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Solutions to Everything, Pt. 2
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Global warming is one of those problems so big we sometimes think there's nothing we can do about it. We're talking droughts, flooding, hurricanes, disease... even a rise in giant squid attacks. No, seriously. It's tempting to just hunker down and ignore it all.
However, Margot Roosevelt at the LA Times reports a simple change of color on roofs and city streets might help save the world. Installing white roofs and using concrete rather than asphalt could be enough to offset global warming without cutting any emissions.
Globally, roofs account for 25% of the surface of most cities, and pavement accounts for about 35%. If all were switched to reflective material in 100 major urban areas, it would offset 44 metric gigatons of greenhouse gases, which have been trapping heat in the atmosphere and altering the climate on a potentially dangerous scale.
That is more than all the countries on Earth emit in a single year. And, with global climate negotiators focused on limiting a rapid increase in emissions, installing cool roofs and pavements would offset more than 10 years of emissions growth, even without slashing industrial pollution.
Got that? So to save the planet -- and our own skinny butts -- white is the new black.
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