Alarming climate study leads to search for solutions: Beat Check Podcast - OregonLive
Alarming climate study leads to search for solutions: Beat Check Podcast - oregonlive.com
“Life on the planet is imperiled,” “we’re on the brink of collapse” and there’s “little progress on combating climate change.”
You’ll find the declarations in a new climate study published at the end of October by a group of renowned U.S. and global scientists, including several researchers from Oregon.
Its predictions are so dire they make you want to run for the nearest zero-waste store and binge shop.
But, it turns out, our behavior can play a large role in how the climate crisis plays out.
Dr. Jillian Gregg is one of the study’s co-authors, an ecologist and principal investigator of Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Associates, a research group based in Corvallis that does experiments to determine the impacts of human-caused climate change.
She talked about the alarming data, the transition to an economy that puts a pause on over-consumption and fossil-fuel emissions and some solutions we all can implement to help slow climate change.
Dr. Jillian Gregg is an ecologist and principal investigator of Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Associates, a research group based in Corvallis that does experiments to determine the impacts of human-caused climate change.courtesy of Jillian Gregg
Here are a few of the ideas she discussed:
- Electrify everything in your life. Buy an electric car, heat pump and heat pump water heater, install solar panels, swap that gas stove for an electric one. There’s a surprising number of rebates and tax credits to make those purchases easier on your wallet.
- Transition to a plant based diet, or at least reduce your meat consumption. Beef in particular is the biggest source of greenhouse gases when it comes to the food we consume. Overall, the livestock industry represents 14.5% of all global emissions.
- Reduce food waste. The food we waste is responsible for roughly 8 percent of global emissions, according to Project Drawdown. Plan your meals and throw less away.
- Buy less, buy used and reuse or share what you have. Consumerism isn’t good for the planet. Remember that everything you buy will end up in a landfill. For inspiration, learn how one family transitioned to a zero-waste lifestyle– including a wardrobe of 15 items per person. And check out these zero-waste resources in Portland.
- Always carry a reusable water bottle, reusable coffee cup and reusable shopping bags.
- Don’t despair. While we do need to reduce our emissions by 45% by 2030 to keep global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) – as called for in the Paris Agreement – but that’s a 7.5% reduction per year, which seems doable, Gregg said.
Read more about solutions to the climate crisis in The Oregonian/OregonLive:
More than 100 cities have banned gas leaf blowers. Will Portland be next?
Students, legislators push for school districts to tackle climate change
Climate-change regulations challenged in court by Oregon utilities, industry groups
Heat pump popularity soars, but cost and evolving technology remain barriers
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.