. The panels are raised 2 metres off the ground and the area will remain productive grazing land. The project will provide enough energy for 8,000 homes and will save an estimated 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

A $420 million large-scale Solar power station in Victoria is to be the biggest and most efficient solar photovoltaic power station in the world. Australian company Solar Systems will demonstrate its unique, world leading design incorporating space technology in a 154MW solar power station connected to the national grid. The power station will have the capability to concentrate the sun by 500 times onto the solar cells for ultra high power output. The Victorian power station will generate clean electricity directly from the sun to meet the annual needs of over 45,000 homes with zero greenhouse gas emissions.

However, when it comes to renewable energy systems and PV, it is not just large systems that matter. Building-integrated photovoltaics or "onsite" PV systems have the advantage of being matched to end use energy needs in terms of scale. So the energy is supplied close to where it is needed.