Climate of Our Future

How to Get Carbon-Free in 10 Years
by Brooke Jarvis and Doug Pibel
Meet the Joneses. They’re an average American family—Mom, Dad, one kid—who decide to be part of the climate solution. The Jones are just made-up, but this scenario shows that an average family can get carbon-free in 10 years, without turning their lives upside-down. A decade from now, maybe the Joneses new way of life will be the new American average.

Introduction
The Joneses are your average U.S. energy consumers. They haven’t yet upgraded to energy-efficient appliances, their house needs better insulation, and they keep the place as cool in the summer and warm in the winter as most Americans do. The two adults commute 30 miles each per day, in separate cars with average fuel efficiency, and every year they each drive an additional 4,500 miles running errands and taking their child to soccer games and violin practice. The family takes one vacation trip per year, flying to visit grandparents 1,350 miles away. How much CO2 do their house and cars produce? We figure it at 60,000 pounds, or 10 tons for each family member.

Lately, though, the Joneses have been reading about climate change, and they’re getting worried. Ecological crisis has never felt so urgent before. Even little Joey Jones is talking greenhouse gases—he learned at school that scientists are predicting a worldwide climate catastrophe that will change the rest of his life, unless we stop the worst effects by making big changes in the next ten years. The Joneses decide: change is necessary, and they’re ready to do their part. But how much can they really do? A lot, it turns out.

In 10 years, without sacrificing their way of life, the Jones family eliminates the CO2 emissions that their home and transportation used to create—the bulk of their carbon footprint.

Read all about the ten-year plan to be carbon-free at Yes! magazine.