REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT
Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas in our atmosphere. We lead the world in carbon emissions, accounting for 22 percent. One ton of CO2 is released when you drive 2,500 miles in a medium-sized car. If we all used the following tips the savings would be huge.
Recycle and use recycled products. You will save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle. It takes 70 to 90 % less energy to make recycled paper.
Buy locally. Meat, fruits, and vegetables are transported on trucks that drive an average of 1,500 miles from field to supermarket.
Run weekly errands all at once. Drive during non-peak hours. In the U.S., automobiles produce over 20 percent of total carbon emissions. Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
Maintain your car. When just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere. Proper tire inflation can improve gas mileage by 3%, saving 300 pounds of carbon dioxide for every 10,000 miles you drive. Check your tires monthly.
Replace any incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs. You will save 100 pounds of carbon for each incandescent bulb that you replace with a compact fluorescent, over the life of the bulb.
Turn off your lights when they aren’t being used, even when you leave a room for a short period of time.
Unplug your electronics or turn off their power strip. Most electronics still use some energy even when turned off. This “standby mode” drains up to 5 percent of electricity used in most homes.
Regulate your home temperature. Install a programmable thermostat. Moving your thermostat two degrees cooler in winter and two degrees warmer in the summer can save 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide and $98 a year.
Clean or replace air filters on your furnace at least once a month. Changing a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of CO2 a year.
Weatherize your home. Caulking and weather-stripping can save hundreds of dollars and about 1,000 pounds of CO2 annually.
Next time, buy a hybrid car. You can save 16,000 pounds of CO2 and $3,750 a year.
Pay bills online. If every American household went paper-free for bill-paying, we would reduce solid waste in U.S. landfills by more than 800,000 tons a year, save an estimated 18.5 million trees every year, and curb the release of greenhouse gases by 2.1 million tons a year.
