4 easy things you can do to help save the planet

Even the laziest among us can cut carbon emissions.

Lorenza Centi
Updated: 
Originally Published: 

43 billion

The amount of carbon dioxide, in tons, that humans emit into the atmosphere each year

Global Carbon Project

It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of the climate crisis.

When humanity at large dumps billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere annually, why should I sort my recycling? When some Americans still don’t believe climate change is happening, or that people are causing it, why should I change my light bulbs?

It’s true that, even if we replaced every plastic bag on the planet with a reusable tote tomorrow, we’d still be in a hot mess. We need massive, collective action to mitigate the worst effects of climate change; some people even consider the focus on individual action a distraction from the true scale of the problem.

Jason Brown/LNP/Shutterstock
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