Global warming: There are things that we all can do

From USA Today:

Just two days after a United Nations report demanded urgency in the fight against climate change, a powerful Category 4 hurricane slammed the United States.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that a window of opportunity to sharply reduce the harshest consequences of global warming — extreme weather, food shortages, water scarcity and sea level rise — is closing fast.

But is the situation hopeless? Certainly nations that spew the most heat-trapping greenhouse gases — particularly China and the United States, the two leading emitters — must act more aggressively to switch away from fossil fuels. But individuals can help, too.

Conduct an energy audit of your home, which can cut fuel costs.

Cut back on red meat. It takes 16 pounds of grain to make one pound of beef, a real inefficiency. And a leading source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is — yes — bovine emissions.

Beyond lifestyle, there’s activism. Non-profit organizations can use volunteers and donations in the crusade to save the planet. Retirement investments can be tailored for climate-sensitive industries.

This week’s double whammy of the U.N. report and the Gulf Coast hurricane needn’t be a recipe for despair and paralysis. Average citizens have more power than they think to alter Earth’s fate.