lightblueline

In today's (April 15, 2007) Seattle Times, a journalist explores the various opportunities that a single family has to change their carbon footprint and do their share in the struggle against unwanted and perhaps dangerous climate change.

"...personal choices matter, said Dina Kruger, director of EPA's Climate Change Division in Washington, D.C.

'There are enormous opportunities for individuals to make a difference,' she said.

Just turning out the lights and switching light bulbs can translate into big changes. 'The energy we use is generated by power plants. By reducing the amount of energy power plants need to produce, we ultimately reduce the number of power plants. These decisions lead back to larger issues.'

Various ideas are swirling on Capitol Hill about how to deal with global warming. But some lawmakers say that without strong efforts by India and China — which may surpass the United States as the world's largest carbon emitter by next year — reducing greenhouse gases here won't make a difference.

Legislative action in the United States 'without the participation of nations like China and India is an attempt to reverse global warming similar to a doctor telling an overweight, sedentary chain-smoker that he or she needs to wear a seatbelt,' Texas Congressman Joe Barton said during a hearing last month.

Elizabeth Kolbert, author of 'Field Notes From a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change,' said small changes can add up.

If every American family cut its CO2 emissions by 15 percent, she said in a recent interview, it would amount to nearly 1 billion tons of CO2 annually, roughly the total yearly emissions of France and Great Britain combined.

Kolbert agreed that action on climate change must be global.

'However, it seems to me that the U.S., as the world's largest emitter, has a special obligation to take the lead here,' she said.

'To refuse to act on the grounds that we can't control what the Chinese will do seems to me not only defeatist, but shamefully so. The Chinese still have far lower per capita emissions than we do. Obviously there is no impetus for them to act until we do. So what are we waiting for?'"

You can read the whole article here:

Can we change our lives to save the planet?