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In terms of personal change, you can do a lot. You can eat less meat; meat consumption is a major driver of CO2 production and methane in the atmosphere https://skepticalscience.com/animal-agriculture-meat-global-warming.htm. You can also drive less, walk places or use public transit. If you need to buy a new car, try to buy a hybrid or an electric car. If you own a house, make sure it is well insulated; don't put the air conditioner on to any colder than you need to in the hot months, and don't heat it more than you need to during the winter. Consider buying solar panels for your house. All of these are things which not only help the environment, they save you money.

Politically, the primary thing you can do is either donate to or vote for candidates who support dealing with climate change. Much of Europe is doing the right things already regarding this (with the exception of Germany's really bad decision to turn off their nuclear plants). But both the US and Australia currently have governments who are substantially not helping matters. In the US, this means generally one should be voting for Democrats. While there are some Republicans who take climate change seriously like Christie Todd Whitman and Arnold Schwarzenegger they are a functional minority which has been pushed out of the party to a large extent.

The third thing you can do is directly donate to charitable causes which help with renewable energy or otherwise help with climate issues. Everybody Solar https://www.everybodysolar.org/ buys solar panels for non-profits like homeless shelters and science museums. The Solar Electric Light Fund https://www.self.org/ gets solar panels for parts of the developing world; this not only helps the very poorest in the world, it also helps make sure that when Africa's economy comes more online they do so in a way that doesn't immediately involve massive CO2 production. For wind power, I recommend the New England Wind Fund https://www.massenergy.org/the-wind-fund which builds wind in the North East of the US (which currently has very little wind power and can definitely use more). Finally, in terms of immediate effects of CO2 offset per a dollar spent, Cool Earth is by many measures the most efficient way to do so https://www.coolearth.org/. Remember, every little bit helps.

This is bad news among good news. In general, CO2 output levels have been flat or going down in both the US and some other countries for a few years. 2018 is actually the first year in the last 4 where the total CO2 production of the US are going up, while they declined for the previous few years https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-natgas-eia-steo/update-1-u-s-carbon-emissions-seen-at-25-year-low-in-2017-idUSL1N1J311B. But we need to do a lot more. So what can you do to help?

There are three main aspects, personal, political and charitable:

In terms of personal lifestyle differences, the biggest options are to eat less meat and to use a personal car less. If you live somewhere where public transit is an option, you can massively cut down on your carbon footprint by simply using public transit. Not everyone has that option, since you may live somewhere where public transit isn't available or may have a job or family that necessitates getting a car, in which case, if you get a new car, make sure to buy an electric or hybrid. Also in terms of personal activity, one can keep the air conditioning or heating in one's house at not as extreme temperatures or one can better insulate one's house. If one is somewhere installing solar on one's home either for electricity or just for water heating then do it. All these personal changes are also things which overall cause one to save money so there's good reason to do it..

Political change is also important. Much of Europe is taking sensible approaches to these issues (although Germany's anti-nuclear kick isn't helping) but the US is very much not so. In general, the Democrats have a much better record on climate issues and other environmental issues than the current Republicans. This means voting for Democratic candidates and donating to them is important.

In terms of charity, this is a really good way of effecting direct change. Two good options for solar are donating to Everybody Solar https://www.everybodysolar.org/ which gets solar panels for non-profits like museums and homeless shelters, and the Solar Electric Light Fund https://www.self.org/ who helps get solar panels for locations in the developing world. SELF's work is especially important because it helps to cut off the potential of rising carbon dioxide in the developing world even as it helps increase their economies. For wind power, I recommend donating to The New England Wind Fund https://www.massenergy.org/the-wind-fund. Also, helping buy carbon offsets is important. The most efficient way of offsetting carbon in terms of tons offset per a dollar spent is Cool Earth https://www.coolearth.org/. Every little bit helps.

Complete agreement. We're highly unlikely to solve everything via carbon offsets. We need to transition in general carbon neutral power systems. Unfortunately, while some places are doing a pretty decent job on this, some places, especially the US and Australia, are very much not so. However, there are ways one can help out there as well.

In terms of personal lifestyle differences, the biggest options are to eat less meat and to use a personal car less. If you live somewhere where public transit is an option, you can massively cut down on your carbon footprint by simply using public transit. Not everyone has that option, since you may live somewhere where public transit isn't available or may have a job or family that necessitates getting a car, in which case, if you get a new car, make sure to buy an electric or hybrid. Also in terms of personal activity, one can keep the air conditioning or heating in one's house at not as extreme temperatures or one can better insulate one's house. All these personal changes are also things which overall cause one to save money.

