Reducing your carbon footprint

Click here to see our selection of Reducing your carbon footprint.

Your carbon footprint measures how much carbon is used to maintain your lifestyle. Because of climate change and other environmental problems proponents of the green movement are asking you to start reducing your carbon footprint. This means your lifestyle will have to change in order to have a smaller impact on the Earth's environment. (A higher footprint corresponds to a style of life that is less sustainable; a lower footprint corresponds to a style of life that is more sustainable).

While it may seem like the changes you make cannot affect a phenomenon as large as global warming, the collective actions and changes in attitude of a large group of people can make a world of difference. If one person in every town changes their lifestyle and then helps their family change and then goes on to help the community change an impact will be made.

There are many ways to begin reducing your carbon footprint just by changing your habits around the house. Here are some helpful tips:

• Keep an eye on your thermostat. Over a long period of time incremental changes can add up. Once you get a sense of where you normally set it during the summer and winter, try to keep it two degrees higher during the hot months and 2 degrees lower during the cold months.

• Unplug appliances that are not in use. Remember, just because your computer is turned off does not mean the peripherals are not drawing power. Similarly, just because your cell phone is not in the charger does not mean the charger is not drawing electricity from the grid. Appliances like stereos that have standby modes draw up to half the power they would use when turned on. The solution: unplug the appliance or invest in a "smart" surge protector to save money and help in reducing your carbon footprint. You could save up to several hundred hours a year just by pulling the plug on appliances and reducing your power consumption.

• Change your driving habits. Check that your tires are properly inflated every three to four weeks to save gas. Also, if you use cruise control on the highway, you get up to a 15% improvement in mileage. In addition, if you accelerate gently, avoid slamming on the brakes, and don't speed – you'll save even more gas. Also, turn off the engine rather than idling if you can help it. Avoid the drive-through and go into the restaurant and turn off the car when picking up the kids at school to help in reducing your carbon footprint.

Once you have begun altering your lifestyle, you can even measure how your choices are reducing your carbon footprint. There are online carbon calculators to measure your footprint. Note that there is some margin of error because it is difficult to measure the carbon dioxide that comes from your morning commute or the results of your dietary decisions. However, a good calculator combines the best available data and a range of assumptions for their calculations to give you an emissions estimate you can rely on – and begin to lower. Remember: think locally and act globally.

GreenDimes can get you started and will plant a tree in honor of your efforts to make an impact!

We accept all major credit cards