I want to save the environment, but I don't know how my household can become truly carbon neutral without donating thousands a year to companies like Wren. All suggestions welcome! Thanks!
Solar will never be a good ROI
Said with such confidence 😂 Already has been for me.
Use real math not Government math. I have known four people who have solar and NONE of them are even going to break even.
Depends on where you live. Hawaii 30% ROI is common. In general the closer you are to the equator the higher the returns and places that have to import fossil fuels have very high rates.
Also depends on when you had them installed. Price has fallen over 50% in the last decade and have yet to plateau.
But commercial installations such as utility run solar farms are significantly cheaper to operate than individual buildings. Longer term it doesn’t make much sense for everyone to produce their own power unless you are in a remote area where the distribution cost is higher and less reliable.
Frankly no one is carbon neutral. All we can do is reduce our footprint. Eat more plant based diets. Walk or ride a bike or bus to get to work. Reduce/reuse and recycle. Cold water to wash your clothes. Line dry them if you can. Plant a garden or partake in your community garden. A lot of simple solutions to reduce your footprint.
Reduce the urge to buy new things, limit waste, buy secondhand, turn off your lights when possible, ride a bike/take public transport, buy some solar panels if it makes sense, grow food at home, etc.
This ⬆️
Go entirely plant based
Nah
do what you want but that's a real answer. Probably the most efficient thing you can do to reduce your impact the most with the least effort
Buy less stuff. Buy decent quality stuff and take care of it so it lasts. Use public transportation when you can. Drive less, fly less. Turn down the heat, turn up the AC. Evaluate home systems; tax credits for heat pumps are a big help at using less fossil fuel. Look at how you live, what fossil fuel use can you reduce. Be politically active in your community.
Plant a tree. Or a plant.
Trees/plants store/use carbon.
Take in CO2, give off O2, the C has to go somewhere right? Paying to be "carbon neutral" in a largely carbon based life form is straight to plaid.
Edited: the 0' to O's.
CO2
Exactly. I worked this out a few years ago and I’m carbon negative. I purchased and protected a 6 acre plot of forest 20 years ago for a song and now I have another 4 acre piece. I heat with a heat pump and all my electricity comes from renewables. My vehicle is still gasoline powered but I rarely drive. Most of my carbon comes from my food.
Planting trees doesn't help nearly as much as saving an old growth tree that is part of a forest ecosystem and storing carbon underground. And how far do you need to drive to plant that tree? Where did the plant nursery get that seedling? Was there temp control in the greenhouse?
Individual accountability for carbon footprint is a nonsense game. I'm not saying 'don't plant trees', just look at more systemic issues and maybe just reconsider future purchases and put your next phone upgrade off until the thing actually breaks.
I'm rural, I can plant a tree within 50 feet of myself, almost at any given time.
It's almost like nature was intended to thrive without human interference... you don't have to control everything so perfectly for nature to win.
There's also way better ways to go about doing a lot of the things we do today, differently, more sustainable and all that good fun stuff.
The biggest things you can do to reduce emission are reduce/eliminate animal product consumption (especially beef), minimize how much you drive, fly, and buy things, and address food waste by some combo of wasting less and compost.
If you own your home you can look into installing solar and electrifying appliances (heat pump, electric stove, etc).
I personally keep my money in Atmos vs banks that may finance fossil fuels as well.
Curb your consumerism. Manufacturing is a huge problem...and then transport and disposal. Just stop the stuff.
Start a petition to get a rich globalist to minimize their carbon footprint. The yachts and private jets and all else are well beyond anyone else's, so aim where you can actually make a difference and get them on board with what they tell us small impactors to accomplish. Governments and militaries probably also a good option, along with big agriculture.
A petition? 😂😂. You have the right idea about the rich limiting their carbon footprint. But a petition is not going to do anything
You're not wrong and I was very tired, as long as the idea gets out there I'm glad for wiser people getting it to work as well as it may
don't use the term "globalist" its fraught with racist ties.
petitioning rich people is stupid. Don't waste your time petitioning rich people ever.
Vote often, and if you do petition send it to elected officials about getting money out of politics. Money in politics is the reason rich people and corporations are allowed to be super-polluters. Asking them nicely won't change outcomes.
All fairly enough said, regardless my confusion over the racist ties. However the goal may be reached, it's a far more effective bit of effort one can make than buying paper straws.
