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What Can We Do About Climate Change?

Writer's picture: tgandco2tgandco2
Oct 21, 20209 min read

I hope everyone reading this agrees that climate change is a significant, human-caused problem that requires dramatic action, or else the world as we know it will be in serious trouble sooner than later. It is probably not necessary, but just in case, here are 10 clear indicators the climate is changing. See more detail here - https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/10-indicators-that-show-climate-change


  1. Air temperatures over land are increasing.

  2. Air temperatures over oceans are increasing

  3. Arctic sea ice is decreasing

  4. Glaciers are melting

  5. Sea levels are rising

  6. Humidity is increasing

  7. Ocean heat content is increasing

  8. Sea surface temperature is increasing

  9. Snow is decreasing

  10. Earth's lower atmosphere temperature is increasing

Of course, the list is much longer, including extreme weather, forest fires, flooding - the list, unfortunately, goes on and on.


I think one of the challenges for individuals is, what can we do personally to attack climate change. The issue is obviously huge, complex, and can be overwhelming, even discouraging.


I had the opportunity at a recent Amnesty International webinar to listen to Dianne Saxe who is an internationally recognized Canadian lawyer, rated among the top 25 environmental lawyers in the world. She was the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario from 2015 - 2019 before Doug Ford fired her and disbanded the commissioner's office.


Just before I get into the purpose of the blog post, which is the excellent presentation that Ms. Saxe gave at the webinar, I am going to add an editorial comment here about Doug Ford.


In case you think Doug Ford turned into a warm and cuddly, middle of the road politician as a result of watching him give daily COVID-19 updates, the facts and the actions of his government don't support that. To be clear, I did not and will not vote for a Doug Ford Progressive Conservative government (the fact that both the Ontario Liberals and NDP seem lame and unimpressive makes voting in the future a potential challenge).


I do admire Doug Ford for sticking to his daily briefing schedule, giving Ontarians an update, and taking questions from the press. Certainly, COVID-19 and all its implications were not Doug Ford's doing. Even the tragedy at Ontario's long-term care homes cannot be solely blamed on the current government. Successive Ontario governments for years/decades have been underfunding long term care and that largely led to the disaster that occurred during the pandemic. I do think the current government is responsible for and has never properly answered for the elimination of annual on-site inspections of long-term care homes. Although this action was taken under their watch, they have consistently dodged taking responsibility for this change that undoubtedly contributed to the issues that were experienced in long-term care. We as Ontarians are also to blame. Clearly, taking care of the elderly was not an issue that we cared enough about to hold our governments accountable and to take action.


Having said all that, it does not appear to me that Doug Ford has ideologically changed from the right-wing candidate that ran for the PC leadership and then became premier. He is the same person that chaotically and vindictively reduced the size of the Toronto city council from 47 to 25 wards, with little notice and no policy announcement during the provincial election. In addition to the firing of Ms. Saxe and the dismantling of the commissioner's office, he has cut environmental regulations in Ontario. He has pushed through changes in mining regulations that put both the environment and Indigenous rights at risk. For more (and also so I don't just rant on and on here), see the highlighted articles at the end of the blog).


Ok, back to the purpose of the blog. How can we, as individuals, positively impact climate change. Here is the report that was produced while Ms. Saxe was the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario - http://docs.assets.eco.on.ca/reports/other-publications/Reducing-My-Footprint.pdf


Interestingly, the report indicates that for the average Ontario resident, half of their carbon footprint comes from four items:

  1. Driving a gasoline or diesel-fueled vehicle

  2. Fossil fuels used for heating the average home

  3. Air travel

  4. Consuming beef

The report does a great job of simply defining an individual's carbon footprint. It then highlights changes, small, medium and large, that we as individuals can make to positively impact climate change. I won't retype the whole report, but here are the areas that are highlighted for potential change:


  1. Daily transportation

  2. Home heating

  3. Air travel

  4. Diet (including your pet)

  5. Residential waste

  6. Household electricity

  7. Other goods and services


A few things stood out for me that I think are worth mentioning:

  • If you keep your cell phone for 4 years versus 2 you cut the emissions from cell phone purchases in half (this is something I am going to do).

  • Wealthy people have a larger carbon footprint and are responsible for more emissions. In the global context, all of Ontario would be considered wealthier. But even within Ontario, wealthier individuals are responsible for more emissions.

  • Shopping local and having a plant-based (or more of a plant-based) diet reduces emissions

  • Buying quality (not necessarily expensive) products that last.

  • Repairing items versus throwing them out and replacing them reduces emissions.

There is always more you can do as an individual. Certainly this report gave me some good ideas which I will try and incorporate. There are a number of items that we try and do now as a household to reduce our carbon footprint.


  • Daily Transportation - I am on my third electric/gas hybrid car, Teresa is on her second electric/gas hybrid SUV. I would definitely consider an electric vehicle for my next purchase. Given we are now retired, our daily driving has reduced significantly. We try whenever possible to carpool to destinations whether that be golf, the cottage or visiting.

