Reduce Your Carbon Footprint & Waistline by Walking! Use Natural Muscle Power rather than Petrol to Trim Your Carbon Profile

Reducing Your Carbon Footprint
One of the often heard terms in our increasingly green vocabulary is ‘carbon footprint’, and many people are looking to decrease the size of theirs. A carbon footprint refers to the carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gasses that you produce through your activities and the goods and services that you consume. Within recent history, the buildup of CO2 emissions is a major cause of global warming.

Going Old School on Your Transportation
Transportation is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas, and there are many articles and discussions on ways to reduce your use of gasoline; many focusing on purchasing a more fuel-efficient car, reducing the weight in your auto by only hauling essentials, and on adopting smart driving habits that use less gas. But actually the best way to reduce your consumption of fuel is to, whenever possible, avoid using motorized transportation. I’m talking about the oldest of old-school modes of getting from here to there…walking!

I used to live in a small city that was a wonderland for walking! The market, the bank, the library and most other places of business were within easy walking distance. The only place I had to drive was to work. Of course, many of us don’t live close to all of the places that we need to visit, but whenever you can skip driving or reduce the use of motorized transportation, you are doing a good thing both for the environment and for your health.

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint and Your Waistline
I live in the US, where far too many people are overweight, many dangerously so. Yet so many of us don’t hesitate to hop in the car to drive very short distances. A woman who lives on my suburban street routinely jumps in the minivan and drives as few as three houses down our street to visit others or drop off her school-age children. It’s little wonder that our energy consumption and waist sizes continue to expand!

Help yourself and the planet by doing any errands that you can by walking rather than driving. Even if you have to drive to a destination far from your home, park further away from your and walk some of the distance. You’ll waste less gas and your car will be less likely to get dented in a crowded, close-to-the-store parking space. If you have several errands to do in the same general area, park at a central location and walk to each specific place; and when you do have to drive, make sure that you are doing several errands at once, rather than going out each time you need something.

Have you found any great ways to walk more and decrease the amount of driving you do? Please comment and share your green ideas with other Organic Family Circle readers.