As you've seen in the Design Our Climate simulation (DOCs), a mosaic of different strategies will begin to remove our annual greenhouse gas emissions wedge by wedge. Below are images depicting just a few of the important strategies that can contribute to a mosaic of solutions that will limit greenhouse gas emissions. Were any of these on your list of mitigation strategies that have the biggest impact on reducing emissions?
You probably noticed that the simulation includes sliders that have to do with our consumption. We are able to decrease our emissions when we use our resources more wisely. This includes increasing efficiency and decreasing waste. For example, if less people individually own cars, and instead take advantage of opportunities such as car sharing or public transit, we are using our transportation and energy resources more efficiently while decreasing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and waste associated with it! This also takes into account the emissions of the things we use over their whole lifetime. In the Design our Climate simulation (DOCs), lifecycle emissions are generally included (for details, see the individual assumptions by clicking on the question marks on each slider in the Design Our Climate simulation (DOCs)). However, other lifecycle costs, in particular the impact of resource extraction on sensitive habitats and biodiversity, are important to keep in mind as another natural limit to the expansion of human activity.
In the next few pages, we're going to explore these categories more deeply, but first, you should keep a few things in mind. While it's true that each of these strategies can be employed using existing technology and knowledge, they can only be implemented to a point before it becomes unrealistic to do anymore. For example, given what we know today it is unrealistic for the only electricity source for the whole world to be solar energy. Another thing to keep in mind is that these strategies have more benefits than just reducing greenhouse gas emissions - these are called co-benefits! For example, increasing the amount of electric vehicles decreases air pollution, making our cities' air cleaner and healthier. Additionally, each of these strategies opens up economic opportunities in terms of needing skilled workers and providing job opportunities.
Question: Can you think of some co-benefits of different mitigation strategies? Think about how actions like increasing renewable energy sources in our power mix, or making more efficient buildings could benefit society in ways beyond reducing greenhouse gas emissions.