Here are 10 top tips for everyone to help reduce your carbon footprint
1. Change a light bulb. Replace at least 1 light bulb in your house (preferable the one that is used most often) with an energy star light bulb which uses about 75% less energy than standard light bulbs. With how much energy they save it almost makes you want to replace every bulb in your house. Find a store near you that carry these bulbs.
2. Recycle. Recycling is a big step towards helping fight global warming. Only about 30% of Americans recycle, and with each family who doesn’t recycle wasting about 2500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, this percentage has to change. Even if you don’t have a recycling program at home, work or school then start one! Remember it’s all up to you.
3. Plant a tree. If you have the means to plant a tree, start digging. During photosynthesis, trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. They are an integral part of the natural atmospheric exchange cycle here on Earth, but there are too few of them to fully counter the increases in carbon dioxide caused by automobile traffic, manufacturing and other human activities. A single tree will absorb approximately one ton of carbon dioxide during its lifetime.
4. Join a carpool. Instead of driving alone in your car, join a carpool, take mass transit, walk, or ride a bike — anything that reduces the amount of gasoline you burn.
5. Sell your old car. A car that gets 20 miles per gallon will emit about 50 tons of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. A car getting 40 mpg will emit half that much. When buying your next car, pick the least-polluting, most efficient vehicle that meets your needs. Maybe it’s an innovative hybrid that combines a gasoline engine with electric motors (and never needs to be plugged in).
6. Cut the AC, get a fan. Sure your AC keeps your frost cold, but it also uses a lot of energy. If you replace your AC with a fan (and they do sell strong fans) you will cut your energy bill and CO2 emissions by at least 500 pounds a year.
7. Buy Food from local growers. It usually doesn’t cross your mind, but the food you buy at the grocery store usually travels thousands of miles to get there, which is a lot of fossil fuel burned. Supporting your local growers and helping the planet, a win win.
8. Unplug your TV when it’s off. Most electronics (even your cell phone charger) still use energy when everything is off or disconnected from it, so just because you turn your TV off, it’s still eating away at the planet, and your wallet. Just move your power strip to a reachable positions and switch that off to save that extra energy.
9. Leave the thermostat alone. During the winter it can get cold, but try to stay away from the thermostat, instead wrap up in a blanket and get a nice sweater, you’ll stay warm and it’s free.
10. Air dry your clothes. When it’s nice out setup a clothes line and dry your clothes that way. Dryers use a lot of energy, plus your clothes will have that fresh air smell.
