Any realistic response to climate change will require reducing carbon emissions to a sustainable level. Yet even people who already recognize that the climate is the most urgent issue facing the planet struggle to understand their individual responsibilities. Is it even possible to live with a sustainable carbon footprint in modern American society—much less to live well? What are the options for those who would like to make climate awareness part of their daily lives but don’t want to go off the grid or become a hermit?
In Live Sustainably Now, Karl Coplan shares his personal journey of attempting to cut back on carbon without giving up the amenities of a suburban middle-class lifestyle. Coplan chronicles the joys and challenges of a year on a carbon budget—kayaking to work, hunting down electric-car charging stations, eating a Mediterranean-style diet, and enjoying plenty of travel on weekends and vacations while avoiding long-distance flights. He explains how to set a personal carbon cap and measure your actual footprint, with his own results detailed in monthly diary entries. Presenting the pros and cons of different energy, transportation, and lifestyle options, Live Sustainably Now shows that there does not have to be a trade-off between the ethical obligation to maintain a sustainable carbon footprint and the belief that life should be fulfilling and fun. This powerful and persuasive book provides an individual-level blueprint for a carbon-sustainable tweak to the American dream.
- Table of Contents
- Preface
- Prologue: Climate March at the Crossroads
- 1. Climatarianism: Our Personal Moral Obligation
- Carbon Diary: September 2015
- 2. Why Both Individual Action and Collective Policy Will Be Needed to Address Climate Change
- Carbon Diary: October 2015
- 3. Some Climate Basics: What We Mean by “Carbon Footprint,” How We Measure It, and Why It Matters
- Carbon Diary: November 2015
- 4. Sustainability: What Is It Anyway, and Who Can Really Claim to Be Doing It?
- Carbon Diary: December 2015
- 5. What Is Individual Carbon Sustainability, Then?
- Carbon Diary: January 2016
- 6. Going on a Carbon Diet to Save the Planet
- Carbon Diary: February 2016
- 7. Surprising Carbon Impact Comparisons: If You Are Only Going to Sweat One Kind of Stuff, Sweat Big Stuff, Not Small Stuff
- Carbon Diary: March 2016
- 8. Grappling with the Big Four: Electricity, Heat, Transportation, and Food
- Carbon Diary: April 2016
- 9. Having Fun on a Carbon Budget
- Carbon Diary: May 2016
- 10. Medium-Term Goal: Getting to Zero
- Carbon Diary: Summer 2016
- Postscript: Individual Climate Action in the Trump Era: Now More than Ever
- Appendix: Sample Carbon Footprint Calculation
- Index
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