15 Things You Can Do Right Now to Help Stop Climate Change

Stopping global climate change when it comes to the individual simply boils down to going green. Any actions you can take that help prevent greenhouse gas emissions, physical waste, and wasted energy will help. Going green is really not as annoying as you might think and you don’t have to take things overboard to make a difference. Here are 15 things you can do immediately to go a little green and help fight climate change:

1. Shave some points of your thermostat.

Set your thermostat a few degrees colder in winter and a few degrees warmer in summer. You probably won’t notice the difference, but you’ll save money and reduce energy consumption.

2. Unplug your appliances when not in use.

These days, off doesn’t really mean off. Standby mode wastes energy.

3. Switch your laptop from using Standby mode to just Hibernate.

Again, standby mode still wastes energy. Hibernate might take a few extra seconds to recover from, but it’s worth it.

4. Get a new monitor.

If you’re still using big hot and heavy CRT monitors, step into the new millennium and get yourself an LCD. How often do you get to buy new stuff and save mother earth at the same time?

5. Work from home.

Not only do people who work from home get more work done on average, but you’ll be saving energy and avoiding the stress of a commute. Plus, you’ll avoid needless interruptions from your co-workers.

6. Kill paper bills and junk mail.

There are very few instances where you can’t get your bill in electronic format and save paper. No, you don’t actually need a paper copy. They’re just taking up space and killing trees.

7. Stop drinking bottled water.

This is a pet peeve of mine. The entire bottled water industry is a scam in plain site. Get yourself a water filter for your home and buy a reusable aluminum bottle to carry around with you.

8. Maintain your computer.

If you keep your computer maintained, up-to-date, and purring like a kitten, it will last longer. The longer you can hold onto the same computer, the more you can help the environment.

9. Borrow stuff instead of buying it.

I know many that read this blog are book hoarders, but are you really going to ever read that new Stephen King again? Even if you are, why not just borrow it from your local library when the mood strikes? It’s great to own stuff, but it saves the environment if you just borrow stuff instead.

10. Turn off the coffee maker.

Nobody is going to drink that last sip of coffee left in the pot, so keeping the warmer on is just wasting energy. Not only that, but you could end up ruining a perfectly good carafe.

11. Turn off those lights.

Instead of relying on lamps and bulbs, open your blinds and curtains. Take advantage of natural lighting. It saves energy, reduces waste, and makes you a happier person (true story).

12. Park the car.

Avoid the drive-thru like the plague. The EPA estimates that if one million drivers turned off their cars, rather than idled unnecessarily, for just two minutes per week for an entire year, pollutants would be reduced by more than 750 tons.

13. Be a vegetarian.

Not all the time, but even having one meal per week where you don’t include any meat can have a positive effect. Meat consumption is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. While this will not effect my love for steak, it might be nice to dig into some veggies every once in a while.

14. Shorten your shower.

Either that or take a cold one. Using hot water wastes a lot of energy, so take the opportunity to save it whenever you can. It doesn’t really take that long to wash yourself, does it?

15. Wash your clothes in cold water.

Not only will this prevent your colors from running, but it also helps save hot water and there are even detergents that work better specifically in cold water.

Living in Poverty: A Story for Blog Action Day

Living in Poverty

I flew through High School. National Honor Society, 1200+ on the SAT’s, all that crap. I never studied. School work was easy and studying was unnecessary. I spent a lot of time on my computer, a 286 purchased through the combined forces of my entire family. I went to Georgia Tech on scholarships  to study Computer Science.

I never graduated. I tried to get help to see why I couldn’t focus, but help didn’t come quick enough. Grades slipped, scholarships went away, debt mounted. Things fall apart.

A few years later, I’m working two jobs to take care of my wife and kids. We live well below the poverty line. My wife doesn’t get a job because that means we would need childcare and that’s just out of the question. We literally live from paycheck to paycheck. We eat the cheapest food we can find and live in a neighborhood where our neighbor sells drugs and prostitutes frequent the alley outside our window.

We can’t afford a phone, so we make calls at the payphone across the street. We don’t have a car, but at least the bus stop is right in front of our apartment complex. It takes me over an hour to get to work everyday. I barely even see my family.

I try a couple of times to go back to school, thinking maybe I can get a degree and then get a better job but, after two failed attempts over the years, all I have to show for it is more debt. Working two jobs and trying to go to school without reliable transportation is almost impossible.

Sure, I have the knowledge to work as a developer (I’ve been programming since the 4th grade), but nobody will hire me without a degree. I’m making $10/hr as a supervisor at my main job and that’s about as good as it gets. I’m stuck living in poverty and I’m not sure how to get out. Nobody can understand why I’m not doing better. I’m so talented and smart…so they say.

Is this your story, Rahsheen?

It very well could be. I most certainly never got a degree, but my mother wouldn’t have hers if I hadn’t taught her C/C++ and OOP (remember when that was a buzz word?). I have always hustled and scraped any way I could to try and provide for my kids. I have worked two jobs for most of my life. I have lived in poverty.

Anyone can end up in poverty. It doesn’t matter how hard you work. It doesn’t matter how smart you are. It doesn’t matter what race or ethnicity you are.

I tell you these things because a lot of people focus on the Why’s of poverty. They wonder why you let yourself live like that. They wonder why you don’t just get a better job. Why don’t you just go back to school and get a degree? Do you even have an ounce of pride in yourself?

Some situations are like quicksand. The more you kick and struggle to pull yourself out, the deeper you sink. There is nothing to grab onto. All your lifelines are gone.

Will you just walk past your fellow man and ignore their situation? Will you simply marvel at how they could have ended up in such a predicament? Will you wonder how they could have been so stupid? 

…Or will you simply give them a hand?

There are a million things you can do to help. For now, let’s keep it simple: 88 Ways to DO Something About Poverty Right Now.

Don’t just sit there….DO SOMETHING.