When a person thinks about going green, the first three actions that come to mind are recycling, waste reduction, and water conservation. Scientists and eco-warriors believe three steps can help us deal with our battle against environmental decay and climate change. But they are not the only solution because there are more sustainable ways to improve our environment’s state.

America’s C.O. ₂ emissions are from buildings and represent 44.6 percent of all emissions. The means of transportation that people take to get from one place to another dump another 34.3 percent of the total emissions. This means 78.9 percent of the emissions could significantly be reduced even with minimal effort from the world’s people. The buildings could use a cleaner source of fuel to run the daily operations. Adopting safer and cleaner transportation methods worldwide can cut down on emissions, helping to clear the smog and pollution out of the air.

What is USGBC

The USGBC, which stands for U.S. Green Building Council, is one of the groups that has been trying to get it through to people that it means more than those actions. These include constructing green buildings and keeping green spaces across the world. The U.S. Green Building Council is trying to tell people this problem for 25 years, but no one seems to seriously take the warnings.

Founded in 1993, USGBC’s vision was for the regeneration and sustainability of buildings and communities for health and vitality of all life within a generation. The U.S. Green Building Council needs to reach a larger part of the population to be more effective. The Council can help change people’s behavior or decisions about the changes required to address climate change and its related issues.

New Campaign

For its part, the U.S. Green Building Council started a campaign, which they called the new Living Standard, to help bring awareness to green building adoption issues. There has been an evolution in the global green building market, and we need to start evolving with it.

In the long run, this means that we need to broaden how we talk about sustainability. To implement the changes required to meet eco-sustainability standards, developers need to dig deeper and focus on what matters the most when developing different buildings — people.

Steps Taken

The first step that the U.S. Green Building Council took was to hire Clear Path Strategies to conduct surveys across different people in different states. The results are a wakeup call to everyone in the green building and sustainability community. People have to start dealing with the changes that are happening in the climate now. Responders say that environment is one of their biggest concerns for future generations.

Prioritizing Bigger Issues

American politics tackles so many critical issues in society. Still, observers note that the environment and climate change are not among the top priorities. The term environment is ambiguous and nebulous; that is why it confuses people who do not know what to think of the term. Those responders make a good point that it is a matter of time and space that needs proper care and attention. People need to realize that what is going on right now in our backyard is more important than what will happen in the future. We need to prepare for the future, but we need to start taking action now, not later.

Success or Failure

Let us admit that we have many shortcomings in taking it seriously about protecting our environment and the climate. But not everything is hopeless. We succeed in making the planet a safe place for single-use products, such as to-go containers from fast-food restaurants. We need to promote having more green space, constructing more green buildings, and finding the urgency to battle the environmental and climate crisis we have.

Living Standard Initiative

We need to give the U.S. Green Building Council much credit for starting the Living Standard initiative. They are doing their best to raise awareness of the issues that need our immediate attention. The human population has not paid attention to the critical warnings about the environment and its problems. The goal of the U.S. Green Building Council is to make a better life for the people of the world. They plan to do this by gathering stories to show how people can make a small but helpful impact on all humans’ quality of life.

Different Priorities

It is heartbreaking to notice that the climate change issue has been relegated only as a secondary or tertiary issue. By doing this, we have to realize our health has to come first in our lives. We are poisoning our air and polluting our water. The wood and other materials used to construct a building are full of toxins and hazards. The wood is treated with chemicals to help it withstanding time. The people in the communities that we know and love today will suffer, as problems that we have now remain unfixed.

Proposed One Solution

Some simple things can be done to help with the problems. The first thing is to use more sustainable materials when constructing buildings. The best type is metal buildings. These are usually steel buildings. Steel is one of the most sustainable materials to use when constructing buildings, warehouses, and the likes. Metal or steel are easily recyclable. Steel can be recycled multiple times without losing any of its strength.

Other Solutions

There is no one-size-fits-all actions combat the consequences of climate change and other drastic environmental issues. We can make sure that there are green spaces, such as parks, playgrounds, and gardens. We can take care of our planet. Polluting our water, poisoning our air with smog, and constructing buildings with hazardous materials that release toxins must be stopped. Constructing steel buildings for offices and using metal buildings for homes is an excellent way to start. These actions may seem small to many people, but they add up to some high impact actions when you think about it.

Article originally published on Treehugger.com