Cooling the Planet one Step at a Time: 15 Ways to Reduce Your Home Carbon Footprint

Widespread and destructive wildfires in places like California and Canada, strong hurricanes intensifying quickly and occurring more frequently, record high temperatures, and more-intense rain events leading to flooding are some of the long-anticipated consequences of climate change. Reducing carbon emissions can help mitigate these impacts, and while doing that in a major way will require actions from governments, industries, and communities, our choices as individuals can also play a part—as long as we know what to do. So, what steps can each of us take with our homes and how we live in them to help the overall effort to reduce carbon emissions?

This exhibition shows 15 simple steps we can each take that can have an immediate impact on our home-related carbon footprints. It also presents a few additional steps, if you want to take things a little further. These are by no means the only possible actions, but they can make for a good start.


Acknowledgments 

Cooling the Planet one Step at a Time: 15 Ways to Reduce Your Home Carbon Footprint is organized by the District Architecture Center. This exhibition is made possible by the generous support of DAC’s Sustaining Firm Members.

Executive Director, Exhibition conception and script: Mary Fitch, AICP, Hon. AIA

Editors: Jonathan Penndorf, FAIA, and Ronald O’Rourke

Exhibition Design: James B. Hicks, III

Exhibition and Programs Coordinator: Molly Ford

Printing production by BluEdge