SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS

There are endless numbers of Sustainable Solutions that we could identify on this page.  

Project Drawdown is the world's leading source of climate solutions.  Drawdown as defined on their website https://www.drawdown.org is the

point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and then start to steadily decline, ultimately reversing global warming.  Project Drawdown is a world-class research and communication organization which serves as a non-partisan, non-commercial, highly-trusted source of solutions to reverse global warming.  They have identified 80 solutions that are being applied right now that if expanded could lead to the drawdown point.  We encourage that you check out their website at https://drawdown.org/ or check out its' book Drawdown for more detailed descriptions.  
Of the 80 solutions identified and rated there are some that are more specific to what we as individuals can apply in our daily lives.  We again refer you to the list that is provided in the Steps We Can Take page of this website which provides a general list of steps we all can take.

What will be identified in the list below are solutions that are LOCAL and that are more specifically addressed by households under the solutions from Drawdown rather than businesses or governments.  Next to each solution will be the ranking given by Drawdown.  Though some are not specifically referred in the ranking to household we are listing them because of the local reference we want to make.  Take advantage of them when you can.  Change has to take place at all levels.  These are good ways to start.

Those solutions listed are: Plant-Rich Diet, Electric Vehicles, Insulation, LED Lighting-Household, Aircraft, Household Recycling and Organics Recycling or Composting.

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PLANT-RICH DIET Ranked #4

The western diet that we are accustomed to comes with a steep climate price tag.  The most conservative estimates suggest that raising livestock accounts for nearly 15 percent of global greenhouse gases emitted each year; the most comprehensive assessments of direct and indirect emissions say more than 50 percent.  The production of meat and dairy contributes many more emissions than growing vegetables, fruits, grains and legumes. 

Cows/beef are the most prolific offenders generating the potent greenhouse gas methane as they digest their food.  In addition, agricultural land use and associated energy consumption to grow livestock feed produce carbon dioxide emissions, while manure fertilizer emit nitrous oxide.  If cattle were their own nation, they would be the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Over consumption of animal protein also comes at a steep cost to human health.  In many places around the world, the protein eaten daily goes well beyond dietary requirements.  On average, adults require 50 grams of protein each day, but in 2009, the average per capita consumption was 68 grams per day or 36 percent higher than necessary.  In the US and Canada the average adult consumes more than 90 grams of protein per day.  Eating too much animal protein can lead to certain cancers, strokes, and heart disease.  It is possible to eat well, in terms of both nutrition and pleasure, while eating lower on the food chain and thereby lowering emissions.  According to the World Health Organization, only 10 to 15 percent of one’s daily calories need to come from protein, and a diet primarily of plants can easily meet that threshold.  (Content provided by "Drawdown")

On average, U.S. household food consumption emits 8.1 metric tons of carbon each year.  The production of food accounts for 83% of carbon emissions, while its transportation accounts for 11%.
Meat products have larger carbon footprints per calorie than grain or vegetable products because of the inefficient transformation of plant energy to animal energy.  A vegetarian diet greatly reduces an individual's carbon footprint, but switching to less carbon intensive meats can have a major impact as well.  For example, replacing all beef consumption with chicken for one year leads to an annual carbon footprint reduction of 882 pounds of carbon.

Greenhouse gases from average food consumption amounts to: 47% for meat; 18% dairy products; 13.9% poultry, fish, seafood and eggs; 4.9% vegetables; 3.6% fruit; 3.0% grain products; 7.5% sugars, sweeteners, fats and oils; and .5% other.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES Ranked #26
Electric Vehicles are listed in Drawdown under a larger category of Transport.  We live in a car culture in the US.  Much of our life centers around getting from one place to another by an automobile.  The primary source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States is transportation emissions (28.9% in 2017 per the EPA).  Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation primarily come from burning fossil fuels from our cars, trucks, ships, trains and planes.  There are a lot of ways to reduce excess burning of the gas in our cars.  You can drive more efficiently through variety of ways.  You can drive a car that gets a higher rate of MPG. 

