Our analysis includes emissions reductions that can be achieved through the management and destruction of refrigerants already in circulation. Over thirty years, containing 87 percent of refrigerants likely to be released could avoid emissions equivalent to 89.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide. 

 An increase in onshore wind from 3 to 4 percent of world electricity use to 21.6 percent by 2050 could reduce emissions by 84.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide. At a cost of $1.23 trillion, wind turbines can deliver net savings of $7.4 trillion over three decades of operation. 

“Food waste is responsible for roughly 8 percent of global Co2.” (drawdown.org) That is a big contributor to global warming when as much as 1/3 of our food raised or prepared doesn’t even make it to the table or our plates. A solution for reducing food waste is composting. Paul Hawken states, “Nearly half of the solid waste produced globally is organic or biodegradable. Much of it ends up in landfills; there, it decomposes in the absence of oxygen and produces the greenhouse gas methane, which is up to 34 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a century.” 

Plant Rich Diets reduce the demand for the numbers of animals we are raising, slaughtering, eating and often not composting. Altering our diets is one of the simplest and quickest ways to engage in a Drawdown Lifestyle. And it’s so easy with so many yummy vegan options in stores and restaurants. 

Tropical forests had once covered 12% of our earth surface and now only 5% remain. Solution #3 is Plant Rich Diet and if we begin to limit our demand for beef, eventually cattle land will not be more valuable than tropical forests which are said to be the lungs our planet. And who can live without lungs? 

Honoring the dignity of women and children through education and family planning is not about governments forcing the birth rate down (or up, through natal control policies). Nor is it about those in rich countries, where emissions are highest, telling people elsewhere to stop having children. When family planning focuses on healthcare provision and meeting women’s expressed needs, empowerment, equality, and wellbeing are the result; the benefits to the planet are side effects.

Access to education is critical to this outcome helping these young girls seek alternatives to early marriage and childrearing. 

The sun provides a virtually unlimited, clean, and free fuel at a price that never changes. Solar farms take advantage of that resource, with large-scale arrays of hundreds, thousands, or in some cases millions of photovoltaic (PV) panels. They operate at a utility scale like conventional power plants in the amount of electricity they produce, but dramatically differ in their emissions.

In recent years, the agro-biz has turned to chemical fertilizers and mono-cropping which has depleted our topsoil and locked our live stock in darkened cages and polluted feed lots. Silvopasture is a return, not only to the natural integration of animal and crops together, but to our senses! Silvopasture allows grazing animals to roam free within a semi-forested area.

19th-century solar panels were made of selenium. Today, photovoltaic (PV) panels use thin wafers of silicon crystal. As photons strike them, they knock electrons loose and produce an electrical circuit.