How to Live a Low-carbon Life


Book Description

First Published in 2010. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.




How to Live a Low-Carbon Life


Book Description

Drastic reduction of carbon emissions is vital if we are to avoid a catastrophe that devastates large parts of the world. Governments and businesses have been slow to act - individuals need to take the lead now if we are to avoid climate chaos.Each Westener is responsible for an average 10 - 20 tonnes of carbon emissions each year (depending on where you live). In How to Live a Low-Carbon Life, Chris Goodall shows how easy it is to take responsibility, providing a comprehensive, one-stop reference guide to calculating your CO2 emissions and reducing them to a more sustainable 2 tonnes a year.




Live Sustainably Now


Book Description

Any realistic response to climate change will require reducing carbon emissions to a sustainable level. Yet even people who already recognize that the climate is the most urgent issue facing the planet struggle to understand their individual responsibilities. Is it even possible to live with a sustainable carbon footprint in modern American society—much less to live well? What are the options for those who would like to make climate awareness part of their daily lives but don’t want to go off the grid or become a hermit? In Live Sustainably Now, Karl Coplan shares his personal journey of attempting to cut back on carbon without giving up the amenities of a suburban middle-class lifestyle. Coplan chronicles the joys and challenges of a year on a carbon budget—kayaking to work, hunting down electric-car charging stations, eating a Mediterranean-style diet, and enjoying plenty of travel on weekends and vacations while avoiding long-distance flights. He explains how to set a personal carbon cap and measure your actual footprint, with his own results detailed in monthly diary entries. Presenting the pros and cons of different energy, transportation, and lifestyle options, Live Sustainably Now shows that there does not have to be a trade-off between the ethical obligation to maintain a sustainable carbon footprint and the belief that life should be fulfilling and fun. This powerful and persuasive book provides an individual-level blueprint for a carbon-sustainable tweak to the American dream.




Cooler Smarter


Book Description

How can each of us live Cooler Smarter? While the routine decisions that shape our days—what to have for dinner, where to shop, how to get to work—may seem small, collectively they have a big effect on global warming. But which changes in our lifestyles might make the biggest difference to the climate? This science-based guide shows you the most effective ways to cut your own global warming emissions by twenty percent or more, and explains why your individual contribution is so vital to addressing this global problem. Cooler Smarter is based on an in-depth, two-year study by the experts at The Union of Concerned Scientists. While other green guides suggest an array of tips, Cooler Smarter offers proven strategies to cut carbon, with chapters on transportation, home energy use, diet, personal consumption, as well as how best to influence your workplace, your community, and elected officials. The book explains how to make the biggest impact and when not to sweat the small stuff. It also turns many eco-myths on their head, like the importance of locally produced food or the superiority of all hybrid cars. The advice in Cooler Smarter can help save you money and live healthier. But its central purpose is to empower you, through low carbon-living, to confront one of society’s greatest threats.




Living the 1.5 Degree Lifestyle


Book Description

Stop thinking about efficiency and start thinking about sufficiency Living the 1.5 Degree Lifestyle reveals the carbon cost of everything we do, identifying where we can make big reductions, while not sweating the small stuff. The international scientific consensus is that we have less than a decade to drastically slash our collective carbon emissions to keep global heating to 1.5 degrees and avert catastrophe. This means that many of us have to cut our individual carbon footprints by over 80% to 2.5 tonnes per person per year by 2030. But where to start? Drawing on Lloyd Alter's journey to track his daily carbon emissions and live the 1.5 degree lifestyle, coverage includes: What it looks like to live a rich and truly green life From take-out food, to bikes and cars, to your internet usage – finding the big wins, ignoring the trivial, and spotting marketing ploys The invisible embodied carbon baked into everything we own and why electric cars aren't the answer How to start thinking about sufficiency rather than efficiency The roles of individuals versus governments and corporations. Grounded in meticulous research and yet accessible to all, Living the 1.5 Degree Lifestyle is a journey toward a life of quality over quantity, and sufficiency over efficiency, as we race to save our only home from catastrophic heating.




How Bad Are Bananas?


