For those concerned about global warming, who are plagued by the question -- what can I do? -- Andrew Postman details some steps he took to reduce his energy output in The Energy Diet", published yesterday in the New York Times. . He defines an activism goal for everyman: "very little pain, not insignificant gain".
Postman calculated the tons of carbon dioxide emissions his family produced via the survey on climatecrisis.net. When you plug in a few numbers, these ubiquitous online calculators -- specific to wherever you live, New Zealand, Japan, the UK, Canada, etc.-- estimate the tons of carbon dioxide you produce from energy consumption at home, driving, and flying.
To reduce his emissions, the author took all the usual measures, switched to energy saver lightbulbs, lowered the thermostat, washed an occasional dish by hand. It's no 'holier than thou' account. His emissions baseline was well over the average of 7.5 tons per person, so small actions made quite a dent, not unlike a 400 pound person cutting back from 20 to 14 soft drinks per day. He insists he will never part with his plasma TV and he disgards taking steps that would be too much bother.
In lieu of some sacrifices, he chose to offset some of his emissions. There are many places online that provide this service. Some calculators, after determining your reduction in emissions, calculate what the effect would be if everyone else in your country -- in Japan, for instance -- also reduced their emissions that much. His message resonates -- anyone and everyone can reduce their emissions.