And very true about money in politics. We need some rather sweeping changes there altogether to make it less appealing to the legit sociopaths and psychopaths so well psychologically suited and motivated toward the roles. I think full and public financial transparency for at least some public servants might be wise, coupled with less incentive otherwise so only those rightly motivated might seek it out.
Don’t have pets.
Nah
Pets have a huge carbon footprint and cats kill billions of birds
The following advice is about making the transition easier and reducing the amount of people giving up.
First start with a detailed carbon calculator, get familiar with your foot print and the areas where you can improve.
Next pick the area where you can see the easiest improvement for you and your family. Make the changes and establish the new habits. then move on to the next low hanging fruit. In times you will find you footprint shrinks to very low levels and by approaching it step by step your chances of hitting burnout dramatically reduce.
Frankly I know to many people that tried to do everytjing at once, burned out, then declared it impossible and gave up. Small steps gets it done.
Be reincarnated as a plant/fungi symbiont
You can't. The whole myth that people can make themselves carbon neutral is a red herring. Solving climate change will take worldwide systemic change. We have all the science and tech we need. We just need to decide to do it and then carry through.
That being said, it's obviously not wrong to shrink your footprint. But that shouldn't distract from the responsibility that rests on the shoulders of the powers that be.
If you don't make it, it's not your failure. It's theirs.
I’ve been working on concept if you wanna check it out on my made. Earth Mondays I call it.
I bought solar cells a year ago. They have generated electricity equivalent to 11.7 tonnes of CO2 according to the app that came with them. A small step for mankind... ;-)
Otherwise I suggest you can invest in wind turbines and batteries, fuel cell and hydrogen technology.
the most carbon emitting thing we usually do is heating our houses in the winter.
Unfortunately, the price to refurbish/insulate/install heat pumps and solar panels is insane... so just turn down the heat in the winter (and don't use A/C in the summer).
Donating money does not make you carbon neutral. Best way is plant a tree or two.
We are carbon based lifeforms.
Electrify your home and drive an EV for starters.
Buy bottles of CO2 and bury them in the backyard.
We can start doing carbon neutral by reducing our household's carbon footprint.
Use energy-efficient appliances and lighting, and ensure your home is well-insulated to reduce heating and cooling needs. Use public transportation, carpool, bike, or walk whenever possible. Minimize waste by reducing consumption, reusing items, and recycling materials. Avoid fast fashion, you can also donate your plastics to different organizations that are recycling and reusing plastics by inventing them into new materials. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, so planting trees or supporting reforestation efforts can help offset your carbon footprint. Lastly, look for opportunities to support local or global initiatives that are working to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment.
All of these comments are good advice but honestly the problem is that we are trying to address climate change at the individual level, when even if we ignore the fact that the real problem is big oil companies we ALL have to work together to make any dent. We need to get organized
Instead of you looking at ways to cut your carbon, why not have a go at all these big industries that spew out so much pollution, more than you could ever generate in a lifetime, it's great to blame the common man, but seriously look at the industries and governments just wanting to line there own pockets, they are to blame not you
The only real way to be carbon neutral is to live off grid and still offset what you need in order to get any products, groceries and things of that nature. You can definitely do it if you're able to live off-grid. Most can't though
Just do what you can. Don't exhaust yourself or put yourself into financial ruin over it. If you can donate 25, 50, 100 per month to something like wren (personally I go for clean air task force) then that's great, but I think it's silly to do some exact amount until you're neutral or carbon negative. Just do the most you can without disrupting your life
Stop using your smartphone
Stop breathing is one method
Just stop breathing,
You’re welcome
You can’t, but it should only be a personal aspiration only as it has zero impact globally. Corporations and governments are the only sectors that we need to stop emitting, and our energy must be focused there instead of taking personal responsibility for their destruction.
How about instead of worrying about Carbon just reduce pollution instead by supporting nuclear power plants
Ok thanks to you all, I might at least get better, but I am a chemist… sooooo… gotta buy lots of stuff… thanks guys!
Don't have kids.
Its extremely difficult to become fully carbon neutral, but take all the small steps you can think of:
- Grow your own food in the spring/summer
- Try not to purchase anything you don't need
- Repurpose and re-use wherever possible
- Buy second hand
- Avoid food waste wherever possible (meal planning is important) and compost what food waste you do have
- Vote for green parties
- Purchase a green electric provider and avoid gas if you can
Stop breathing.