You can also consider purchasing or leasing an electric vehicle (EV).  You don't have to go new as EVs have been on the market in the Midwest since 2010 and used ones are readily available if you search for them.  Driving and owning an EV is a whole new experience compared to what we have conditioned our selves to since the beginning of the 20th century.  Instantaneous torque when you need it and no motor noise are some of the many benefits.  There are two different types of EVs, A PHEV which is a plugin hybrid usually has a short range that it drives on battery before a hybrid engine takes over.  A BEV is a battery only EV where the only source of power is a battery.  More recently the market is moving towards the BEV as the dominant EV but PHEVs are still readily available.  The reason for this is that the cost of batteries have been dropping significantly recently.  
Because of the uniqueness of EVs it really warrants studying them before purchasing or leasing.  A good source here locally is the Minnesota EVOwners group.

  It is a nonprofit group made up of EV owners who encourage the driving of EVs.  Their website is https://www.shift2electric.com/. Another website is a national group called Plugin America and it can be found at https://pluginamerica.org/ .  As an EV owner myself I would encourage you to email me at carsoc77@gmail.com for questions.

If you are curious to see how cars are evaluated against climate targets comparing greenhouse gas emissions to costs (vehicle, fuel and maintenance) check out this interactive graph at http://carboncounter.com/ .

INSULATION Ranked #31

Using fossil fuels at home in the form of natural gas to heat your home in Minnesota has become an expected norm.  Reducing our use of this form of energy in our homes is a good goal.  Increased insulation at home can help us meet that goal.  Insulation is one of the most practical and cost-effective ways to make your home more efficient—both in new construction and through retrofitting older homes that are not well encased.  At relatively low cost, insulation results in lower utility bills (less natural gas usage), while keeping out moisture and improving air quality.

We often assume that our home is properly insulated.  Building codes however change over time and it is remarkable to know that a home built only 10 years ago required less insulation than they do know.  Homes built only ten years ago may have required R30 insulation in the ceiling.  R50 is now a standard. 

Your natural gas supplier whether it be Centerpoint or Excel or someone else wants you to reduce your consumption of this energy and will provide rebates to improve your insulation.

A good starting point is to check into your energy supplier’s website.   Centerpoint can be found at https://www.centerpointenergy.com/en-us/residential?sa=mn .  Excel Energy can be found at https://www.xcelenergy.com/programs_and_rebates. 

They will recommend that you get an energy audit of your residence to see what needs you do have.  This is a very valuable tool and worth the initial cost ($100 estimate).  Depending on what is needed rebates can be obtained up to $500.00 of the cost of the work done.  Other rebates are also available for many other services and are well worth checking out.

A final note is to set your thermostat in the winter at the recommended setting of 68 degrees when your home and 58 degrees when you’re away or asleep.

LED LIGHTING-HOUSEHOLD Ranked #33

It is time to replace our light bulbs.  Why you say?  The standard incandescent light bulb we have been using for decades to light our homes is an energy hog.  Incandescent bulbs are so inefficient they have been likened to space heaters that emit a little light.  The obvious choice to replace them with is the LED (light emitting diode) bulb.  When turned on, an LED uses 90 percent less energy for the same amount of light than an incandescent bulb, and half as much as a compact fluorescent, without toxic mercury.  On top of that, an LED bulb will last much longer than either type of bulb-- twenty-seven years if turned on five hours a day.  This translates into a 10 to 30 percent return on investment if you buy and replace older lighting fixtures with LED.  The diverse range of LED lighting now available means that virtually any type of bulb currently in commercial or residential use can be replaced by an LED bulb.  This a tremendous way to reduce your energy use in the home.  Your utility companies provide rebates for LED's but you may find that sales at your local hardware store really don't warrant the extra effort to gain the rebate.  The next time an incandescent goes out replace with an LED and watch your utility bills drop.  The less energy used the less carbon emissions released into the atmosphere.  This is a great way for us individually to make a difference.

