Useful Tips to Reduce Your Family’s Carbon Footprint. A List of Small Changes that Will Make a Big Impact on Greenhouse Gases.

What Can You Do to Shrink Your Carbon Footprint?

There are many very small actions that you and your family can take to reduce you carbon footprint, the impact that your lifestyle has on the accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gas. But don’t get overwhelmed or expect to overhaul your lifestyle in one fell swoop. Try making just a few of these simple changes at a time. Most will save your family money while saving the planet!

Green Up Your Travel

• If you are able to, get a more fuel efficient car.
• Lighten the load in your car by removing items you don’t need to haul around.
• Stick to (or below) the posted speed limit. It really does save gas!
• You can also use less gas by coasting to slow down (rather than braking so much) and gradually accelerating rather than punching it!
• Taking pubic transportation more often will give you time to relax while you save the world.
• Use human power! Walk or bike to nearby destinations.
• Do several errands in one trip rather than zipping out whenever you need something.

Green Up Your Home

• A bright idea: Replace all your incandescent bulbs with fluorescents and energy-saving alternatives.
• Add abundant insulation to your home to trap the heat in for the winter. It also helps to keep the air of your home cooler in the summer.
• Flush only when you must. Remember, “Yellow is mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.”
• Do make the effort to recycle everything recyclable.
• Clean with organic, biodegradable cleaners - and double check their certification so you know they work.
• Replace old, leaky windows with double or triple pane. If you can’t afford new windows right now, plastic window insulation is a cheap, effective alternative!
• Seal those expensive drafts with caulk, spray foam or weather stripping.

Green Up Your Food

• Veg out! Go veggie one night a week, cutting meat out of one of your meals.
• Eat like your hunter-gatherer ancestors by consuming more whole, unprocessed organic food.
• Go to your farmer’s market or a road-side stand to buy fresh, local, seasonal fare.
• Put a filter on your tap rather than buying bottled water. You’ll create less plastic waste and bottle shipping pollutants.
• Compost your food waste into rich garden soil.
• Use your new composted garden soil to grow your own fruits and veggies.

Green Up Your Shopping

• Buy in bulk. You will save money and gas-guzzling trips to the store.
• Skip the plastic and start shopping with reusable grocery bags or baskets.
• Buy used! You may just find thrift store treasures in what someone else considered trash.
• Reuse packaging material and gift bags.
• Buy online whenever you can. It saves gasoline in so many ways.

So go ahead, put your family on a CO2 diet. Reducing your contribution to greenhouse gasses and global warming will make both you and your planet feel great!