What can I do, and tell others to do, to stop global warming?

I have recently joined the moderation team of an online community by the global project dropping knowledge (http://www.droppingknowledge.org). What is dropping knowledge? “dropping knowledge encourages social change. Using advanced web technologies, the initiative with offices in Berlin, Germany and Cambridge, MA, USA, links the voices of individuals and organizations. The web-platform enables the global public to ask and answer questions, exchange ideas, and start initiatives around the most pressing issues of our time. Events like the Table of Free Voices, campaigns like "ask yourself" and projects in cooperation with different partners create a meaningful bridge between the on and offline worlds.”

Question 51 for the Table of Free Voices was “What can I do, and tell others to do, to stop global warming?”

Here are some of the answers (http://www.droppingknowledge.org/cms/?q=qa/term/17):

Elisabet Sahtouris (Writer and consultant to the UN)
“Actually, we can’t stop global warming any more. As an evolution biologist I firmly believe that we cannot stop it any more. However, we can slow it down. And slowing it down is very important because we can buy some time by slowing it down and that will give us more time to prepare for this hot age coming on.”

Sabiha El-Zayat-Erbakan (Vice president of the German Society for Muslim Social Scientists)
“Luckily this question already includes the answer what we have to do. I think that the key is to start with yourself and to look what you can change in your everyday life.”

Gladman Chibememe (Chibememe Earth Healing Association)
“It is a simple thing. It is a question of attitude change. Just change your attitude. From tomorrow onwards, you should avoid private transporting and resort to public transport. You should also change your attitude and try to ensure that you promote afforestation and discourage deforestation, encourage people to afforestate and reforestate.”

Wim Wenders (Director)
“Don’t stop informing yourself and spread the word. Spread the word, never stop, make the facts available to everybody you know, everybody who wants to know and everybody who doesn’t want to know; especially those. Pass on the relevant information and the access to it. Ride your bike, sell your car and use public transportation. Yes, sell that car. I did the same. I don’t have a car anymore.”

Lilian Holt (Australian Aboriginal)
“I come back yet again to Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s wonderful words, “let it begin with me.” I think we all know enough. There’s plenty of information around the place. We really all know what to do. We actually don’t have to ask others what we need to do. We can all make a difference. We can all contribute to stopping global warming. Some people say it’s too late, but I don’t think anything is ever too late.”

Mahatma Gandhi’s inspiration is key to the new social movement We Are What We Do which aims to inspire people to use their everyday actions to change the world. Whoever they are: http://www.wearewhatwedo.org. They have created 100 simple, everyday actions that can improve our environment, our health, and our communities and make our planet and the people on it much happier. Some of the actions are related to climate change and energy saving: “Fit at least one energy-saving light bulb” (Action 03), “Take public transport when you can” (Action 06), or “Plant a tree” (Action 07).

And what have I recently done to reduce global warming?
I have decided not to fly to the global gathering of Pioneers of Change in December (http://pioneersofchange.net/networkstewards/globaljourney/) but will rather contribute to the planning virtually and will start a local conversation in my community after the global event. I don’t have a car and use public transport around Berlin and across Germany every day. I am offsetting my carbon emissions (asking organizations to plant trees or to give money to renewable energy projects) when I have to fly. In the past weeks, I have done some We Are What We Do actions related to climate change. We have a weekly We Are What We Do network meeting that we do on the phone with people across the country. I am also hosting conversations locally around climate change using for example the World Café (http://conversationsthatmatter.typepad.com/climatechange/) or the material from the Empowerment Institute (http://www.empowermentinstitute.net/lcd/lcd_files/Cool_America.html).