What is zero net greenhouse gas emissions? You have probably heard scientists and commentators talking about emissions reduction and climate change. But what does it all mean for us as everyday folk? And what can we do about?
Zero Emissions Noosa Inc. have recently had a series of community forums on this topic to outline what it is, why it is important, and what we in the Noosa community can do to help our planet.
Net zero emissions is keeping the scales of the atmosphere in balance. Humans produce greenhouse gas emissions from our everyday activity and they are added to our atmosphere. Many of us try to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by reducing our carbon foot print, whether it be installing solar PV on our homes or businesses, riding our bikes to get around instead of driving our petrol or diesel car or buying locally grown food to save on transport emissions.
By doing these things, we are reducing the amount of emissions that go into the atmosphere and helping to get the scales of our atmosphere closer to being in balance. If we have the amount of greenhouse gas emissions going into the atmosphere being equal to the amount of greenhouse emissions coming out of the atmosphere, we can say we have net zero greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Why do we need to get to net zero? From the IPCC reports and other scientific data, we know that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. We have data to show that the last decade has been the hottest in 125,000 years. As the ocean absorbs most of the heat we produce, you might be surprised to know that our oceans have sucked up 90% of the heat gained by the planet between 1971 and 2010. CO2 emissions are at their highest in 2 million years. Since the mid-1990s, we have lost around 28 trillion tons of ice. Today’s ice melt rate is at 1.2 trillion tons a year. All of this is helping to cause climate change and the extreme weather events that we are now experiencing across the world. Climate change is here now. It is not something that will happen in 20 or 30 years time. We need to get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions in Noosa Shire to help reduce the effects of climate change and natural disasters so we keep the wonderful place we enjoy living in.
How can we do our bit to help? In 2016 Noosa Council developed an emissions reduction policy target of zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2026. Zero Emissions Noosa Inc. is working with the Noosa Community to help get to the target of net zero community emissions by 2026.
You can help the Noosa community to reach this target by talking to your friends & neighbours about why we need to get to net zero, reducing your family’s car use by walking, cycling, using an electric bike, buying an electric car, switching to solar PV or buying green power, being energy efficient by installing LED lights, increasing your A/c temperature to 25 degrees, using appliances in off peak times – your dishwasher and washing machine. Or, if you have solar PV, run your dishwasher and washing machine in the middle of the day. You can also join Zero Emissions Noosa (ZEN) Inc. as a member to support our work, join one of ZEN Inc’s. project groups or activities – come to the EV Expo. on June 19 at Noosa Junction or use the ZEN Inc website www.zeroemissionsnoosa.com to help get the scales in the atmosphere back into balance.
