Everyone has a role to save our planet.

Everyone has a role to save our planet.

Our modern day, energy-guzzling lifestyle has no doubt adversely affected our planet’s climate.

Let’s get real. Turning off your lights for an hour during Earth Hour means nothing. It is especially not when we collectively spewed billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every year. The gesture of switching off, as every green organization has repeatedly stressed, is merely the first step towards clearing our carbon-conscience. But has it made us think about our energy-guzzling way of life, as it was meant to? Have we been diligently turning off lights when leaving our rooms? Have we stopped leaving our television, hi-fi set and computer on standby mode? Have we refrained from buying another handbag this month?

If we haven’t been doing any of these, which are among the easiest things to do to help our bits in saving the climate, then it is time for us to start doing so now. Take tangible steps to address climate change. You can take the Carbon Footprint calculator to find out how much greenhouse gases (a measurement in tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) that you are emitting annually from just living, sheltering, consuming, commuting etc. Our carbon footprint as a typical average American is about 20.6 tons annually, which is the highest in the world. It is in fact a staggering figure considering our carbon footprints are about 16 times larger than an Indian and almost 6 times that of a Chinese’s.


As we all have read about, heard about and also seen what those greenhouse gases can do to our planet; greenhouse gases are heat-trapping gases that gradually warm our planet. As our planet warms, scorching days, melting ice, expanding oceans, floods, drought, spreading of diseases and even species extinction will become more and more common.

There are many things we can do to help. The fastest, easiest and least expensive way is simply to not waste energy since everything that is powered by fossil fuels come with a carbon cost.

Reducing our energy use is not all that difficult. Take it from a few small changes, such as unplugging the TV at night and hand washing a half load of dishes instead of using the dish washer. We could easily save at least a few hundred pounds of carbon emissions.

Our consumer lifestyle exacts a heavy toll on the planet. To produce, distribute and dispose of all our purchases exhaust loads of energy.

Knowing where our energy is used can help us focus our efforts. Studies fro the Department of Energy, U.S. have found that our average American household consumes roughly 11,040kWh of electricity annually. And that power is mostly exhausted by the refrigerator, heating, air-conditioner and water-heater. If we could each tackle these four main energy guzzlers, we would have solved 70% of our electricity consumption. Although lighting is not one of the top household energy-guzzling appliances, it should not be overlooked. Turning off unused lights and switching to energy-saving light bulbs are among the easiest things we can do.


Lighting, although taking up only 10% of a household’s electricity bill, should not be ignored since turning off unused lights and switching to energy-saving lights are some of the easiest things to do.

The potential of reducing our energy consumptions are quite high. It is a matter of getting ourselves educated and demanding for energy-efficient technology. But if we continue living the way we do, the annual energy exhausted by households alone will more than double over the next 10 to 20 years, that’s billions of tons of carbon dioxide more spewed into the atmosphere, and that’s not counting emissions by industrial and commercial sectors.

If calculating your carbon footprint is too much hassle, an easier way would be to just keep track of your monthly electricity and gas bills, and make sure that the figures decline and not go up. Scrutinizing these bills is just the beginning of a low-carbon lifestyle. Once you start looking at them, you’ll also start thinking about other things that cause carbon emissions. We need a mind-set of checking for energy-efficiency. If people demand more for energy-efficient appliances, manufacturers will make better products.

Imagine if the whole country, all office buildings, malls, factories, government buildings are using energy-efficient products. The shed kilowatts would stack up and eventually halt further expansion of our already huge carbon feet.

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