Table Of ContentPraise for Cooler Smarter
“Clear, readable, and genuinely smart, Cooler Smarter answers the
question concerned citizens everywhere are asking: What can we do
to make a difference?”
—ELIZABETH KOLBERT, author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe:
Man, Nature, and Climate Change
“Finally, an excellent, short, and readable book that is replete with
examples of what each of us can do to improve our lives and, at
the same time, reduce our carbon footprint by using energy more
efficiently. Whatever your view may be about climate change
projections, there are no good arguments that favor wasting energy
and launching the world’s climate into an uncertain future.”
—NEAL LANE, Malcolm Gillis University Professor, Rice University,
former White House Science Advisor and
former Director of the National Science Foundation
“Cooler Smarter provides great advice backed by data, analysis, and
examples. I was surprised how only a few simple steps can cut
your environmental footprint by 20 percent—and most of those
steps don’t involve sacrifice, but rather pay for themselves and help
you lead a healthier life. I plan on implementing several of these
strategies and hope others do, too!”
—RICK NEEDHAM, Director, Energy and Sustainability, Google
“We can break our addiction to fossil fuels, stave off the worst of
global warming, and generate quality jobs that allow us to support
our families and build for the future—but only if we work together
and each of us does our part. This smart, sensible, and easy-to-use
book lays out the most effective steps each of us can take right now.”
—VAN JONES, President, Rebuild the Dream,
and author of The Green Collar Economy
“Global warming affects all of us, no matter what our ethnicity,
politics or religious affiliation. This book offers the latest scientific
thinking about the most effective steps each of us can take to lower
our emissions. It is a valuable tool for congregations and others who
care for God’s creation.”
—THE REV. CANON SALLY G. BINGHAM, President,
The Regeneration Project, Interfaith Power & Light
“It’s doubly important now for each of us to act to reduce our carbon
footprints because Washington is doing so little. I love this book—a
smart, accessible, clear-headed guide that we can all follow.”
—JAMES GUSTAVE SPETH, author of The Bridge at the Edge of the World:
Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing
from Crisis to Sustainability
“This accessible, science-based book gives each of us the information
we need to do our part to reduce our carbon emissions. This is the
smart tool for action many of us have been waiting for.”
—TIMOTHY E. WIRTH, President, United Nations Foundation
and former U.S. Senator from Colorado
“A wonderful guide to smarter energy use and a cooler planet that
shows how each and every one of us can contribute part of the
solution for a better future. Splendidly written, accessible, and
essential for any citizen—both virtually and metaphorically cool.”
—THOMAS E. LOVEJOY, Biodiversity Chair, The Heinz Center
and University Professor, George Mason University
Cooler Smarter
Expert Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists
Cooler Smarter
PRACTICAL STEPS FOR LOW-CARBON LIVING
SETH SHULMAN
JEFF DEYETTE
BRENDA EKWURZEL
DAVID FRIEDMAN
MARGARET MELLON
JOHN ROGERS
SUZANNE SHAW
Washington Covelo London
Copyright © 2012 The Union of Concerned Scientists
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any means without permission in writing from the publisher: Island Press,
1718 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20009.
ISLAND PRESS is a trademark of the Center for Resource Economics.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cooler smarter : practical steps for low-carbon living : expert advice from
the Union of Concerned Scientists / Seth Shulman ... [et al.].
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-61091-192-4 (pbk.) — ISBN 1-61091-192-X (paper)
1. Sustainable living—United States. 2. Environmental protection—United
States—Citizen participation. I. Shulman, Seth. II. Union of Concerned
Scientists.
