Solving climate change is about the human spirit and our ability to tackle shared challenges together. And it’s not just governments. It would also take far less land to grow the crops necessary to feed humans than livestock, allowing more room for planting trees. Regions such as the U.S. Southwest are at particular risk. David Biello is a contributing editor at Scientific American. But plug-in hybrids would still rely on electricity, now predominantly generated by burning dirty coal. … This is perhaps the most daunting challenge as denizens of richer nations literally eat, wear, work, play and even sleep on the products made from such fossilized sunshine. Developing countries contribute to a large share of pollution. Yet without an international deal that sets targets for all, no one nation can be certain that others will pull their weight. The U.S. alone contributed 50.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in 2005 from cement production, which requires heating limestone and other ingredients to 1,450 degrees Celsius (2,642 degrees Fahrenheit). What can one person, or even one nation, do on their own to slow and reverse climate change? Bill Gates and dozens of the world’s most prominent investors committed to do the same through a parallel initiative called the Breakthrough Energy Coalition. I believe that clean energy innovation is the solution to climate change. Control Population: Yes, if the population is controlled, then climate change can also be controlled. Nadia Milad Issa, M.T.S. A recent study found that the present amount of electricity generation in the U.S. could provide enough energy for the country's entire fleet of automobiles to switch to plug-in hybrids, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the process. Swapping old incandescent lightbulbs for more efficient replacements, such as compact fluorescents (warning: these lightbulbs contain mercury and must be properly disposed of at the end of their long life), would save billions of kilowatt-hours. But it is clear that at least some form of geoengineering will likely be required: capturing carbon dioxide before it is released and storing it in some fashion, either deep beneath the earth, at the bottom of the ocean or in carbonate minerals. Cutting down on long-distance travel would also help, most notably airplane flights, which are one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions and a source that arguably releases such emissions in the worst possible spot (higher in the atmosphere). Not all are right for everybody. But energy-efficient buildings and improved cement-making processes (such as using alternative fuels to fire up the kiln) could reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world and prevent them in the developing world. What comes after a deal in Paris is just as important as the deal itself. What are the alternatives? Getting 194 nations to agree on anything, let alone a re-tooling of the global energy system that drives economies, is fiendish. Let’s make sure we’re committed to what lies beyond Paris. But implementing just a few of them could make a difference. Climate change in Africa is an increasingly serious threat for Africans as Africa is among the most vulnerable continents to climate change. They also recognize the tremendous economic benefits that await investors in the transformative energy technologies of tomorrow. There are no perfect solutions for reducing dependence on fossil fuels (for example, carbon neutral biofuels can drive up the price of food and lead to forest destruction, and while nuclear power does not emit greenhouse gases, it does produce radioactive waste), but every bit counts. The solutions above offer the outline of a plan to personally avoid contributing to global warming. There is also the option of working from home and telecommuting several days a week. World leaders are gathering in Paris this week for the 21st United Nations climate conference, known as COP21. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, that climate change is too big to solve. I will announce the host city and state on Tuesday, December 8. That’s why scientists and policymakers are exploring how intentional climate interventions, also called geoengineering or climate engineering , can help us combat the worst effects of climate change. 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