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By AYA DIAB, Associated Press
Climate change is usually considered as a difficulty that’s too massive for particular person motion to matter. But calculations present that when personal choices add up, the impression might be vital.
The Associated Press checked out 4 on a regular basis behaviors within the U.S. starting from meals and transportation to house vitality and clothes. The query was then posed: What if only one in 10 Americans who at present eat beef, drive gasoline vehicles, warmth their properties with pure fuel or purchase new garments modified every of these habits?
To discover out, the AP gathered knowledge from federal businesses and different sources on every behavior, then calculated how a lot emissions could be decreased if one out of each 10 customers made a swap. The reply is tens, and in some instances lots of, of billions of kilos of carbon air pollution averted every year.
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FILE – A line cook dinner slices beef brisket June 12, 2024, at a barbecue restaurant in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)
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FILE – A line cook dinner slices beef brisket June 12, 2024, at a barbecue restaurant in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)
Food: Swapping beef for rooster
Beef is among the most carbon-intensive meals within the world meals system as a result of cattle emit methane and require huge quantities of land and feed, creating giant quantities of local weather air pollution. Producing beef generates greenhouse fuel emissions a number of instances increased than rooster.
The really useful serving dimension of meat within the U.S. is 3 ounces (85 grams), in keeping with the American Heart Association. Swapping one serving of beef that dimension for rooster as soon as per week would minimize about 10 kilos (4.54 kilograms) of carbon dioxide. Over 52 weeks in a yr, that will equal a discount of about 525 kilos (238 kilograms) of carbon dioxide per individual per yr.
About 74% of Americans eat beef at the least as soon as per week, in keeping with a 2023 survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. If one out of each 10 of them — or about 25 million folks — swapped only one beef meal per week for rooster, emissions would fall by about 13 billion kilos (roughly 6 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide every year. That change is roughly corresponding to the annual emissions from almost 1.3 million gasoline vehicles.
“Beef is a commonly consumed item that has one of the largest carbon footprints per pound,” stated Dave Gustafson, challenge director at Agriculture & Food Systems Institute. “It is probably one of the largest individual choices that people make with regard to what they eat that has a direct impact on personal carbon footprint.”
Transportation: Gas vehicles to electrical automobiles
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, transportation is among the largest sources of direct greenhouse fuel emissions within the U.S., and private automobiles account for a significant share of that complete. Transportation accounts for 28% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by economic sector.
The EPA says the common U.S. motorist drives 11,500 miles (18,507 kilometers) per yr. The common fuel powered automotive emits 400 grams (14 ounces) of carbon dioxide per mile, in contrast with about 110 grams (3.9 ounces) of carbon dioxide per mile for an electric vehicle. Driving an electrical car as an alternative of a fuel automotive cuts roughly 7,400 kilos (3,357 kilograms) of carbon dioxide per individual yearly, even after accounting for emissions from electrical energy technology.
If a lot of Americans equal to 1 in 10 licensed drivers — or 23.77 million folks — made that swap, the emissions financial savings would add as much as roughly 175 billion kilos (roughly 79 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide yearly, almost 1.25% of complete U.S. greenhouse fuel emissions.
“If a large percentage of people changed a little bit of their travel, then all of a sudden the benefits are huge,” stated Dillon Fitch-Polse, an expert researcher and co-director of Bicycling Plus Research Collaborative on the University of California, Davis.
Energy: Heating properties otherwise
At house, heating is usually an invisible supply of fossil gasoline use. About 60 million U.S. households depend on utility pure fuel furnaces, which burn gasoline immediately inside the house, in keeping with the U.S Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
Replacing a fuel furnace with an electric heat pump, which strikes warmth as an alternative of producing it by way of combustion, cuts about 1,830 kilos (830 kilograms) of carbon dioxide per family per yr.
If one in 10 households that warmth their properties with pure fuel switched to electrical warmth pumps, the consequence could be about 11 billion kilos (roughly 5 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide averted yearly, corresponding to taking 1 million vehicles off the highway.
“People’s homes are kind of like little fossil fuel power plants that people operate, and they just don’t realize that’s what they’re doing,” stated Leah Stokes, affiliate professor of atmosphere politics on the University of California, Santa Barbara. “That’s really the collective action thing is for people to understand that there is fossil fuel infrastructure right under their noses in their own homes.”
Fashion: Buying secondhand
Clothing could appear minor subsequent to vehicles or furnaces, however attire has a major carbon footprint.
A life cycle assessment by Levi Strauss & Co. estimates that producing a single pair of Levi’s 501 denims can emit greater than 44 kilos (20 kilograms) of carbon dioxide, together with manufacturing, packaging, transportation and retail.
If 34.2 million folks — or the equal of 1 in 10 Americans — purchased a pair of secondhand denims this yr as an alternative of latest ones, it will keep away from roughly 1.5 billion kilos (roughly 0.7 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide, equal to the emissions of about 150,000 gasoline vehicles.
“What you can do is not throw in the trash,” stated Constance Ulasewicz, client and household research emeritus college and lecturer at San Francisco State University. “So it’s repairing your clothing so you can extend the life, and buying from a secondhand store.”
None of those actions alone can clear up local weather change, however collectively, the numbers present how rapidly emissions add up or come down when hundreds of thousands of individuals transfer in the identical course.
The Associated Press’ local weather and environmental protection receives monetary help from a number of non-public foundations. AP is solely answerable for all content material. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, an inventory of supporters and funded protection areas at AP.org.
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