In terms of direct changes to the system as a whole, two good options for solar are donating to Everybody Solar https://www.everybodysolar.org/ which gets solar panels for non-profits like museums and homeless shelters, and the Solar Electric Light Fund https://www.self.org/ who helps get solar panels for locations in the developing world. SELF's work is especially important because it helps to cut off the potential of rising carbon dioxide in the developing world even as it helps increase their economies. For wind power, I recommend donating to The New England Wind Fund https://www.massenergy.org/the-wind-fund.

Also, as uncomfortable as it is, responding with political action is important also. The next big upcoming special election in the US is for one of Arizona's House seats. The Democrat who has a decent environmental record is Hiral Tipirnenii http://hiralforcongress.com/, while her opponent has a literal F rating from multiple different environmental groups. So if you want to effect political change, donating to her campaign is a definite option.

So they're spending money on "clean" power they don't actually use (and apparently nobody actually uses) to somehow atone for "dirty" power they actually do use (and apparently also pay for). Who says environmentalism isn't a religion?

There's nothing wrong with buying carbon offsets or paying for clean power to offset one's own carbon use. There would be a moral problem if for example someone kills someone but donates to Against Malaria as an offset with enough to save one life. That's because murder is fundamentally wrong. But carbon production is only wrong as a consequence of what it will result in. If everyone who could afford to paid for to groups like Cool Earth https://www.coolearth.org/, the Everybody Solar http://www.everybodysolar.org/, and the New England Wind Fund https://www.massenergy.org/the-wind-fund, we'd be much further along in actually solving global warming.

This is a tiny blip in total energy use. Long-term changes, both in personal behavior and systemic society aspects needs to occur. Individuals can use more public transit, eat less meat, not keep the heat up really high in winters, etc. But personal changes are not enough. If one wants to help directly with helping reducing CO2 production then donating to solar and wind charities is the best bet. For solar, the best two seem to be Everybody Solar https://www.everybodysolar.org/ (which gets solar panels for non-profits like museums and homeless shelters), and the Solar Electric Light Fund https://self.org/ which gets solar panels for people in developing countries. I'm not 100% sure on an ideal charity for wind, but one good one is the New England Wind Fund https://www.massenergy.org/the-wind-fund . Finally, if one wants to directly reduce CO2 in the short-term, then the best bet is simply directly donating to Cool Earth https://www.coolearth.org/. In terms of maximum reduction of CO2 per a dollar, Cool Earth is unambiguously the best so if one wants to engage in carbon offsets that's best. A typical American lifestyle can offset their entire yearly carbon budget for about $500 (this won't be the case indefinitely though, as if Cool Earth gets more than about another order of magnitude of funding, the diminishing marginal returns will be start mattering).

2012 did not see EV outselling ICE at any point, even today. "Clean energy" is still a mere fraction of total power output, especially for long term 365/24/7 reliability.

No expect predicted that EVs would outsells ICE cars in 2012, but the fraction of cars which are electric has been steadily climbing. In 2017, more electric cars were sold than the previous year which sold more than the year before that, and that occurred even as overall car sales *went down* https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/01/2017-was-the-best-year-ever-for-electric-vehicle-sales-in-the-us/. It is likely going to be a long time until electric cars outsell internal combustion cars, but that's a distinct issue.

As for the idea that clean energy is only a fraction of total electric power, that's true, but the size of that fraction which is wind and solar or geotherma has been growing. It is true that the overall percentage did initially trend downwards as the US reduced the amount of hydroelectric power (in part because of its other environmental issues) but the percentage has been going up in the last few years even given that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_the_United_States#/media/File:USRenewableElectricity.jpg. Moreover, total US CO2 production has trended down the last few years https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/us-greenhouse-gas-inventory-report-1990-2014. And while CO2 emission worldwide did likely go up slightly in 2017, that was after three years of it being flat https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-global-co2-emissions-set-to-rise-2-percent-in-2017-following-three-year-plateau.

All of that said, it is true that we're not moving fast enough. So what can you as an individual due to help out? Well, there are the basic things you can do personally, such as use more public transit, eat less meat, and keep your house well insulated. Moreover, all those are things which will pay you back, since you will save money from them. However, small personal changes aren't enough. So what else can you do?