I honestly thought the replies in here would be nothing but "kill yourself"
I mean you can adjust your life in every way you want, you'll always exhale CO2
So....
Stop existing
You just can't be carbon neutral on your own, it makes no sense to say something like this
Carbon neutrality have a sense at the scale of countries, states, maybe large geographic regions but not for an individual or a company
Please go look for articles and studies explaining what is carbon neutrality in a world revolving around oil and fossil fuels
At your level, all you can do is live according to your principles at support in your work and politically these principles, but all your endeavours to offset your personal emissions will be pointless
This is something most people fail to understand yet and it is a lot of wasted energy
Why do you care? See the jets fly and know it's pointless.
A lot more people than number of commercial jets in the world. There's a point. Most important is to help climate politicians win
Nah, they pick arbitraty goals out of their ass and then implement taxes to keep people poor. Fuck that
Ah, you're a nihilistic 'axe the tax' type. Too lazy to even try to protect the future of the planet. Got it
Politicians suck and are all crooked. Implement Term Limits.
Because not everyone is as big of a pessimist as yourself
Not a pessimist. Enjoying life. V8 engines are badass, boats are fun, planes are fun, emission restrictions suck, enjoy life.
internal combustion engines are antiquated. you say youre enjoying life now until the consequences of climate change come crashing down on you and your loved ones. planes can be transitioned away from fossil fuels and to biofuels, this is especially true for the wealthy who can afford to pay twice the price for fuel.
how much do you get paid to be a fossil fuel operative or do you do it for free because youve been brainwashed?
Oh yeah biofuels, those are stupid. Take up farm land, water, and labor to produce fuel instead of food and the price pf food goes up yet again hurting those trying to get by, ie poor people.
we produce more food than we can eat. biofuels are still in the early stages. most of the big fossil fuel companies have the largest investments in biofuel research and development. the fossil fuel industry is filled with immoral leaders, but being able to make smart economic investments is not among the top critiques. so basically no one thinks biofuels are stupid... except the stupid few.
Their point is the average person's carbon emissions are a drop in the bucket compared to the rich. A single trip to space is more than anything we could produce in our lifetimes. Private jets, yachts, etc.
Until you control those emissions, blaming the average person (who's just trying to survive) is pointless.
yeah achieving global carbon neutrality is going to require practically all anthropogenic sources of carbon emissions. we are giving the super wealthy an exemption.
one individual. yeah. its nothing compared to the entire human population since industrialization. but a coordinated collective effort of people can crush entire industries without a single bit of violence.
blaming. im not a huge fan of blaming. but we are still responsible to do all that we can.
V8 engines make for slow cars these days.
Cant replace that sound or the classic cars and boats still running
Meh. I prefer performance and sailing. Engine sound is just wasted energy escaping into the void.
Throwing your hands up thinking you make no difference in the world around you is a pessimistic view🤷♀️
Aircraft account for about 2% of global emissions. Far less than all our cars and trucks and animal agriculture and manufacturing.
With no restrictions. Planes dont have cats on them. Cars do and cars emit only CO2
That's boomer mindset.
Whoa, stereotype! Isn't that offensive to label without knowing?
Don't have kids
Having one less kid by far has the biggest impact.
See the chart in this article:
Nah
Lol
Wren is $25 per tonne of CO2e
carbonfootprint.com is only $8.9 that's what I've been doing.
You get what you pay for.
Indenpendently audited carbon offsets. I believe the lower price comes from the carbon offsets working in conjunction with development projects that simultaneously provide other poverty alleviation and health outcomes.
Die
70% of popution comes from like 40 compa ies if. I remember right
Those companies produce stuff that regular people consume. The emissions from burning gasoline are due to people driving their cars, not the companies pumping and refining the oil. If people chose to drive less/use more public transport/switch to EVs or bikes then less gas would need to be burnt.
not the companies pumping and refining the oil.
Pumping and refining the oil also produces emissions.
Yes, but the companies aren't doing that for the hell of it, they're doing in order to create gasoline to sell to people so that those people can drive around. Everyday consumers are the end users of the gasoline, and are responsible for the emissions. It's wrong to blame the companies when they are just producing stuff that we all want and need, like gasoline.
They're doing it for the money, not for your convenience. We pay the price in the form of a wrecked planet. Either fossil fuels die or society as we know it dies.
