"There is lots of cleaning up that can be done. Solar power has gone leaps and bounds ...", etc.

But your examples aren't "cleaning up;" they are ways to emit less. Cleaning up (in mikeak01's post) implies removing CO2 that has been or is being emitted - a dubious prospect for the scale that would be needed (and there are no methods for doing this for the other greenhouse gasses). 

Concerning renewable energy and improved efficiency, both are good but their benefits tend to be reduced by the rebound effect (a.k.a. Jevons' Paradox), and again there is the problem of attaining an adequate scale across all energy uses (power, heat, various transport modes). Also, we are in a time bind (as Yereth's article illustrates) for radically reducing CO2 emissions toward a non-offset zero, and the most immediate and effective means for doing that is for most of us to ratchet down our lifestyle expectations. Your group of suggestions is good (and convenient), but insufficient.