What to do in the face of the biggest crisis
What would you do if you experienced a potentially disastrous crisis, like having to take a big pay-cut or losing your job?
Chances are, you’d immediately cut down on unnecessary
purchases; like eating out and using other services of convenience. Never once
have I heard anybody who lost their job say, “No need to get upset. Job loss is
a cyclic occurrence, they’ll hire again.”
Yet, that’s the approach of many leading politicians and of
huge corporations which exacerbate environmental problems. Even now, as the world is experiencing climate
disasters every month, they don’t do what all reasonable people do in the face
of an emergency, namely – take massive action towards containing the
problem.
30 years of missed opportunities
Looking back, Americans must wonder why car manufacturers
did not start producing electric cars already in the nineties and why the US
government did not invest in high-speed railway lines decades ago. (Japan’s Shinkansen
bullet train began operations more than half a century ago, in 1964.)
Obviously, for governments worldwide and the huge corporations
who contribute to the planet’s carbon emission problem, it was more convenient to
continue their way of business.
Though, today, millions of people protest and demand massive
action, the US government and the fossil fuel industry not only don’t listen to
us, they also don’t listen to big investors. In December 2018, a global group of 415 investors managing $32 trillion in assets released a statement urging governments to accelerate their actions to contain the climate crisis.
We are not powerless
Luckily, there is a simple way to force change – all we need
to do is to cut back ourselves on services that are matters of convenience. This
action step is not only about taking the high road, it’s also about “not buying”
any more fossil fuels than we absolutely need. (Like we wouldn’t stop eating if
we lost our job, but we wouldn’t eat out simply because it’s convenient.)
The easiest way of doing this is to
quit using drive-through services which should be reserved for the elderly and
disabled and mothers with young children in the car. They might really be
helped if they can use drive-throughs, but most of us aren’t helped because using
a drive-through does not really save time. Handling the service task (preparing
lattes or food, retrieving one’s clothes at the drycleaner, preparing
medications, etc.) takes however long it takes, hence, “the inconvenience” of not
using a drive-through equates to walking a few steps to the store (which is good
for our health) and almost always takes less than one minute.
The
staggering numbers
In the United States, about 24% of adults, about 64 million,
consume a meal provided by the quick service food industry three or more times each week. (Ohio Medical Group).
QSR magazine, a leading source of news and information about
the $300 billion limited-service restaurant industry, estimates that about 50
to 70% of fast food sales take place at drive-through windows; at McDonalds, the
largest fast-food chain, even 65% of its sales in the United States is through
drive-through windows.
The average waiting time at a fast-food drive-through is 4.25
minutes.
How much
CO2 would be kept out of the Earth’s atmosphere?
The EPA’s (Environmental Protection Agency of the United
States) website states that every gallon of gasoline burned creates about 8,887
grams of CO2.
Idling cars burn an average of 0.4 gallons per hour, hence
create 3,554 grams of CO2 per hour.
Therefore, not idling a car at a drive-through (for 4.25
minutes) would keep 252 grams of CO2 out of the Earth’s atmosphere.
We are talking
about more than 12 trillion grams of CO2
If, on any given day, 50 million Americans would not use drive-throughs
at a fast-food restaurant, they would keep 12,600,000,000 grams of CO2 out of the Earth’s atmosphere.
WE can and we must act
Since our
politicians don’t act decisively, WE must act!
So, let’s do
what we always do when faced with a crisis, skip the convenient path, and stop
idling. It’s easy. Nobody has to change their way of living to help cut
CO2 emissions. All it takes is walking a few steps which is a form of exercise
and contributes to our health.
Additionally, taking this easy action step saves us money
and costs the fossil fuel industry quite a bit of money. That’ll help
them understand that we need our governments and the powerful fossil fuel industry
to take massive action.
Join us on Facebook
and share how much CO2 you are keeping out of the Earth’s atmosphere, (about 252
grams of CO2 per not using a drive-through).
*
Visit our Facebook page: Earthday = No-Idling Day – Home
Gisela Hausmann is a creative provocateur, nonfiction writer, and environmentalist. Her work has been featured in regional, national, and international publications including Success magazine and Entrepreneur, and on Bloomberg's podcast "Decrypted."
She tweets @Naked_Determina.
