Driving your car contributes to global warming more than your house. Each trip taken by car emits 7 times as much CO2 as the same trip by rail and 8.5 times as much CO2 as the bus.

 

A car-reliant society leads to higher health care bills, increased stress, an increase in asthma, congested roads, warmer and polluted cities, and a segregation of community. It's bad enough we have escalators and elevators to move our bodies around buildings: find ways to bike and walk to your nearest public transport stop. Simply switching to public transport could reduce your emissions 90%.

 

Use the 40:40:20 rule
According to Lynn Sloman in Car Sick, no matter where you live 40% of your current trips could be made by bicycle, foot or public transport. Another 40% could be made by bike or public transport if facilities were improved: lobby your council and office to provide facilities. Only the remaining 20% of trips need to be made by car. Try to carpool.

 

Give public transport a chance
According to Sloman, people overestimate the time it would take to make a journey by public transport by 70%. They also underestimate the time it will take by car by 26%: probably even more so in gridlocked cities Try public transport and time your journeys: your valuable walking and biking time can cancel out the time you would have spent driving to and working out at the gym

 

Switch to biodiesel
Store-bought vegetable oil is currently cheaper than fuel in most cities, and re-used grease is often free Attend our workshop at LIB to find out how to make the switch

 

Telecommute
Studies from California to the Netherlands show that working from home part of the week can cut your travel distance by 48-77% on those days. Around 40% of all workers are estimated to be able to work from home at least 2 days per week - just ask. Make sure you don't use telecommuting as an excuse to move further from the office and cancel out your savings.

 

Carpool
Studies show that only 14% of people who work at companies offering car sharing schemes use them. Ask your company if it provides carpool schemes, and if not initiate a program to do so. Share a ride to work or anywhere else by logging on to one of the many rideshare sites online. These sites will hook you up with somebody making the same journey and will often tell you how much money and CO2 you will save. Don't forget to log onto the LIB ride share site to carpool to the festival!

 

Shop Virtually
Retail outlets are worse than your office, using 2 to 3 times as much energy per square foot in order to wastefully light and cool their products in a way that sells. Shop for your groceries and other retail items online to reduce your transportation and to avoid supporting wasteful retail stores. Purchase items directly from warehouses, support your local outdoor farmers markets, or small local stores that don't use unnecessary electricity, cooling and lighting. Even better, reduce transportation energy by growing your food in your backyard!

 

Get a $250-$3,150 tax credit for purchase of a hybrid vehicle

 

Planes are much worse than cars! Be wary of your air travel
According to the IPCC, the greenhouse gases emitted by planes cause a warming effect 2.7 times as much as CO2 alone Taking a plane over short-haul distances can emit twice as much CO2 per person than a car, 12 times as much as the train, and 15 times as much as a bus. This isn't even taking into account the 2.7 multiplication factor to calculate the increased warming effect.

 

Ration yourself a small number of flights per year and offset them
According to calculations in the book Heat, one roundtrip flight from New York to London emits around the same amount of greenhouse gases as the 90% reduction goal would allow us to emit in an entire year. We can't fight global warming if nothing is done about our air travel. Calculate your flight emissions and offset them through a TerraPass or preferred certificate provider.