Great Green Idea: Green Living: 5 Ways to Lessen Your Carbon Footprint

5 Ways to Lessen Your Carbon Footprint

There is a lot of talk about Carbon footprints. The Carbon footprint that you leave behind is the measure of green house gasses that you produce through your daily activities. Your Carbon footprint is calculated by using the amount of direct and indirect consumption of fossil fuels that you use in your daily life. When figuring your Carbon footprint, your actions as a consumer, transportation, and heating/cooling activities in your home are considered. Carbon in the atmosphere is considered the number one cause of climate change (global warming).

The environment is not one person's problem it is everyone's problem. The entire planet collectively has to work on reducing the Carbon footprint that every human leaves behind to reduce green house gases.

Here are five simple steps to take to reduce your footprint:

Don't buy plastic bottles or bags. This sounds so simple because it is! Plastic bottles although recyclable require energy to recycle. You can help to reduce energy consumption simply by buying products that are manufactured with as little packing as possible. Use canvas bags for your groceries instead of plastic bags given at the grocery store. Giving up plastic bottles and plastic bags can reduce your carbon footprint by 4%.
Turn your water heater off. Your water heater is an energy thief. It sucks energy up all day long keeping your water hot even when no one is home to use it. When you are not at home for the day, make sure to turn your water heater off. While you are at it lower the temperature on your water heater by 5 degrees. By taking these small steps you can save up to 5% on your electric bill each year and reduce your Carbon footprint at the same time.
Buy less. Buying things to replace things that can be fixed is not only a waste of money but it is also harmful to the environment. We are a consumer nation in the U.S.; therefore, try to live simpler. If something breaks, fix it instead of disposing it and buying a new item. Buy products that are well built to begin with instead of buying products that are cheaply made with a short life span. This practice will keep used goods out of the landfill.
Speaking of buying, buy locally. Buying your food from local farms has a huge effect on the environment beyond your own home. Food that is bought locally does not have to be shipped in from other places. Vegetables and fruits that are bought in the grocery store sometimes travel thousands of miles to reach the store. All those miles are typically traveled by plane and in the back of a truck. Major footprints are left behind. Buy everything that you can from local growers and local shops.
Recycle, reuse, repurpose. In your home you can find items that are meant for one purpose but can also be used for a new purpose. Be creative! Instead of throwing things out look for new uses. Recycle everything that you can, reuse what you can and repurpose what you can.

There are many things you can do today that will help to reduce your carbon footprint and as a bonus help you to save money! It is the little changes that you make that will add up over time to make your Carbon footprint smaller.