Here is a list I have formed:
-Regulate Polluting Industries
-Switch to Esim
-Buy used
-Install geothermal heat pump systems
-Install smart thermostats
-Build more apartments
-Use shampoo/conditioner bars
-Put carbon labels on products
-Buy stuff at the local store
-Eat plant based
-Prioritize transit over cars
-Switch to Ecosia
-Recycle
-Give homemade gifts
-Compost
-Be organized
-Avoid synthetic cloths
-Switch to green burials
-Buy reputable carbon credits
-Mandate microfibre filters for washing machines
-Install Linux on new/old computers
-Switch to Electric car (second to public transit in funding)
-Shut down all oil operations
-Pickup litter
-Ride your bicycle instead of the car
-Adopt kids and companions instead
-Build more green spaces
-Convert animal agriculture land to wild lands
-Support repairability
-Ban private jets
-Start your own garden
-Use older cars for more than 12 years
-Keep phone for longer than 5.5 years (easy to do with fairphone,iphone, pixel, samsung or android phone with unlockable bootloader)
-Switch to renewable and nuclear techologies
-Halt all new road developments and just maintain them until transit is good enough
-Do everything to prevent and end wars
-Tax the rich and use the money for climate initiatives
-Ban all fossil fuel ads
-More widespread use of contactless payments
-Switch to bidets to save trees
-Switch to super slippery toilets to save water
-Mandate all stoves to be electric
-Build robust high sped rail network and ban flights under 4 hours.
-Require much longer warranties on consumer goods
-Require all software to become open source after the company stops developing the code
-Patents expire after 4 years
-Ban cryptominning
-Reduce concrete in constructions projects and opt for bamboo/wood construction
-Require all office work to be done from home for as much as possible
-Ban discrimination and promote affirmative action so that there isn’t lost potential or innovation from disadvantaged groups
-Improve insulation in older buildings
-Shop at refillable container stores
-Buy Fairphones as they’re the most repairable and have to 8-10 years of software support
-Buy Framework laptops as they’re user repairable upgrade-able
-Use reusable diapers for your infant/toddler
-Buy goods within your continent to avoid cargo ship bunker fuel
-Use refillable for everywhere you go
-Increase energy efficient standards with new houses with solar panels mandatory
-Increase grid interconnections
-Support political parties with green policies
-Boycott fossil fuel banks and switch to green credit unions
-Demand that your investment/retirement program switches to green projects
-Force companies to mine minerals from e-waste instead
-Give up half of the planet to nature
-Establish support networks for people who are using older gadgets/cars/clothing to encourage solutions to make goods last longer
-Create a program to recycle old clothing
-Switch to electronic documents
-Mandate higher build quality of manufactured goods
-Encourage the use of hatchbacks and sedans
-Ban oversized vehicles
-Require that water pipes have pressure management and active leak detection
-Implement waste-to-energy conversions for waste management systems (stopgap solution)
-Design cities as more walkable
-Track your government’s climate policy by visiting https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/
I will add more to list as more ideas are thought of.
Its important not to give things with low impact the same weight as actions that have a big impact. easy low impact fixes give the appearance of helping but only serve to distract form harder actions that need to be taken.
There is no such thing as a reputable carbon credit, for every ton of CO2 you produce you can pay me to Unburn a ton of CO2. It doesn’t do anything to reduce the amount of CO2 produced it just makes it harder to audit the CO2 production and helps to hide the extent of the problem.
What you are talking about is the way companies act using carbon credit to prevent actually taking measures against climate change. It has nothing to do with carbon credits themselves Thats like saying water is bad because someone somewhere posioned a river.
There are a lot of reputable climate programs that actually provably reduce co2 emissions by the claimed amounts, and Im not talking about ‘Ill give you 100$ to not burn 1t of co2 so you burn it tomorrow’ projects. If I as a private person buy 10t of carbon credit, that doesnt mean I have to burn 10t of CO2 before.
Carbon credits is a way to treat companies with kid gloves and ask them nicely not to destroy the planet. Instead we should just have hard well enforced regulations and emissions caps. not “Cap and Trade”, “Cap or Else”, If a company consistently can’t meet emissions targets Nationalize it pierce the cooperate veil and prosecute its management.
You didnt even read my comment, did you? Also, you should do some research about carbon credits if youre gonna start a discussion about them because it seems you dont really know what those are
Anything that a carbon credit program reduces could be done without the carbon credit, but there are many carbon credit programs that accomplish nothing except acting as a smokescreen.