RYX6ZF8QT9YW
© 2020 by Gisela Hausmann
Youare quite correct, Gisela, but we do what we can in a small way, I think, without feeling necessitated to take on big industry or big oil by ourselves. I don't own a car and my carbon footprint is rather small. I have my own cloth bags to bring home the bacon in and my business is paperless. I recycle cartons and bottles and cans, as Edmonton has a good recycling program, but I have seen and heard that our recyclables go to China or Taiwan and perhaps end up in a dump nevertheless. I know that some countries are shipping our trash back to us. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends in the ocean.
ReplyDeleteSo certainly governments ought to be more responsible but countries such as the USA want their citizens to be independent and with freedom of choice which means, to them, freedom to be horrible citizens and horrible people. Government control and big industry compliance is the only answer but very slow. In the mid 1970s we took in our university anthropology courses the necessity to cut down on greenhouse gases and trash, and that was what? Forty or fifty years ago, well before the twentieth century ended and the present controversy about climate change and pollution. We have known for decades what we are doing to the planet.
Selfishness and greed motivate the common and average person as much as they do the corporate entities.
I can see a light but it will take more time, maybe five more years, to see if we are accomplishing the clean-up of Mother Earth. And our Mother Earth is very resilient, Gisela, she will regenerate herself and her animals and plants and soil if given the chance, and that chance may come about without humans.
I can see a future Eden without humans. But also, if all goes well, we can create an Eden for ourselves. It seems that humanity must buck against a brick wall before anything is truly accomplished. We love deadlines and working against the impossible. Or perhaps it is simply obstinance and short sightedness, with desperate measures finally taken for desperate times?
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing so much information, @Kenna.
I believe it's time to treat doing damage to the environment like a crime. Because it is. The fires are getting bigger, our space to live is shrinking.
As of 14 January 2020, 46.03 million acres was burnt or is burning across all Australian states and territories. Sure, most people “can run” even from such huge fires but we can’t run from the aftereffects.
My brother Michael who trained to become a merchant marine had a favorite saying: “It takes time to stop a vessel.” The same is true for environmental damage. We’ll have to do the hard work.
One of the reasons why I am so focused on “Let’s stop idling” is that it’s one of the few things that shows big oil and the government THAT WE ARE SERIOUS. Usually, the best way to go is to refuse the “invitation to take the easy way.”
I haven't used a drive through in my entire life. Not at the bank, not for fast food, not for anything. I have always enjoyed walking, and I park far away in parking lots and walk in, although I do park closer now since I broke my leg 3 years ago. We no longer even eat out at all, and I don't take any prescription medications, so I don't really have a need for drive throughs. One day on our way back from the library in town, the street was practically blocked from the drive through line at Dunkin Donuts. I could not believe how long the line was! I often pass by long lines at McDonald's as well. I hope you get your non-idling message across. I never really thought about it since I don't use the service.
ReplyDeleteLast year my husband and I moved from our home of 40 years. In addition to reducing much of the clutter we have also found we don't need many non-essentials that we took for granted before. Things like old towels are used as washable and reusable rags. Especially since it is just 2 of us there is almost never a need to use disposable plates (even with company we often don't). And we don't toss vegetable "waste" (such as cucumber skins, apple cores, etc) in the garbage, those go out in the yard for the deer and assorted critters to dine from. Just trying to make our lives less wasteful.
ReplyDeleteThere are other countries, including Canada, who take a proactive stand toward the environment and judging the world by the US and Australia is not taking into account the positive steps that are being taken. I believe it's up to the individual citizen to make sure they are not part of the problem, and that their country, by their votes, is not part of the problem.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete@Kenna, Money talks. WE, the people must boycott brands who don’t move forward and start taking action
DeletePersonally, I am convinced that many corporations who are suddenly taking action do that because financial organizations are reevaluating their portfolios.
It doesn't make much sense to invest their clients' money into businesses that are prone to lose money because they are in a region that is likely to be hit by disasters etc.
And, then there is Cocoa-Cola, the world's largest beverage company, who says it openly:
“It’s yours, the consumer’s choice”
WAPO: “Environmentalists want Coca-Cola to ditch its plastic bottles. The company says people like them too much.”
Even more astonishingly – Cocoa-Cola would have it easier than other companies to make the transition. They already have facilities where their beverages get filled into aluminum cans and glass bottles; both types of containers can be recycled infinitely. In other words, Coca-Cola would not even have to do massive changes, but only gradually switch to recyclable containers.
Instead, they say, we are the ones who don’t want them to do it.
Of course, I boycott them, I don’t buy any of their products, not even their waters.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/01/23/environmentalists-want-coca-cola-ditch-its-plastic-bottles-company-says-people-like-them-too-much/