If one wants to help directly with helping reducing CO2 production then donating to solar and wind charities is the best bet. For solar, the best two seem to be Everybody Solar https://www.everybodysolar.org/ (which gets solar panels for non-profits like museums and homeless shelters), and the Solar Electric Light Fund https://self.org/ which gets solar panels for people in developing countries. Right now, the best specific wind charity in the US, the best one seems to be the New England Wind Fund https://www.massenergy.org/the-wind-fund. Finally, if one wants to directly reduce CO2 in the short-term, then the best bet is simply directly donating to Cool Earth https://www.coolearth.org/. Every little bit helps.

If one wants to help directly with helping reducing CO2 production then donating to solar and wind charities is the best bet. For solar, the best two seem to be Everybody Solar https://www.everybodysolar.org/ (which gets solar panels for non-profits like museums and homeless shelters), and the Solar Electric Light Fund https://self.org/ which gets solar panels for people in developing countries. Right now, I haven't seen a specific wind charity that seems to be absolutely ideal, but of those in the US, the best one seems to be the New England Wind Fund https://www.massenergy.org/the-wind-fund.

Most Americans care about and are concerned about climate change https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/most-americans-want-climate-change-policies/, but right now, the federal government isn't doing much. In the long-run, actually solving this is, as with the ozone hole problem and as with acid rain going to take a combination of government, market forces, charity, and new research. Until the current US administration is removed, the best most of us can do is focus on the charity aspect.

There's nothing insane about that. Trying to eat fewer high CO2 producing foods takes minimal effort. But one reason that many people are in favor of a carbon tax (with appropriate offsets so it is reasonably revenue neutral) is because price calculations are a good way of getting people to do this essentially automatically. But if you do want to not think about it much, one thing you can do is simply donate to carbon offsetting causes. By some metrics, Cool Earth's rainforest preservation work has the most negative CO2 per a dollar https://www.coolearth.org/get-involved/donate-cool-earth/. They are extremely efficient, and by some metrics it is about $10 worth of offset to Cool Earth for a trans-Atlantic flight, which means that simply donating a very small amount each month will be more than enough. There are good similar work such as Everybody Solar which purchases solar panels for non-profits like museums and homeless shelters https://www.everybodysolar.org/, and the Solar Electric Light Fund https://self.org/ which gets solar lights for people in developing countries. (I don't unfortunately have a charity that I'm really happy with doing wind power right now to recommend and the same issue with nuclear power.) So, if you don't want to think about these things, by all means, feel free to donate.

If this really bothers you enough that you aren't going to give to charity, and are that annoyed at them, one easy solution is to simply give to charities in blue states or which help relatively blue constituents. Everybody Solar lets you donate to specific projects, and one can for example donate to their solar projects in say Oregon http://www.everybodysolar.org/.

Your choice of charities optimizes for charities which maximizes how much one personally feels emotionally good about it, rather than maximizing the amount of good done per a dollar. For those who want to maximize utility increased, here are some others to consider, based on the Givewell ratings which tries to maximize things like quality adjusted life years per a dollar donated https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities. Their most effective charities are the Against Malaria Foundation https://www.givewell.org/charities/amf and the Malaria Consortium https://www.givewell.org/charities/malaria-consortium, which are so effective in part because malaria is such a huge problem but treatment for it is very cheap. If one wants to help deal with global warming then Cool Earth is the most optimal https://www.coolearth.org/, with other good ones including Everybody Solar http://www.everybodysolar.org/ and the Solar Electric Light Fund https://self.org/.

I sympathize with your viewpoint a lot. At the same time, if everyone Blue and Red States decide to not do anything involving money going to the other we'll be in pretty bad shape. On the other hand, it looks almost like the Republicans are trying to make a tax system that disproportionately hits Blue States http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-republican-tax-deductions-plan-20170619-story.html so maybe we're already at that point. Here's my suggestion: if you would have donated to this but won't because of the state, instead donate the same amount to a solar charity. The Solar Electric Light Fund http://self.org/ and Everybody Solar http://www.everybodysolar.org/ are both good options.

