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The biggest cause of global warming is the carbon dioxide released when fossil fuels like oil and coal are burned for energy. So when you save energy, you fight global warming (and save money, of course). And when you use your voice and your vote, you encourage laws to help fight global warming now.
What you can do:
Support Renewable Energy
If you live in a state that lets you choose your power company, pick one that generates at least half its power from wind, solar energy or other clean sources. If you don't have the option to select a supplier yet, you might still be able to support renewable energy through an option on your electricity bill.
For details, see NRDC's guide to buying clean energy.
Another way to help spur the renewable energy market and cut global warming pollution is to buy "green tags" or "cool tags," which represent clean power you can add to the nation's energy grid in place of electricity from fossil fuels.
Green Tags: are a way to support electricity generation from renewable sources. Most traditional power relies on burning fossil fuel. Green Tags are created when wind power or other renewable energy is substituted for traditional power. The result is a shift away from our dependence on burning fossil fuel to produce electricity. Green Tags represent the real savings in carbon dioxide and other pollutants that occur when green power replaces burning fossil fuel.
Click here to order a Green tag from Bonneville Environmental Foundation.
Cool Tags: For each $2 Cool Tag sold, CLIF BAR invests $2 in Native Energy's WindBuilderssm program, helping Native American communities build new wind farms. Wind farms deliver clean, renewable energy to the grid without releasing CO2 into the air -- thereby displacing energy that comes from polluting facilities.
Click here to learn more about CLIF Bar and Start Global Cooling!
Stand Up and be Counted
To keep winter cool, we need new safeguards that steer our nation toward the most important solutions -- cleaner cars and cleaner power plants. Send a message to your elected officials, letting them know that you will hold them accountable for what they do -- or fail to do -- about global warming. Visit NRDC'S website to contact your elected official and let them know you want solutions to global warming to keep the skiing/snowboarding season long and snowy.
Make a Clean Getaway
When buying your next car, pick the least-polluting, most efficient vehicle that meets your needs. Maybe it's an innovative hybrid that combines a gasoline engine with electric motors (and never needs to be plugged in). Or maybe it's a wagon instead of an SUV. If you do need a truck, be on the lookout for new hybrid SUVs hitting the market later this year.
And over the average lifetime of an American car, a 40-mpg car will save roughly $3,000 in fuel costs compared with a 20-mpg car, so compare fuel economy performance before you buy.
Click here to learn more about choosing a more efficient vehicle.
Don't be a Drag
Take your ski rack off your car and replace your snow tires with your regular tires at the end of the season -- both could save you 6 percent at the pump. A tune-up could boost your miles per gallon anywhere from 4 to 40 percent; a new air filter could get you 10 percent more miles per gallon.
Keep it in Park
Bundle your errands together so you'll make fewer trips. When you’re heading for the hills carpool with friends and family, and ride the shuttles while you’re at the mountain. At home, when possible, choose alternatives to the car when you can -- ride a bike, walk the walk, or leave the wheel to Mr. Bus Driver.
Buying Power Saves Electric Power
Believe it or not, picking the right appliances, air conditioners and computers can make a big difference in energy use, and that makes a big difference in the pollution from power plants. So look for the most energy-efficient models. You might have to spend a bit more up front, but you'll save a lot on electricity bills.
Look for the Energy Star label, which identifies the most efficient appliances. Click here for more energy-saving tips.
Have a Brighter Idea
Those curly compact fluorescent light bulbs will lower your energy bills by about $15 a year (more than $60 during its lifetime). It will also keep half a ton of carbon dioxide out of the air. Ski resorts are using them by the hundreds! While compact fluorescents are more expensive than regular bulbs they last up to 10 times as long, too.
Spread the Word
Tell your friends, family and liftmates about global warming and the Keep Winter Cool campaign. You've got a few minutes on the lift -- might as well talk about something besides the weather!
Join the NRDC Team
You can help secure the changes that will stop global warming by joining NRDC, one of the most effective environmental groups in the country. And we can help you be more effective in your own environmental efforts by providing information and action tools, and by combining your voice with hundreds of thousands of others.
So take your pick, or pick them all: become a member of NRDC, visit our online action center, read our green living pages.
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