Yes, but the company can go make something else or shutter or the investors can go invest in something else, but people who need gasoline to go places can't just make do without gasoline. People rely on companies for gasoline more than companies rely on people for money. Investors will take their capital elsewhere, but the current need for gasoline needs to be filled by someone. Lots of ways for investors to make money, only one way for people to get gasoline.
The wrecked planet is not the result of the companies, it is the result of the people buying their products. Consumers are doing this to themselves; paying the price of their own choices.
Sure. The companies don't have to go out of business and the switch doesn't have to happen overnight, but the fossil fuels have to go sooner rather than later.
Also: there is plenty of evidence that these companies knew all too well that their products caused global warming, but they lied about it and to this day they're trying to slow down the transition to maximize their profits at everybody else's expense.
While I don't think they necessarily have to go out of business, I wouldn't shed a tear if they did and I think they should be expected to pay for the damage they have done.
Yes but they are producing emissions. And transportation can be fueled without using fossil fuels as the energy source.
But they aren't creating emissions for the sake of creating emissions. Everything a company does is to sell more stuff to people, and that without consumer demand the company would not exist.
Yes, but not in the quantity we need at the moment to entirely move away from fossil fuels/ICE vehicles. We cannot stop all gasoline-powered vehicles right now, those people still need to go places and they still need the gasoline that the oil+gas companies produce.
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/29/1125894105/oil-field-flaring-methane-report
Gas flaring has entered the chat.
"excess gas that cannot be transported and sold"
i.e. they'd transport and sell it if they could. Companies don't like having to flare off methane if they could otherwise sell it, but turning it from methane into carbon dioxide reduces its climate impact.
But they aren't creating emissions for the sake of creating emissions.
Again I didn't say they were. I was commenting on your comment that "The emissions from burning gasoline are due to people driving their cars, not the companies pumping and refining the oil." which is not accurate since pumping and refining the oil also produces emissions.
Yes, but not in the quantity we need at the moment to entirely move away from fossil fuels/ICE vehicles. We cannot stop all gasoline-powered vehicles right now, those people still need to go places and they still need the gasoline that the oil+gas companies produce.
No one is saying we can move away from fossil fuels at the moment. Those changes are always reported by some year in the future. And some countries are making rapid progress on that.
The emissions from burning gasoline are due to people driving their cars, not the companies pumping and refining the oil." which is not accurate since pumping and refining the oil also produces emissions.
I disagree. Pumping and refining the oil does produce emissions, but the emissions from burning gasoline are due to people driving their cars. The driver is fully responsible for emissions from burning the gasoline in their car. Perhaps they are only partially responsible for the upstream emissions required to create that gasoline.
No one is saying we can move away from fossil fuels at the moment. Those changes are always reported by some year in the future. And some countries are making rapid progress on that.
Yes, but I'm saying that because we can't move away from fossil fuels for transport now, people are still reliant on oil and gas companies to get where they need to go, and it is wrong for consumers to blame companies for producing emissions when the consumers need those products to live their everyday life.
I disagree.
Then we disagree.
The driver is fully responsible for emissions from burning the gasoline in their car.
What alternative do drivers have until the transition can be made.
Yes, but I'm saying that because we can't move away from fossil fuels for transport now, people are still reliant on oil and gas companies to get where they need to go, and it is wrong for consumers to blame companies for producing emissions when the consumers need those products to live their everyday life.
Exactly, people are still reliant on oil and gas companies to get where they need to go because they have no choice now.
and it is wrong for consumers to blame companies for producing emissions when the consumers need those products to live their everyday life.
The blame is for companies not telling the public what they knew 45 years ago, that emissions would cause global warming and then producing propaganda that there was no scientific consensus on that like the cigarette companies did to cover their lies. And they are still producing propaganda by now switching to blaming it on the consumers like you are saying. So it sounds like you work for the fossil fuel industry.
And for using the public air for producing those products to make a profit and then not cleaning up the emissions they return to the atmosphere. Like your neighbor dumping his chicken poop in your back yard because he didn't want to pay for having someone to haul it away to a proper disposal.
its true. i think they were trying to say that transitioning from fossil fuel consumer products reduces the demand of fossil fuel production so it compounds the effective reduction.
They’re not doing it for fun. They’re doing it because of massive global demand for their product. The only way to change that is to reduce consumption or pay more to consume more green alternatives.
The only way to change that is to reduce consumption or pay more to consume more green alternatives.
It cost less to produce electricity from green alternatives than from fossil fuels.
The last two points can save you a lot of money over time