Environmentalist and entrepreneur Paul Hawken has edited a book called Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, which lists and ranks “the 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world”.

Jason Kottke reports that on the website for the book you can browse the solutions in a ranked list. Here are the 10 best solutions (with the total atmospheric reduction in CO2-equivalent emissions in gigatons in parentheses):

1. Refrigerant Management (89.74)
2. Wind Turbines, Onshore (84.60)
3. Reduced Food Waste (70.53)
4. Plant-Rich Diet (66.11)
5. Tropical Forests (61.23)
6. Educating Girls (59.60)
7. Family Planning (59.60)
8. Solar Farms (36.90)
9. Silvopasture (31.19)
10. Rooftop Solar (24.60)

Refrigerant management is about replacing hydro-fluorocarbon coolants with alternatives because HFCs have “1,000 to 9,000 times greater capacity to warm the atmosphere than carbon dioxide”. As a planet, we should be hitting those top 10 solutions hard, particularly when it comes to food. If you look at the top 30 items on the list, 40% of them are related to food.

Pat’s notes:

• I have italicized 6 out of the top 10 solutions that to me seem most relevant for Vermont.
• If you drill down, there is a wealth of data for each solution, with source references, on the Drawdown website. Well worth spending some time there.