So, your refrigerator isn’t getting as cold as it used to, and you’re thinking it’s going to be less
 expensive to replace it than to get it fixed. You go to your favorite big box store, look for fridges that are the right color and have the features you want, hopefully check to see which are Energy Star appliances, then from this short list start comparing prices and looking for sales. Hold on a minute! You should also look at what refrigerant is used in your next refrigerator.

You’ve probably heard Project Drawdown figured out refrigerant management is the #1 solution to drawing down greenhouse gases. And after wrapping your head around how these obscure gases that are measured in parts per billion can add so much to the climate crisis, perhaps you also thought the problem was something for the engineers or policy makers to do something about, which is certainly true, but I’d like to point out three actions that allow homeowners to play a role in properly managing refrigerants. These three actions then form the outline of the broader actions and policies industries and governments can adopt.