How to reduce the impact of climate change & global warming?

Global warming, climate changes and their impact are talked about in lengths, in all forms of media - TV, Radio, Newspapers & Internet. "Going Green" is the new buzz word. What should we do, to reduce the impact of climate change and global warming? Do we have to go back to the ancient world and live in forests, eating just fruits and vegetables? Do we have to sacrifice the pleasures of modern day life, to save this earth? How can we preserve the world we know, for our grand kids and our grand kids' grand kids?

(Also read: A Journey from Non-Vegetarian to Raw-Vegetarian)

A friend of mine forwarded me a "Youtube" video which prompted me to write this blog. This is the video of a young girl who addressed a UN meeting on the issue of environment.

What are some simple changes that you can bring in your life to reduce the impact of climate change & global warming? Here are 5 things you can do to reduce the impact of climate change & global warming.

1) Planting trees around your home or in some of the empty lands that you own. Think about the number of trees that we have to bring down during our life time. Just look around ... identify the number of wooden items around you - house/office structures, tables, chairs, cabinets, papers/books/notepads, paper towels, all the way to tiny little match sticks. All these things are made out of wood. So, how many trees have we planted since we were born to compensate for this?

2) Saying NO to paper/plastic bags during shopping. Carrying "cloth bags" to shops (and re-using plastic bags several times) reduces the carbon foot print. Since some forms of plastic cannot be recylced easily, the use of plastic creates a huge problem. Moreover, the cost involved to recycle a plastic bag is more than the cost involved to manufacture one. So, the manufacturers don't show interest in recycling plastic bags. A weekly shopping trip results in at least 10 - 15 plastic bags. In a year, we would've used nearly 800 bags. Imagine how much plastic use we can reduce if we just start to carry "cloth bags" to shop.

3) Wisely using water - Not wasting water and properly using it (during our showers, mouth wash, hand wash, watering lawns etc.,). Even a state like California declared drought last year because of the lack of rains. Water saved is water produced.

4) Avoiding/Minimizing the consumption of animal food. It takes more resources (land/water/fodder etc.,) to produce animal food than what is required to produce grains/vegetables. "There's nothing so pervasively damaging to our environment - and to world hunger - than eating animal products". This article gives you lots of facts regarding how animal food impacts the environment.

A friend of mine asked me "If everyone becomes a vegetarian, what happens to the ecosystem? Who'll maintain the food pyramid/chain?". My response to him was simple. "Today, do you think humans are letting these poor creatures to breed at their normal pace? We (humans) are growing thousands & thousands of cattle/birds (& forcing them to breed in an abnormal way) just to satisfy our appetite. If we let them to breed on their 'normal pace', then I believe the 'layers' underneath humans in the food pyramid/chain, will help to ensure the balance in the ecosystem".

Also read: Sunday - a day of mass murders in India,   Why am I a Vegan?

5) Drive your motor vehicle only when it is absolutely required. This is easier said than done. However, we can bring small changes to our lifestyle such as combining multiple trips into one, taking a walk to nearby places, using public transportation, car pooling, and biking.

Start to educate the people you know about climate change/global warming and their impact. You might have heard this several times during your life - "You'll learn a lot only when you start to teach". When you begin to teach others about global warming/climate change, you tend to learn more about it. This will motivate you to strictly adhere to your 'environmental friendly' life style.

Many a times, we don't realize the seriousness of the climate change. We may not see the end of the world during our life time. However, think of our grand kids or our grand kids' grand kids. They are going to live in a world that is completely torn apart by the global warming. Some of the small islands like Maldives will vanish out of the map because of increasing sea levels (due to the melting of glaciers).

Changing our life style to be 'environmental friendly' is definitely tough. But, if we are conscious about the impacts of environmental change/global warming, we can easily bring small changes into our life style. We all know that 'small droplets can form an ocean'. Why not make our small contribution towards making this world greener? 

Let us preserve the world we love/live for our grand kids & our grand kids' grand kids.