Book Description

'It is terrific. I can't remember the last time I read a book that was more fascinating and useful and enjoyable all at the same time.' Bill Bryson How Bad Are Bananas? was a groundbreaking book when first published in 2009, when most of us were hearing the phrase 'carbon footprint' for the first time. Mike Berners-Lee set out to inform us what was important (aviation, heating, swimming pools) and what made very little difference (bananas, naturally packaged, are good!). This new edition updates all the figures (from data centres to hosting a World Cup) and introduces many areas that have become a regular part of modern life - Twitter, the Cloud, Bitcoin, electric bikes and cars, even space tourism. Berners-Lee runs a considered eye over each area and gives us the figures to manage and reduce our own carbon footprint, as well as to lobby our companies, businesses and government. His findings, presented in clear and even entertaining prose, are often surprising. And they are essential if we are to address climate change.




How to Live a Low-Carbon Life


Book Description

Climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity: drastic reduction of carbon emissions is vital if we are to avoid a catastrophe that devastates large parts of the world. Governments and businesses have been slow to act and individuals now need to take the lead. The Earth can absorb no more than 3 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year for every person on the planet if we are to keep temperature and rainfall change within tolerable limits. Yet from cars and holiday flights to household appliances and the food on our plates, Western consumer lifestyles leave each of us responsible for over 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year - four times what the Earth can handle. Individual action is essential if we want to avoid climate chaos. How to Live a Low-Carbon Life shows how easy it is to take responsibility, providing the first comprehensive, one-stop reference guide to calculating your CO2 emissions and reducing them to a sustainable 3 tonnes a year.




The Carbon Code


Book Description

The Carbon Code provides a framework to do this, and helps you to become a hero in the fight against climate change.




How to Avoid a Climate Disaster


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NATIONAL BESTSELLER In this urgent, singularly authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical--and accessible--plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid an irreversible climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help and guidance of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science and finance, he has focused on exactly what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide toward certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only gathers together all the information we need to fully grasp how important it is that we work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases but also details exactly what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. He describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions; where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively; where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions--suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but by following the guidelines he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.




Reduce Your Carbon Footprint


Book Description

Make Your Contribution to a Greener Earth - Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Now Have you ever wondered how your life has affected the environment that you live in? Have you heard the term 'Carbon Footprint' and been unable to understand the concept in its totality? Are you conscious of the fact that your lifestyle could have led to the depletion of resources that are vital to life on this planet? Well then here is the answer to all your queries. This book aims to educate readers on the various aspects of Carbon Footprint and help find easy and implementable measures to reduce the impact as far as possible. The objective of this book is to help simplify the scientific jargon and make it easy to understand for everyone so that all readers are able to realize and relate to this problem that is staring in the face of mankind. Here is a preview of what you will learn in the book: The concept of Carbon Footprint Means to measure your carbon footprint The significance of Carbon Footprint as an individual as well as a Human being. Understanding what the invisible increments to Carbon Footprint are. The exact short term measures that you can adopt to reduce the footprint. The long term measures that we all must initiate and implement in order to deal with the problem on a global scale. The strange yet real facts about Carbon Footprint that you wouldn't have heard before. With this book you will be armed to tackle the problem right from your homes and be able to educate your kids to take steps that will their footprints low. The simple yet proven strategies discussed in the book are aimed at creating awareness on the basics of the problem and help you take small incremental steps in the right direction, right now.It is our duty towards our kids to keep the earth green for them as we inherited it. That is why understanding identifying carbon footprint assumes such vital significance in today's world. Unless you can pin point the specific small things in your everyday lives that add up to the footprint you will not be able to reduce it substantially. This is why the book is so handy for the common man who wants to see a better world for the future generations.Why this book is special Easy language and simplified terms for better understanding. Examples from everyday affairs to help you identify the culprits. Simple and easily implementable steps for you to get started in reducing your Carbon Footprint. Macro level view for a more comprehensive understanding of the global nature of the problem. Great learning value for parents as well as kids. So what are you waiting for? Take action now and do your bit to save our planet for our kids. Start your journey by laying hands on this invaluable source of information. Download your copy today!