What are some inexpensive ways to fight and/or prevent global warming?

Answer 1

Inexpensive? Well, just about anything that saves energy (thus lessening the need for creating the energy through the burning of fossil fuels) will help.

1. Walking and riding your bike instead of driving.
2. Turn down the thermostat on the hot water heater so that it's not scalding, but still hot enough to bathe and wash clothes.
3. Turn down the thermostat in winter, turn it up in summer.
4. Air dry your wash by hanging it up.
5. To whatever extent possible, recycle.
6. Avoid buying things with lots of packaging (i.e., buy in the bulk food section), and take your own cloth bags to the super market.
7. Get solar panels installed and feed the grid (actually a lot cheaper than you think, and it pays for itself within about 4 years)
8. Build a solar oven with a cardboard box and some foil, and slow-cook food such as vegetables whenever practical out on your balcony/porch.
9. Support mass transit in your area.

Answer 2

During the period from 1950 to 1975 when more fuel was burnt then now the temperature actually dropped. Some say that this was to do with the 28 Solar cycles. Others blame the emissions other than CO2 that accompany uncontrolled combustion. Things like Sulphur compounds and soot.
If you believe in Global warming as a human problem then you will reject the Solar explanation. That leaves the other forms of pollution. So the simple way to reduce warming is to remove the scrubbers from smoke stacks and allow all of this pollution to enter the atmosphere. OK seriously then if CO2 has anything to do with it then adding nutrients to marine systems Will help. Algae are very sensitive to CO2 levels and grow like crazy if more is available. They already deal with most of it. Since you are concerned with Warming rather than CO2 per Se then one thing you should avoid is forestry. Forests add to warming - each tree releases 1000kg of water vapour a day and water is the most significant greenhouse gas. Compared to the small amount of CO2 trees sequester over their life times, this water vapour more than compensates. In addition forests are darker than grassland and so create more heat at the surface. When Lovelock said that all you needed to do to save the World was to plant a tree, he really was saying don't sweat it this system is resilient. Just get on with your life and be happy.

Answer 3

"When Lovelock said that all you needed to do to save the World was to plant a tree, he really was saying don't sweat it this system is resilient. Just get on with your life and be happy."

Actually Lovelocks' view has changed radically. Long a believer in Earth's ability to regulate its' temperature, he now agrees that overwhelming data shows that man has overcome the planets' natural resiliency. He now is one of the most extreme scientists advocating rapid and massive reductions of CO2 emissions caused by burning fossil fuels. He advocates a crash program to construct a lot of nuclear power plants. He's written a book about it "The Revenge of Gaia".

That book is pretty opinionated, I recommend this instead, as more reasoned:

http://www.amazon.com/Weather-Makers-Changing-Climate-Means/dp/0871139359/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-6971254-2714453?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175443203&sr=1-1

Answer 4

You could seed parts of the oceans with Iron. You get about 5000 times as much biomass per ton of Iron. The biomass sinks to the bottom of the ocean and is no longer in the air. I think it would be premature to try to reduce CO2 but that is an easy fix.