GE195.C74 2012
363.7'0525—dc23 2012008656
Printed on recycled, acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Keywords: climate change, global warming, carbon footprint, greenhouse
gas emissions, eco-friendly, energy efficient, sustainability, greening your
home, organic food, LEED certified
C O N T E N T S
Foreword ix
PART I Thinking about Your Climate Choices
1 Can One Person Make a Difference? 3
2 Sweat the Right Stuff 13
3 The Weight of the Evidence:
How We Know the Planet Is Warming 27
PART II
Making Effective Climate Choices
4 Driving Down Emissions 51
5 Home Is Where the Heat Is 83
6 Taking Charge of Electricity at Home 109
7 A Low-Carbon Diet 137
8 The Right Stuff 159
PART III Rescuing the Future
9 Step Up, Connect, Transform 181
10 Stepping Up at Work 197
11 Making Government Work for Us 215
12 Welcome to Our Low-Carbon Future 237
Acknowledgments 247
Appendix A: Resources 249
Appendix B: Our Paths to 20: Team Member Statements
about Reducing Our Own Carbon Footprints 257
Appendix C: An Explanation of Our Research and
Analysis Methodology 263
Appendix D: Research Results 271
Notes 277
About the Authors 303
Index 309
F O R E W O R D
This book is a powerful tool for action. It cuts through the politicized
rhetoric that too often clouds public discussion regarding climate change
by offering practical and manageable advice as to how each of us can
take steps that, collectively, can effect meaningful change. I believe it is
exactly the kind of synthesis we need, with accessible, up-to-date scien-
tific knowledge that we all will find useful.
My scientific research has delved into many aspects of climate science
for more than three decades. When I began my career, most ocean scien-
tists expected to see little change in the world’s oceans over the course of
their lives. After all, the oceans are vast, with an average depth of more
than 12,000 feet. Moreover, it takes about a thousand years for ocean cur-
rents to fully mix the oceans and, because of strong density gradients,
most of the deep ocean is influenced only very slowly by what happens
near the ocean surface. I simply could never have imagined that I would
see the dramatic changes in our oceans that have been documented over
the past few decades.
I still vividly remember an eye-opening experience in 1986, while I
was at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo-
rado. I had taken a sabbatical leave from my position at Harvard to start a
new scientific journal and launch a new international research program.
One day, a colleague walked into my office with new data showing sur-
face ocean temperature over the previous several decades and said, “Jim,
it looks like the oceans are warming.” That same year, Antarctic ice core
data were first published showing a clear link between atmospheric con-
centrations of carbon dioxide and temperature over the last 100,000-year
glacial-interglacial cycle.
Compelling evidence for human-caused climate change arises from
ix
F O R E W O R D
observations of deep ocean warming, recent melting of land ice and ice
shelves that had been in place for many thousands of years, an accelera-
tion in sea level rise, ice cores that show how Earth’s temperature fluc-
tuated with atmospheric greenhouse gas content in the past, and ocean-
wide data documenting unusually rapid changes in ocean chemistry (aka
ocean acidification). All of these recent changes are consistent with the
unusual rate at which heat-trapping gases, primarily carbon dioxide, are
being released into and retained within the lower atmosphere.
Developments in climate science have progressed swiftly over the
past several decades. We now know that climate change is happening
100 to 1,000 times faster than at any time since humans first inhabited
Earth. Textbooks are being rewritten. We now see that climate and the
ocean carbon cycle are inextricably linked, and each is highly sensitive to
perturbations in the other. We now know with ever-increasing precision
that significant change in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations can
cause reverberations throughout the entire climate system.
As a scientist, I am acutely aware of the implications of the changes
now underway in our climate system and the peril they portend. Sea level
rise, for instance, poses a grave danger to the disproportionate number of
people who live near coastlines. Analyses demonstrate linkages between
global warming trends and an increase in the number and severity of heat
waves as well as the severity of intense precipitation events, both of which
pose dangers to human health and well-being. As a parent and grandpar-
ent, I think often about the consequences of these changes for my children
and grandchildren.
Much of my work over the past several decades has involved the sci-
ence-policy interface, and I am dismayed by the current politicization of
the debate surrounding climate policy in the United States. Climate sci-
ence is complicated, and no one can say with high confidence precisely
how climate will change in the future—we are in uncharted territory.
But fundamental aspects of climate change science inform us about likely
futures and make clear that choices we make today will affect climate
decades from now. I am also painfully aware of how poorly scientists
have done in communicating some of these fundamental aspects of cli-
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