Want to help stop climate change? Check out this list.

6 min read

·Originally published on Sep 19, 2018

This is for real- someone made a list of how we can make it happen. Take a look.

If you’ve been paralyzed by the impending effects of climate change, start by taking a deep breath. Then know that you can now direct your actions purposefully and intentionally towards carefully measured solutions that will make an impact.

If you have continued to live life care-free and without lifting a pinky towards climate change issues or other worldly injustices, you’ll still want to pay attention. This list is powerful, includes interesting economic findings, and some of the facts that researchers dug up might inspire you.

When I discovered this list (shared during the final class of my California Naturalist Program) I was able to answer a number of questions that my millennial mind had been trying to grasp:

How will we stop climate change?
What are the most powerful ways to make an impact?
What can I do to promote climate change solutions?

These are the questions that turn over and over in my head on a regular, probably daily, basis. They really do! Ever since I had majored in environmental science and studied the ins and outs of natural systems and climate change on a regular basis, I can’t get away from these questions. I mean, who doesn’t think about these thoughts on a regular basis- is climate change not the largest threat to modern day society as we know it?

Enter: the list.

Iam a list person. This is another reason why I was stoked to be presented with a straight-up list of solutions. I also appreciate well-researched, data-backed information. Boom. More points for the list. Actionable items? Yes. Another point for the list. Especially with environmental issues — I want to be able to do something when I get fired up about everything that’s going awry.

So what is this list all about? It’s a compilation of extensive research and analysis by the diverse team at Project Drawdown. According to the website, “Drawdown is the point in time when the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases begins to decline on a year-to-year basis.”

The top 80 climate change solutions which Project Drawdown analyzed are identified as critical to reaching that point of drawdown. The list they created is ranked by most effectiveness.

Whats cool is that they’ve done all the work. You, me, everyone, and anyone can now take a look at the solutions that are most pressing- or most important to tackle in order to curb climate change.

I especially appreciate the ability to click into any solution and get more information on the level of your choosing. Click from the list to get a comprehensive, reader-friendly, fact-filled overview. Then there’s another opportunity to dive deeper by viewing the technical summary. Want more? You can dive even deeper into the solution by checking out the sources. Talk about thorough research and presentation!

Top 5 Solutions

If you haven’t already taken a peek, what do you think are the top 5 solutions?

I suggest taking a moment.

Think about what you’d expect.

Then compare it to what’s actually the most impactful solutions. It will be worth it!

Immediately, your mind might turn to planting trees, cutting out single-use plastic, or recycling. These are the things we grew up knowing were good and wonderful actions for our planet. Of course these are super important activities and habits to adopt, but the first 5 items on the Drawdown list might surprise you.

Here they are:

1. Refrigerant Management
2. Wind Turbines (Onshore)
3. Reduced Food Waste
4. Plant-Rich Diet
5. Tropical Forests

So what do you think!? How does it compare with that you expected?

At first glance, I can’t help but think to myself- wow- #1, #2, and #5 seem pretty hefty, but #3 and #4 are something that I can personally act on today.

The Actionable Items

Let’s talk about #3. To see Reduced Food Waste at number three out of EVERY possible solution is astounding(Aren’t there people going hungry?) and at the same time makes sense. Now I will take a quick moment to say “Thank you Mom” for instilling in me the values of making sure we took only what we needed, finished what was on our plates, and did what we could to avoid wasting food. All this being said- a lot of the problem of food waste stems from a systematic level — 1/3rd of the food produced in the world does not make it to a plate according to the Drawdown analysis. In poorer countries, a lot of this waste is unintentional and due to lack of resources. In wealthier countries, a lot of this waste is due to over preparing or pickiness. (Thank you Imperfect Produce for tackling this image issue.) Already you can 1) Avoid ordering more than you need 2) Use everything before it goes bad 3) Support the idea that consuming imperfect produce is OK. 4) If you have a way to support or speak up about improving the food supply chain to reduce wasted food- do it!

Now about #4 — the Plant-Based Diet. This topic is super relevant to me because I am in the middle of reading How Not to Die by Dr. Michael Gregor. The book shares research-based information about the power of food to influence health and the benefits of plant based foods. If I was in charge of mandating nationwide High School nutrition classes and assigning a textbook to it, I’d assign this book. It’s life-changing. It’s also so science-based that the last quarter of the books pages are all cited research and scientific studies!

Back to the Project Drawdown analysis- what I find absolutely amazing and thorough about this analysis is that it not only mentions the impact agriculturally of switching to plant-based diet…but it also emphasizes the health benefits of ditching animal-products. It mentions that plant-based diet reduces chronic diseases, need of medical resources, and reduces lost productive time so drastically that it would save our society 1 trillion dollars EACH YEAR! Must I go on?? Read this and this now.

The Larger Items — #1, #2, and #5

The items in this group are interesting in their own ways.

Refrigerant Management
Project Drawdown states that refrigerants “have 1,000 to 9,000 times greater capacity to warm the atmosphere than carbon dioxide” and that they are still being phased out. We will not be done phasing out this problem until 2028 according to the agreed upon management plan.

Wind Turbines (Onshore)
From Project Drawdown: “ An increase in onshore wind from 3 to 4 percent of world electricity use to 21.6 percent by 2050 could reduce emissions by 84.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide. At a cost of $1.23 trillion, wind turbines can deliver net savings of $7.4 trillion over three decades of operation.”

Tropical Forests
From Project Drawdown: “…restoration could occur on 435 million acres. Through natural regrowth, committed land could sequester 1.4 tons of carbon dioxide per acre annually, for a total of 61.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2050.”

Worth noting is that coming in at #6 and #7 is Educating Girls and Family Planning, respectively. I’ll save the discussion around why that may be for another post.

So what will you do next?

I hope this list has inspired you to take a look at carefully measured climate change solutions. I challenge you to consider where you fit in.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Where- based on where you currently stand- can you make a positive impact?
• What steps can you take to make a positive impact in areas you know you can reach towards?
• What solutions excite you the most and why?
• Is there a related organization you can join or support? (teamwork makes the dreamwork)
• What personal changes (whether big or small) can you make in your life to move towards supporting these climate solutions?

Remember- you are a positive influence within your personal community. How will you energize your community to support the solutions that will bring us closer to the point of Drawdown? Whatever you do, do something. Your fellow earthlings, and world as you know it, depend on it.