Another list!:

• Become informed on the climate emergency (Home Page features and Learn Page); talk to your friends and family
• Advocate to all levels of government (and businesses) for BOLD climate action – mandate switch to non fossil fuel cars and trucks, stop subsidizing the fossil fuel industry, building standards, electrification of public transit, reduction of disposable plastics,…
  • Contact your Councillor, MPP, MP and ask for climate action
  • Sign appropriate petitions
  • Join Climate rallies and protests
• Reduce your own footprint:
  • Transportation:
    • Use Active transportation (Walk, Cycle, electric scooter, etc.)
    • Take public transit
    • Buy / lease an electric vehicle
  • Eat less meat (esp. beef/lamb), grow some of your food, reduce food waste
  • Purchase  green energy – e.g. Bullfrog Electricity and Renewable Natural Gas*
  • Home efficiency
    • Make deep retrofits to reduce energy demands (insulation, fix air leaks, drain water heat recovery etc.) – See Better Homes Kingston Page
    • Upgrade your heating or cooling system when it needs replacing with a cold climate air source heat pumps or better still, if your lot and budget permit, a  Geoexchange (ground source) Heat Pump.  See Better Homes Kingston Page
    • As they wear out replace appliances with Energy efficient models – heat pump water heaters, heat pump clothes dryers
    • Install Rooftop solar.  See Better Homes Kingston Page
    • Switch to LED lights, diligently turn off lights not in use, use power bars or unplug chargers, etc. to reduce phantom loads, make your next computer a laptop (more energy efficient).
  • Green Investing, advocacy for pension funds, pressuring banks to divest from fossil fuels.
    • Switch to a Credit Union.  (Information here).  Why: to give them the message not to finance new fossil fuel projects!
    • Here is a report on Fossil Fuel financing by banks
  • Fly less and when you do buy Gold Standard Certified Offsets
  • Consider buying offsets for driving, home heating, etc.
  • Buy less stuff (eg. clothes); buy second hand; fix vs replace
• Support education of girls, family planning worldwide
• Advocate for reduced income inequality – higher minimum wage; low cost daycare; guaranteed annual income; housing support

* Explanation:  Bullfrog Power for electricity is a good option for dealing with the roughly 10% of Ontario’s electricity that is carbon emitting.  They fund renewable energy so that your electricity is essentially carbon free.  (Given how the grid works it may be some other users that are getting the renewable energy but the net effect is the same).  Some people don’t like the fact that it is a private company that makes a profit, but the process is audited and at the end of the day it is getting renewable energy brought on line.  

Bullfrog Natural Gas is the same idea – you pay a premium to get as much natural gas as a typical household uses put into the piping network from renewable sources like sewage plants, manure digestion, anaerobic organics digestion, etc.  If you are not yet ready to replace your natural gas furnace, then it is a good option.  RNG (Renewable Natural Gas) is not an option that will work at scale, and it should not be an excuse for delaying a transition off of fossil fuels, but capturing and using the methane is a climate win.