by Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee
Updated: July 2025
Read: Solutions to the Fossil Fuel Economy and the Myths Accelerating Climate and Economic Collapse
The Sustainability Challenge
Everyone talks about sustainability, but few understand what it truly requires: the ability to feed yourself and manage your waste without destroying your ecosystem. Before debating carbon markets or circular economies, prove you can survive a single day sustainably.
- Feed yourself for one day using methods that can scale long-term.
- Manage your waste for one day without harming soil or water.
- Scale these practices to your family and community.
Take the Sustainability Challenge: Walk the Poop Before You Talk the Transition
Reaching Net Zero: Practical Steps
Achieving net zero is not only possible, it can save you money while protecting the planet. Here are proven practices to start today:
- Consume Less: Reduce travel, fast fashion, and meat consumption. Avoid burning fossil fuels and using hydrocarbon products (plastics, petroleum, natural gas) whenever possible.
- Energy and Heat:
- Choose electricity providers using nuclear, solar, and wind.
- Insulate your home (while ensuring proper ventilation).
- Zone heat: Keep main spaces at 50°F and heat only occupied rooms as needed.
- Use heat and humidity exchangers.
- Plant trees and other windbreaks to reduce heating needs. Use potted trees near the foundation as insulation.
- Energy, Cooling, and Air Purification:
- Use natural cooling and air purification strategies to reduce energy demand.
- Insulate your home while ensuring proper ventilation to maintain air quality.
- Practice zone cooling: keep main living areas at 80–85°F and cool only occupied rooms as needed.
- Paint exterior walls and roofs white or light colors to reflect heat and lower indoor temperatures.
- Plant shade trees around your home to block direct sunlight and reduce cooling needs.
- Create a small “movable forest” of potted trees that can be repositioned around your foundation to maximize shade throughout the seasons.
- Build Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes for each floor to filter and circulate air effectively without energy-intensive systems.
- Improve indoor air quality while cooling naturally by using air-purifying indoor plants.
- Food and Land Use:
- Eat less meat and support local food systems.
- Grow your own food where possible.
- Preserve old-growth trees and reduce impervious surfaces.
- Transportation:
- Use electric or high-MPG vehicles.
- Reduce trips, use public transportation, and limit air travel.
- Create a climate-resilient environment around your home using trees, gardens, and soil protection to retain moisture, block wind, and prevent degradation.
- Improve stormwater management with rain barrels, rain gardens, trees, and permeable surfaces to reduce flooding and erosion during extreme weather.
- Reduce indoor pollution through natural air purification, aromatherapy, and indoor plants.
- Optimize your health and diet to build resilience and reduce healthcare-related environmental impacts.
Read: Solutions to the Fossil Fuel Economy and the Myths Accelerating Climate and Economic Collapse
* Our climate model using chaos theory projects a potential global average temperature increase of 9°C above pre-industrial levels if emissions continue.
What Can I Do? Each person has the responsibility to reduce pollution, end fossil fuel use, consume less, and foster a culture of care. Remember, small actions ripple outward; be the butterfly that helps shift the system toward sustainability.
Unintended Consequences and Consumer Behavior
Climate change is driven by rising thermal energy affecting biogeophysical and socio-economic systems. While physical systems are predictable, human behaviors often create unexpected challenges, tipping points, and feedback loops.
Examples of Inexplicable Consumer Behavior
- Overconsumption despite environmental awareness.
- Preference for unsustainable products due to convenience or price.
- Ignoring energy efficiency in homes and appliances.
- Continued single-use plastic consumption.
- Reliance on inefficient transportation methods.
- Wasting food despite environmental impacts.
- Supporting fast fashion.
- Resistance to adopting sustainable practices due to inertia or perceived inconvenience.
Examples of Unintended Consequences
- Switching to low-sulfur fuels can increase CO2 emissions (example in marine fuels).
- Deforestation for biofuel crops releases stored carbon.
- Land use changes reduce the Earth’s carbon absorption capacity.
- Methane leaks during natural gas extraction worsen warming.
- Urbanization lowers albedo, increasing local temperatures.
- Feedback loops like melting ice caps and thawing permafrost amplify climate change.
Addressing climate change requires policies and technologies that account for these behaviors and unintended effects. The choices we make individually and collectively can either accelerate climate breakdown or help stabilize the system for future generations.
Thank you. Our lives depend on it.