The problem of climate change can seem overwhelming.  Collective action by individuals, communities, local governments, states and nations is necessary to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

What You Can Do

1. Reduce your carbon footprint

2. Be proactive in your community.

3. Support legislation at all levels of government to address the problem.

4. Urge businesses and investment companies to address climate change in their practices.

5. Continue to learn.

Reduce your personal/ household carbon footprint:

Challenge yourself, your family and your community to make transportation, energy and food choices that will lessen your contribution to climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

• Calculate your carbon footprint using the Alaska Carbon Calculator.
• Drive less: Use public transport, walk, bike or carpool whenever possible. Plan your errands to limit time spent behind the wheel. Make fuel efficiency a top priority when purchasing vehicles.
• Conserve energy: Lower your water heater and thermostats. Use energy efficient light bulbs. Unplug electronics and appliances when not in use.
  

1. See the Alaska Carbon Reducer  to learn about other ways you can reduce your energy consumption.
   

2. 

   Find an Energy-Saving Light Bulb using Environmental Defense's interactive website which lets you choose the shape and style of bulb to match your fixture. Local building supply stores carry energy efficient bulbs. If they do not carry the bulb you want, check out www.bulbs.com, an online bulb superstore.
   
3. Consumer Reports Greener Choices is a free website from Consumer Reports highlighting green products with links to further resources.
   

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  Eat locally: The food Alaskans eat travels an average of 2,500 miles. While many Alaskans supplement supermarket food with fish, game, other wild edibles and food from the garden, most of our food comes from Outside. Agriculture plus food processing and distribution  account for about 20% of U.S. greenhouse gas production.  Wherever possible, buy locally-produced food. There is a growing local food movement in Alaska that needs your support. 
  
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Be proactive in your community:

• Request AMCC's Climate Change Conservation Kit for use in your community. This kit contains tips for bringing together a group of dedicated community leaders to address the problem on a local level.  Contact us if you would like a kit.

• Invite AMCC to make a presentation in your community. We can work with you to organize an event with one of our science advisors or other speakers. Please contact us!

• Find out if your community has a local government task force on climate change. If so, get involved! If not, urge your city or borough to take action. A number of Alaskan communities - including Homer, Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks and Kodiak - have joined the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) Cities for Climate Protection.  See www.iclei.org/usa and www.usmayors.org/climateprotection/. ICLEI's Cities for Climate Protection empowers local governments to take action on climate change by offering a framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving livability within municipalities. The Homer Global Warming Task Force concluded a year of work in December 2007. See City of Homer Climate Action Plan (pdf).

• Urge public institutions to be models in reducing greenhouse gas production. Learn about viable green building techniques for Alaska and bring these innovative ideas to city planners and developers. Visit the U.S. Green Building Council and Alaska Building Science Network websites.
  
• Talk with friends, co-workers, teachers and leaders in places of worship. Don't shy away from opportunities to address this important issue; others might appreciate your knowledge and leadership. Alaska Interfaith Power and Light is a faith-based organization aiming to create a coordinated religious voice on global warming, while deepening the connection between ecology and faith.
  

Continue to learn:

Websites:

• Alaska Conservation Solutions: You can sign up to receive their e-mail newsletter, which has news of climate change research in Alaska, news of local community actions, and action at the state and national levels. This site also features the Alaska Carbon Calculator for calculating your personal greenhouse emissions. 

• Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission: Website contains meeting agendas, presentations that have been made to the Commission and other documents.

• Carbon Tax Center: Organization arguing for the utility of carbon taxes, for example instead of income taxes.

• Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 

• ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability USA:  This organization assists local governments, including the US Mayors, with initiatives such as on climate change.

• RealClimate: A site about the science of climate change run by a number of noted climate scientists.  Has short articles by the site managers, links to original papers, and blogs where scientists and non-scientists discuss the articles.

• Rocky Mountain Institute: A source for technology information.

• Sitka Global Warming Group: Website for a citizen group in Sitka, Alaska.

• Sustainable Kodiak: Citizen's group in Kodiak, Alaska that formed in October 2007 and is "working to identify, practice, and promote sustainable methods and technologies to benefit our island community and surrounding ocean."

• U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement and related information. 

Recommended reading:

• Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. By Elizabeth Kolbert, 2006. Readable, engaging, and probably the best description of the science.  See also Kolbert’s article on ocean acidification (not covered in her book) in Nov. 20, 2006 New Yorker magazine

• The Weathermakers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth. By Tim Flannery 2006.

• An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergence of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It. By Al Gore 2006. This covers the material in the film of the same name.

• The Discovery of Global Warming. By Spencer Weart, 2004. A history of ideas and reseach. Weart has a website (http://webster-alt.aip.org/history/climate/) with all the information from this book plus updates.

• Impacts of a Warming Arctic.  Arctic Climate Impact Assessment 2004. A circumpolar look at climate change impacts in the arctic and subarctic.

• The Whale and the Supercomputer.  Charles Wolforth 2005. Centered around Barrow, Alaska. Describes climate scientists and their studies and Inupiak people who hunt whales from the sea ice and assist climate scientists. Starting to get a little out of date, but well-written.

    

  Ask your local library to carry these books!