  • Home Heating and Household Electricity - our home is over 40 years old and certainly not as insulated as newer homes being built. We have added insulation, changed windows (that may need changing again). Our last furnace was a higher efficiency model (again probably not the latest). We have participated in the Ontario government and Ontario Hydro programs to improve the efficiency of our home, including low energy lighting and temperature vent directors. As part of an Ontario government program, we installed a Google Nest thermostat which I think has made a big difference. It indicates when you have set your temperature to a level where you get a green leaf (higher temperature settings in summer and lower in winter). It also sends you a report monthly on how your energy use compared to the month before, how many green leaves (counted daily) you received and where you rank in terms of energy usage when compared to other Nest thermostat users in your area. We sit in the top 15% in terms of green emission (presumably lower usage) which considering the age of our home I think is at least a good start. As mentioned, we may look at new windows as an improvement and I am going to investigate a more efficient hot water heater. Our current huge model was for when 7 of us lived in the house. Now with just two, I am sure we could get something more efficient.

  • Air Travel - this is a challenging one. It is clear from reading the report that air travel is a significant contributor to climate change. Having said that, Teresa and I are at the stage of life that one of our major activities is travel. Some travel just requires flying (our trip to Japan this past February as an example). There are still some things you can do. Avoid short-haul flights, take direct flights, check out the airplane/airline efficiency, don't fly first class. There is also the idea of carbon offsetting. I am certainly not an expert (I have listed a link of carbon travel offsetting at the end of this post) but it is not clear all the programs work, or if the idea of "paying to pollute" is a good idea. I do think the idea of your personal carbon footprint while travelling is also a consideration. For example, for the month we were in Japan we did not drive a car. We either walked or took public transit. We obviously did not drive our cars at home (this would not, however, offset our flight to Japan). The area of travel is going to take some more investigation and is something I will likely write about in the future.

  • Diet - this is something Teresa and I have certainly made progress on. If you have read my posts Our Journey to More Local Shopping and A Journey to Better Health you have read some of the actions we have taken. We buy at least half of our weekly groceries from Willowtree Farm in Port Perry and Hy-Hope Farm in Ashburn. We drive there weekly in our hybrid car, and in addition to getting delicious, locally grown fruit and vegetables and home-baked bread, this shopping pattern dramatically reduces the food miles associated with our food consumption (for more on food miles see the Our Journey to More Local Shopping post). We have also increased our consumption of plant-based foods where I would say 50-60% of our diet is now plant-based. We also consume very, very little beef. We try do a good job of reducing food waste, transforming leftovers into a new dish. l also think we have less food waste because the products we buy locally are fresher (most often picked the day before being put on the shelf) and therefore, we rarely have food go bad at home.

  • Residential waste - again, this is something that I think we could always improve on but certainly have made progress. We follow all the available recycling options for the Town of Whitby. We use the green bin, recycle cardboard, paper, plastic and glass (how this material gets actually recycled by our governments is a whole other matter for another blog post). Teresa composts both at home and at the cottage. We use reusable shopping bags, including reusable bags for produce. Lots more to do and we are always looking for ways to improve and reduce waste

  • Other goods and services - this is probably another area that Teresa and I benefit from in our stage of life. We don't buy a whole bunch of stuff because largely we feel like we have what we need. We have focused on buying fewer, higher quality items that will last. A couple of other ideas that we have tried recently:

... For my birthday this year, rather than buy me something that I really did not need, the kids arranged and paid for a golf outing for the family and made dinner after. It was a great way for us to spend time together and didn't create unnecessary waste.

... Our (p)leather dining room chairs were disintegrating. Rather than throw them out and replace them, we got them recovered by a small local business. As it turns out they did more than recover the chairs, they also reinforced the back and bottom of them. They are now better than ever and hopefully will last for a very long time. By the way, if you need something upholstered contact Bernie at Custom Tailored Upholstery. A great Oshawa based small business - https://www.customtailoredupholstery.ca/

... Last example and by far the most challenging (at least for me). We own a Black and Decker battery-driven lawnmower. It is old, and the first thing to go was the AC power charger that recharges that battery. This was a fairly easy one to solve. I found the charger on eBay and for a couple of months, all was good. However, the next problem was bigger. The 36V rechargeable battery (the thing is huge) died. Back to the internet to search for a replacement. Unfortunately, the model has been discontinued and there are no new batteries available. Buying a used battery seemed like a very short term and unsatisfactory solution. While I was searching around I stumbled across a youtube video where someone took the casing off this battery to expose the three 12V batteries that make up the 36 volts. They explained how you can buy 3 12V batteries and remake this battery. Now, given that I am not a very handy guy, and given one of the terminals connecting the batteries was damaged, I felt like this was well out of my range of expertise. I began to search for a new lawnmower. However, the thought of throwing out this huge thing was bothersome. The end of the story is, I bought the 3 12V batteries and with the help of Kevin, our third son (who understands and works with electronics) we rebuilt the battery. The lawnmower is better than new and no big lawnmower to throw out. I felt very good about this (smile).


As I mentioned, there is still lots more that I think I can do personally to improve climate change. But I hope you take the time to read the report and put your own ideas into practice. I would love to hear about them at thethirdperiod.ca@gmail.com.


There is also clearly work to be done at the bigger, national level, and we all have a role to play in holding companies and governments responsible, but it is nice to know that some of our own personal actions can have an impact.


Please find below some of the links I mentioned:








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