AIRCRAFT  Ranked # 43

So why do we include Aircraft in this listing of local solutions?  We Americans often find the need to travel by air for either business or recreation.  Mobility is an undeniable social good and important to the global economy.  The greenhouse gases that follow the movement of aircraft in the form of exhaust are significant.  Efficiency trends in air craft are headed in the right direction but it will be a while before they will be carbon neutral.  A better solution would be to take high speed trains but the United States is still way behind Europe and Asia in this mode of transportation.

So what can we do in the mean time?  We can buy Carbon Offsets.  There are numerous organizations that have set up links that have formulas set up so you only have to key in your starting airport and ending airport and whether you are doing a round trip.  The solution they provide is then a contribution amount that you can apply to one of many programs they offer around the world like preserving old growth forest in Alaska or helping to provide improved more efficient cook stoves in Uganda or Wind projects as an example.

The following are just a sampling that can be used.

Cool Effect at https://www.cooleffect.org/

Carbon Foot print at https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

RECYCLING (Zero Waste living) Ranked #55

If you are like most of us, you produce close to 4.38 pounds of landfill-bound trash every single day, according to the EPA.  For a family of four, that is a daily output of more than 17 pounds of trash, officially called Municipal Solid Waste resulting in an annual total of more than 6,200 pounds.  Zero-waste living means aiming to reduce landfill-bound trash to the bare minimum.  A lot of your trash can be recycled, reused or re-purposed and that is highly encouraged.  Another way to address that trash is to reduce it.  Learn what material can be recycled in Minnesota, and what materials should go in the trash by watching this video produced by Minnesota Waste Wise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwWYb4bmQOI .

ORGANICS RECYCLING OR COMPOSTING Ranked #60

(The following information comes from the Drawdown book).  Like all living beings, human create waste, but that waste can be uniquely problematic.  Nearly half of the solid waste produced around the world is organic or biodegradable, meaning it can be decomposed over a few weeks or months.  A key contributor to that rubbish flow is food waste.  For millennia this waste made its way back into the natural economy; today, much organic waste ends up in landfills.  It decays in the absence of oxygen, producing the potent greenhouse gas methane, which is up to thirty-four times more powerful than carbon dioxide over one hundred years.  A quarter of anthropogenic global warming may be due to methane gas alone.  While many landfills have some form of methane management, it is far more effective to divert organic waste for composting, both dramatically reducing emissions and putting microbes to work.

Rather than generating methane, as decomposition in a landfill would, the composting process actually converts organic material into stable soil carbon and makes it available to plants.  Compost is an incredibly valuable fertilizer, retaining water and nutrients of the original waste matter, and can aid soil carbon sequestration.  In 2009, San Francisco passed an ordinance that makes composting the city's food waste mandatory.  Seattle monitors curbside bins and now tags and fines those who violate its composting requirement.  Copenhagen, Denmark, has not sent organic waste to landfill in more than 25 years, reaping compost's win-win-win of cost saving, fertilizer production, and carbon mitigation.  The City of Minneapolis and St. Paul provide organics recycling pick-up.  The inner suburbs of the Twin Cities are implementing the same.  Dakota County provides a program for residents to collect their organic compost and deliver it to drop off sites for composting.  Check out their program at https://www.co.dakota.mn.us/Environment/Residential/Organics/Pages/organics-drop-off.aspx .  Traditionally, landfilling has been cheap and convenient, but that is changing as land-use pressures and landfill regulation grow.  These shifts are boosting the appeal of composting.  

In 2015, an estimated 38 percent of food waste was composted in the United States; 57 percent was composted in the European Union.  If all lower-income countries reached the U. S. rate and all higher-income countries achieved the E.U. rate, composting could avoid methane emissions from landfills equivalent to 2.3 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2050.

Be energized to do your part by watching this video produced by Minnesota Waste Wise.  The beginning of the video covers recycling in general and the later part covers composting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JKsGKiFMgo .