Stop leaks
Check for worn tap washers. A dripping tap might not appear to be wasting much water, but it quickly adds up. Repair leaking pipes. A single leak over a long period can waste thousands of litres.
- Water Corporation
1. Use accredited green power: one of the best ways to reduce your carbon emissions is to sign up to electricity from renewable energy sources.
2. Insulate your home: it can save you hundreds of dollars each year on your energy bills and reduce your carbon emissions.
3. Use less hot water: water heating uses about a third of all the energy in the home.
4. Try driving less: you save 1.5kg of carbon dioxide for every 5km you don't drive.
5. Keep your car running well: make sure you keep your car in good working order. When buying a new car try to make your choice based on fuel consumption as much as style or brand.
6. Don't rely on standby: standby power from appliances averages 92 Watts per household or 800kWh per year. This can cost you around $105 annually.
7. Waste not, emit not: every tonne of paper recycled saves almost 13 trees, 2.5 barrels of oil, 4100kWh of electricity, 4 cubic metres of landfill and 31,780 litres of water.
8. Use your air conditioner less: turn your thermostat down 2°C in winter and up 2°C in summer. This can save up to 20 per cent on your heating and cooling bills as well as reducing greenhouse emissions.
9. Buy locally: buy as much produce as possible from local sources. Not only does this help boost the local economy, it reduces the amount of energy needed to get the product to you.
10. Actually do it!
FAQs - Climate change |
Is the Earth’s climate really hotting up?The global average surface temperature has increased since 1861. (Before this date there were few reliable thermometer measurements.) During the past 100 years, global average surface temperature increased by about 0.6°C. Tree rings and other records tell us that in the 1700 years before this, the Earth’s temperature remained relatively stable. The 20th century was the warmest of the past 1800 years in the northern hemisphere. Globally, the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1990. In addition to warming of the Earth’s surface, there has been an increase in heatwaves, warming of the lower atmosphere and deep oceans, fewer frosts, retreat of glaciers and sea ice, a rise in sea level of 10–20 cm and increased heavy rainfall in many regions. Some plants and animals have changed their location or the timing of seasonal activities in ways that provide further evidence of global warming. Although many natural factors influence the Earth’s climate, a majority of the worlds’ scientists are confident that greenhouse gas increases were the main factor contributing to global warming in the last 50 years. Increases in carbon dioxide, methane, tropospheric (lower atmosphere) ozone, halocarbons and nitrous oxide have all contributed to global warming. Source AGO – Climate Change Science, Your questions answered, Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2005.
How do we know that most global warming is attributable to human activities rather than natural causes?The present atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has not been exceeded for the past 420,000 years, and possibly not for 20 million years. Ice core records that go back 420,000 years show that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere varied between 180 and 280 parts per million (ppm) due to glacial cycles. For the past 10,000 years global atmospheric carbon dioxide has been quite stable at between 260 and 280 ppm, and level at about 280 ppm from 1000 to 250 years ago. However, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, some 250 years ago, the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have increased dramatically. Human activities, such as burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), land clearing and agricultural practices have increased carbon dioxide by more than a third (to about 380 ppm), nitrous oxide levels by about 17 per cent and methane concentrations have more than doubled. The current rate of increase in carbon dioxide is unlikely to have been experienced during at least the past 20,000 years. The observed changes in climate, especially temperature increases since about 1970, cannot be explained by natural causes such as solar activity. Reconstructions of climate data for the past 1000 years indicate that this recent warming is unusual and is unlikely to have resulted from natural causes alone. Source AGO – Climate Change Science, Your questions answered, Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2005. |
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