Dealing with climate change is not just a Presidential issue. Even if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were elected and they put all their political capital into play just for global warming, the level of change wouldn't be that high with a Republican controlled House and Senate Congressional races matter also. Emily Cain for example is running in one of the most competitive districts in the country against an opponent who is bad not just on global warming but on other environmental issues also. You can go and donate to her campaign http://emilycain.com/

But outside politics there's also a lot of other things you can do. You can at a personal level reduce meat consumption, try to use public transit, buy energy efficient appliances and if you do buy a new car by a hybrid or an electric car like the Chevy Bolt or any model of Tesla. Outside a personal level, you can give to charities and groups which will help make real change. For example, Everybody Solar http://www.everybodysolar.org/ gets solar panels for non-profits including schools, homeless shelters and science museums. The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) http://self.org/ helps get solar panels for developing countries. Both of these help the environment while helping good causes. SELF is particularly important because it helps reduce the problem of global warming from developing countries which are industrializing. The Wind Energy Foundation http://windenergyfoundation.org/ is another good cause. Every little bit helps, so if you are uncomfortable (for understandable reasons) with putting money in to politics, there are a lot of non-political ways of helping out here. Solar and wind won't solve global warming by themselves, but they are a major step in the right direction, and every little bit helps.

Solar may be in some contexts cheaper, but that may not continue for the long-term. Solar power experiences value deflation, where the more solar power there is, the less it is worth (because unlike conventional power sources, it all peaks at the same time). This can lead to serious limits on how much solar a given area is likely to have http://www.vox.com/2016/4/18/11415510/solar-power-costs-innovation. Either the cost per a panel needs to go down by a lot, or the storage and transmission costs need to improve by a lot. The last link includes an estimate that in order to really get solar to succeed one needs an approximate cost of around $0.25 per watt. If one improves batteries and transmission that may not be necessary, especially if we have enough other sources of power, such as wind, nuclear, hydroelectric (which unfortunately has probably gotten close to its peak in much of Europe and North America), tidal, and geothermal. Nuclear is going to definitely be a part of any long-term solution, but one has silly things now like Sweden trying to give up all fossil fuels at the same time they phase out nuclear power http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/sweden-first-fossil-fuel-free-country-in-the-world-a6684641.html and they call that "green."

At least in most places, we're very far from where solar can be even without improved transmission and storage. In much of the US, you can get home solar and have it pay back in a few years. The solar panel cost guide is a good place to start http://www.solarpanelscostguide.com/. Or, if you want to help other people out while helping the environment you can donate to Everybody Solar http://www.everybodysolar.org/ which helps get solar panels for non-profits like schools, homeless shelters and science museums. Every little bit helps.

Improving the electric grid, switching to a grid supported primarily by nuclear, solar, wind, hydro with small amounts of natural gas will not crash civilization. Switching to electric cars and hybrids will not crash civilization. Reducing meat consumption will not crash civilization. All the necessary changes are small. And you can support the easy ones without much effort. You can eat less meat and take public transport or buy a more efficient car or an electric car (the new Tlsa 3is really nice!) . You can put solar panels on your house or improve your heating system.

You can also donate money in ways that will help. Good charities are Everybody Solar http://www.everybodysolar.org/,and the Solar Electric Light Fund http://self.org/ as well as the Wind Energy Foundation http://windenergyfoundation.org/.

That a few extremists have bad ideas about how to solve things is not a reason to ignore the problem or not take the actual steps that we can do to help solve it using good methods.

Well, there's a lot you can do. You as an individual can change behavior, take public transit more, or buy an electric car or hybrid (the new Tesla 3 is really nice!). If you own a house, you can get more insulation for the house, and possibly get solar panels. You can reduce your meat consumption since growing meat is a major contributor to climate change. Similarly, you can buy more efficient appliances.

, or Everybody Solar http://www.everybodysolar.org/, and the Solar Electric Light Fund http://self.org/. All of these have slightly different approaches and you should choose for yourself which makes the most sense. Similarly, you can donate to the Wind Energy Foundation http://windenergyfoundation.org/. There's no really good place to donate for nuclear power which is unfortunate since, any eventual full-scale solution is going to likely require it.

You can also vote for and donate money to politicians who support dealing with climate change when they are running against those who don't. One race that's a good example of this is in Maine- Emily Cain is running against Bruce Poliquin who is not at all good about climate change. So you can go donate to her campaign http://emilycain.com/. This is going to be one of the closest congressional races in the country, so every dollar will make a difference.