Investigating the Benefits of Individual Climate Change Actions

• Kaneko Azuma, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Delaware

• Jennifer Volk, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Delaware

 For my summer Extension Scholar project, I investigated the benefits of individual actions to address climate change. When asked in an informal poll about what people in Delaware do about climate change, a number of respondents shared composting, recycling, electric vehicles and native plants. In order to raise the awareness of Delaware residents for individual contributions to climate change, we visited several facilities that play big roles in Delaware waste management. First, we visited the Recycling center of Delaware Solid Waste Authority to learn about how recycling in Delaware works and help climate change. Proper recycling is very important because it reduces the amount of waste that ends up in landfills and decreases energy consumption when producing more products.
 We also visited the Bioenergy Innovation Center which transforms poultry manure into compost. Compost is a great way to mitigate climate change by nourishing the quality of soils and creating values on the waste that are supposed to be thrown away polluting the environment. As food waste is one of the biggest issues to address in the United States, home composting would help you to contribute to protecting the environment.
Another topic I investigated this summer is electric vehicles because transportation accounts for the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Delaware released the new climate goals for 2050 to seek zero emissions of greenhouse gasses and increase electric vehicles for more efficient transportation. This aims to maximize resiliency to our climate change. While it is significant that Delaware residents strive to achieve this goal, electric vehicles face some difficulties such as batteries and source of energy. Please join me to learn more about what actions we can take for climate change and build a sustainable future together!