What Can You Do To Help Decarbonize?

To most people, it is evident that global warming is a clear problem that negatively impacts the climate, the human population, and our surrounding ecosystems. In my city of Jersey City, we witnessed all of these impacts firsthand. Asthma and heat stroke occurrence rates as a direct result of rising temperatures and air pollution were among the highest in the state. We also experienced one of the hottest summers on record, with the heat damaging infrastructure such as subway lines (something which I experienced firsthand). In addition to urban impacts, our emissions also damage the forests, the very things that protect us most against climate change. Forest fires aren’t particularly common in New Jersey, but they have begun to occur much more frequently due to an overall dryer and hotter summer which extended into the fall. Last year, we also experienced the impacts of the Canadian wildfires, with the sky turning orange for days.

While it is easy to understand that our carbon footprint and emissions must decrease, it is much more obscure understanding how. We need to work together as individuals, communities, and larger organizations to do what we can to limit the expected damage of our emissions, and hopefully work towards reversing them too. New Jersey certainly has targets that quantify what and how much we need to change, such as having 85% of new car sales be electric within the next 5 years. However, without large-scale support from both the top and bottom, it is much more difficult to accomplish. While some people have a greater capacity to help, whether that be through political influence or simply having access to more resources, it is a collective desire to improve that will ultimately be the driving force for success.

With that in mind, what can you do? Well, it highly depends on where you live and what you have access to. It’s not easy to say “buy an electric vehicle” because in the current economy this is often not possible. However, there is something that virtually everyone can do.

1. Use Public Transportation (Urban)
   1. Most cities have urban transportation infrastructure, though it may not be good enough. Regardless, commuting via public transportation is significantly healthier for the environment and on a large scale this would heavily drop our transportation emissions.
2. Green Spaces (All)
   1. Our greenery is not only a beautiful way to contrast from the concrete jungles that are most urban areas, but they also go a long way towards mitigating our climate impacts. Trees and other plants provide regulating services that strip excess carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and also improve the overall air quality.
3. Energy-Efficient Buildings
   1. Although this is very difficult on smaller scales, larger urban buildings that shift to clean energy such as solar panels or promote more conservative use of energy such as through better insulation can greatly reduce the commercial and residential pollution created.
4. Sustainable Farming (Suburbs and Rural)
   1. Ultimately, the soil is our best friend in the battle against climate change, and it has the greatest potential for sequestration. Practices that maintain its richness whilst still allowing for profit in agriculture are among the best ways to mitigate climate impact. For example, planting cover crops during off-seasons would not only decrease erosion, but help funnel emissions from the air back into the groun
5. Composting (Suburbs)
   1. One of the sources of our emissions is landfill waste caused by methane emissions. Sustainably disposing of waste food and crops allows us to not only prevent these methane emissions, but enrich our soil and its capability to sequester more carbon.

These strategies can help residents contribute to a greener future no matter what their circumstances may be!