In the far corner of the front yard of a large house in Florida rests an RV—Recreational Vehicle (活动房屋式旅游车), shaded by trees as clothing on a nearby line sways (摇动) in the breeze. In this RV, the National Geographic explorer Thomas Culhane lives with his wife, Enas, almost entirely off the grid—a lifestyle without depending on electricity supply.

Culhane began living off the grid in the late 1990s, when he went into the basement of his apartment building in Los Angeles and pulled out the plug that delivered electricity. Even earlier though, he was first inspired by sustainable living during a trip in 1970 to visit his relatives. He was eight years old and worried that his stay in their small village was going to be miserable because his relatives told him they had no air conditioning or electricity — but they had plenty of fresh fruits from orchards (果园) and lots of cold drinks chilled by the icy stream from the ice caps of the nearby mountain. “That was amazing,” says Culhane.

He met Enas when she was living in an ecovillage in Portugal. Enas said she liked the feeling of being low impact, and being harmless to the earth. Culhane was attracted and fell in love with her. The couple got married, living on the same property that they currently have. They moved into their first home together—an RV which they immediately took completely off-grid.

Inside their RV, Culhane and Enas have hot showers, a working gas stove, a refrigerator, a washing machine and a big screen TV. They use gas created by their on-site biodigesters (生物煮解器) to cook on a gas-powered stove. They also use energy created by the biodigesters to heat their bath water. They feed the biodigesters using their own food waste—at no additional cost to the earth.

Sometimes on weekends, the RV is turned into a classroom. The couple host workshops to let the community members and students know living an off-grid life is getting easier and teach them how to respect and coexist (共存) peacefully with the environment.

When we think about the big carbon problems we have to deal with, paper isn't the first thing that comes to mind. After all, we think it costs less energy and a lot of it is recycled these days. However, it turns out that we are wrong.

The problem is that to make paper, you need virgin (未使用过的) wood or recycled material, and it then takes a lot of energy to dry it out and turn it into paper, thus causing carbon emissions (排放). The non-governmental organization Environmental Paper Network's Luisa Colasimone said that making a ton of paper and a ton of steel used the same amount of energy. Adrian Hiel and Dave Keating, journalists working in Brussels, reported, "Average energy costs are around 16% of production costs and can be as high as 30%."

Colasimone said, "The vast majority of paper products are short-lived. They are thrown away and their carbon ends up in the atmosphere within two to three years."

Also, a recent study from the University College London (UCL) has found that recycled paper may be less environmentally-friendly than virgin paper because it is made with electricity and fossil fuels. "They found that if all wastepaper was recycled, carbon emissions could increase by 10%, as recycling paper tends to rely more on fossil fuels than making new paper," lead author Dr. Stijn van Ewijk said in a press release. "Our study shows that recycling is not a guaranteed way to address climate change. Recycling of paper may not be helpful unless it is powered by renewable (可再生的) energy."

The researchers reported that paper accounted for 1.3% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2012. This rate — 1.3% — is a stunning number, bigger than the emissions from Australia or Brazil. About a third of these emissions came from the disposal of paper in landfills. Researchers said that in coming years, the use of paper would likely rise, with the move away from plastics leading to increased demand for paper packaging.

A series of fast-moving global trends, motivated by trillion-pound investments (投资), indicates that humanity might be able to avoid the worst influences of global warming. From renewable energy to mass-market electric cars, to plant-based alternatives to meat, these trends show that greenhouse gas emissions (排放) can be stopped.

No one is saying the battle to prevent catastrophic climate change — floods, droughts, famine — has been won. “The important thing is to recognize that we’re seriously challenged,” says Christina Figueres, former UN Climate Chief. “At the same time, the fact is we’re already seeing many positive trends.”

The world’s appetite for meat and dairy foods is rising as people’s incomes rise, but unless this is entirely changed, there’s no way to beat global warming. The task looks discouraging — people hate being told what to eat. However, just in the last year, a potential solution has burst on to the market: plant-based meat, which has a tiny environmental footprint.

A food that looks and tastes just as good as meat or dairy products but is made from plants — has attracted heavy investment. It is particularly obvious in the US, where Bill Gates has backed two plant-based burger (汉堡) companies.

Perhaps even more telling is that major meat and dairy companies are now piling in with investments, such as the US’s biggest meat processor, Tyson, and multinational giants Danone and Nestlé. The Chinese government in 2017 put $300 million into Israeli companies producing lab-grown meat, which could also cut emissions.

Will these trends move fast enough to avoid the worst of climate change? The LSE’s Nicholas Stern is cautiously optimistic, saying that what has changed in recent years is the realization that green economic growth is the only long-term option.