There’s no sugarcoating the grim reality of climate change today. Humans are causing it, largely by burning fossil fuels that release polluting greenhouse gases into the air. The planet has already warmed an average of 1.1 degrees Celsius compared to the preindustrial era, unleashing devastating impacts across the globe in the form of unrelenting heat, heavier rains, dire droughts, and more. And the science is unmistakable: Additional future warming only guarantees worsening impacts.
There is some good news. The cause of the climate crisis is entirely known, and that means people can do something about it. Mainly, society as a whole needs to wean itself off fossil fuels quickly and squeeze carbon dioxide emissions out of every single industry. Agriculture. Construction. Energy. Finance. Transportation. Retail. Everything.
And some more good news: Climate solutions abound. Governments, companies and even individuals are busy researching and adopting new laws, technologies, behaviors, products and priorities to tackle the climate crisis. In many parts of the world, for example, building new, big solar and wind plants is cheaper than using existing coal and gas-fired power, according to a 2021 Bloomberg NEWs analysis. Heat pumps are gaining in popularity as a cheap way to cool or heat up your home. Meanwhile, electric vehicle sales are soaring, outpacing the number of public charging stations to power them. But the progress so far is not enough to put the world on a path to meeting the temperature goals of the Paris climate agreement.
So that’s why we want to hear from you. What are your burning questions about how to live a more climate-friendly life? And if you’re already tackling this issue, either in your personal life or in your job, we want to hear from you too about how that’s going.
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In addition to our online business, which generates an average of $19,000 in monthly revenue, my freelance writing side hustle brings in around $1,000 per month.
When we first started traveling, we committed to not spending more than when we did in Florida. Our average monthly expenses back then were:
- Mortgage (on two homes): $5,686
- Maintenance and insurance fees (on two homes): $2,385
- Utilities and phone: $621
- Car payments and gas: $2,058
- Car insurance: $275
- Health insurance: $548
- Food (groceries and eating out):$2,500
- Fitness memberships: $438
- Streaming services: $65
- Credit card debt: $525
Total: $15,101
Our goal was to live a comfortable and fun life while also saving money. Now, we've cut our monthly budget by more than 50%, and we give ourselves a maximum of $8,000 per month to fund our lives as digital nomads.
So far, our monthly expenses have averaged $7,886. We put every purchase we can on our credit cards to accumulate points and miles, then redeem them for free flights.
We spent February this year in Lisbon, Portugal. Here is a breakdown of our monthly expenses there:
- Rent (Airbnbs): $2,683
- Flights: $1,498
- Transportation: $131
- Food (groceries, eating out): $2,137
- Streaming services: $65
- Phone: $121
- Car insurance (our daughter's car):$195
- Small storage unit in the U.S.: $95
- Therapy: $780
- Entertainment: $816
We choose our destinations based on seasonal weather, cost of living, and whether the country is on either of our bucket lists.
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