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    Keep It Cool!: A Pocket Guide to Climate Action
    Keep It Cool!: A Pocket Guide to Climate Action
    Keep It Cool!: A Pocket Guide to Climate Action
    Ebook123 pages1 hour

    Keep It Cool!: A Pocket Guide to Climate Action

    By Gyncild

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    About this ebook

    We face an existential climate crisis. How can one person make a difference?

    Each of us makes choices every day that affect the greenhouse gasses we contribute to the atmosphere. While none of us can solve the problem ourselves, our individual actions are meaningful. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWordy Folks Publishing
    Release dateAug 8, 2022
    ISBN9781734864816
    Keep It Cool!: A Pocket Guide to Climate Action
    Author

    Gyncild

    Brie Gyncild has been a community organizer for thirty years, empowering people to envision a different future and work to make it reality. As a professional writer and editor, Brie specializes in making complex information accessible to the people who need it. She lives in Seattle, Washington.

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      Book preview

      Keep It Cool! - Gyncild

      9781734864816_cov.jpg

      Keep It Cool!

      A pocket guide to climate action

      Brie Gyncild

      Wordy Folks Publishing

      Copyright © 2022 by Brie Gyncild

      All rights reserved.

      First edition: 2022

      ISBN 978-1-7348648-1-6

      Wordy Folks Publishing

      1407 15th Ave

      Seattle, WA 98122

      www.wordyfolks.com

      Cover design uses image

      by Turkkub from Flaticon.com

      For everyone who can imagine a better future

      and is helping to bring it to life.

      Contents

      Introduction

      How to use this book

      Speaking up and speaking out

      Talk about it

      Elect climate-focused leaders

      Advocate

      Protest and rally

      Use social media

      Advocate for a Just Transition

      Getting around

      Walk, bike, and roll!

      Use transit

      Drive more efficiently

      Optimize fuel efficiency when you drive

      Fly as a last resort

      Reconsider carbon offsets

      Skip the cruise

      Eating

      Choose plant-based proteins

      . . . and go easy on the dairy

      Waste not, want not

      Eat out responsibly

      What’s the deal with palm oil?

      At home

      Heat and cool efficiently

      Cook cleanly

      Use less energy throughout your home

      Switch to clean energy

      Renewable natural gas

      Garden sustainably

      Biomass

      Regenerative agriculture

      Stuff

      Consume strategically

      Avoid unnecessary packaging

      Minimize shipping emissions

      Be a smart recycler

      Not-so-fast fashion

      Raising kids

      Parent—or don’t—intentionally

      Evaluate diapering options

      Prioritize quality

      Make responsible transportation fun

      Educate and learn from children

      Money

      Put your money where your climate goals are

      Invest in the future

      Fund the movement

      Cryptocurrencies? Maybe. Bitcoin? That’s a big no.

      Changing institutions

      At school

      Transportation

      Energy

      Cafeteria

      Investments

      Political action

      Curriculum

      At work

      Transportation

      Energy

      Kitchens and events

      Financial investments

      Purchasing

      Political action and policy

      In local governments

      Climate action plan

      Transportation

      Building codes/zoning

      Energy

      Investments

      Community-led resources

      In healthcare

      Energy use

      Anesthesia

      Transportation

      Plastics

      Cafeteria

      Buildings

      Influence and investments

      Resources

      A climate-friendly afterlife

      Parting thoughts

      Gratitude

      Introduction

      We’re at a critical juncture.

      A couple of hundred years ago, humanity launched a grand experiment, motivated by the desire for a better quality of life. We learned how to harness the remains of things long-dead to fuel homes, factories, vehicles, and everything else in our world. In the process, a small number of people were able to become very wealthy.

      Over time, we came to understand that our use of—and dependence on—fossil fuels threatened the livability of our climate. But by that time, moving away from fossil fuels was hard. Far too many corporations, governments, industries, and individuals prioritized convenience over sustainability, efficiency over safety, and profit over community. Together, they (we) are warming our environment, polluting our air and water, and threatening our very existence. And let’s be clear—the damage isn’t equally distributed. Throughout our country and the world, it’s poorer communities, Black and Brown families, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and other disenfranchised groups who suffer the most and the earliest from changes in the climate and from business as usual.

      Unfortunately, we can’t go back and change decisions that were made in previous decades. But we can—and must—make better decisions with the information and technologies available to us now. Each of us has the power to make better choices about every aspect of our lives, and working together, we can change our institutions and industries.

      We can’t wait for governments to act, and we can’t wait for industries to change. We need to pressure those entities while doing what we can in our own lives, families, and communities.

      A UN Emissions Gap report says that 70% of total global emissions are the direct results of personal lifestyle and purchasing decisions. Seventy percent!

      Of course, many of those decisions aren’t truly decisions. With a society that limits options and makes it difficult to make climate-friendly choices, many people have limited transportation, food, or other choices. We can, however, work to change systems so that the climate-friendly choices are the easiest and most sensible ones as well.

      Where we do have options and privilege, we can make the better choices now. We can play an important role in creating the world we want to live in.

      Living a climate-conscious life is good for the planet and the species that call it home, but it’s also personally rewarding. It’s very satisfying to know that you’re creating a more livable future when you plan vacations closer to home, take the bus instead of driving, or choose a more durable product. It can even be fun to solve the sometimes challenging puzzle of how to do something more sustainably.

      Beyond that immediate gratification, many strategies for cutting greenhouse gases result in healthier bodies, stronger communities, greater equity, lower costs, greater mindfulness, changing social norms, and the inspiration for climate activism. That’s a lot of benefit from walking or biking, eating vegetarian meals, skipping a flight or cruise, or line-drying laundry!

      The climate crisis provides an opportunity to remake ourselves, our communities, and our economies. We can and should follow the lead of the communities who are most affected, address racial and socioeconomic inequities, and build caring institutions that put people and other living things ahead of profit.

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