Eleven simple things anyone can do to reduce his carbon footprint

I read two books last fall: Low Carbon Diet by David Gershon and Hell and High Water by Joseph Romm. Both books tackle the issue of global warming. The first is from the perspective of how individuals can take simple steps over a 30-day period to reduce their personal carbon emissions by at least 15 percent. The second is a pretty intense discussion of the science and the politics behind global warming inaction in the United States.

My recommendation is that if you intend to read the second book – which is very well written and quite comprehensive – that you read the first book at the same time so you can switch back and forth between the two. At least that is what I find myself having to do.

Romm’s book is not for the faint-hearted. He runs through the many facts of global warming in the first few chapters. His intensive summary of the science left me literally gasping for air thinking about a potential 80 foot rise in ocean levels by the end of this century (unlikely, but possible, depending on how certain situations play out over the coming 20-30 years). So, as the science or politics start to overwhelm me, I switch to the Diet book to get a new tip I can use to reduce my own carbon footprint.

One of the last tips in the book is to share the carbon-cutting information with other people in your community, so that is what I’m going to focus on today. Here are twelve inexpensive things anyone can do today to save money and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide he or she produces:
1. Drive the speed limit. Most cars are their most fuel-efficient at between 45 and 55 miles per hour.
2. Make sure car tires are properly inflated. Most tires are underinflated, which reduces gas mileage. If all car tires in the United States were inflated properly, we would consume about 5% less gasoline as a nation!
3. Dry one load of laundry on a clothesline each week. Eliminating one dryer load a week for a year = 250 pounds of carbon saved.
4. Change the filter on your furnace.
5. Turn down the temperature setting on your hot water heater to no more than 120 degrees. And, if you are going to be on vacation, go ahead and turn the hot water heater off! Does your empty house need to have a ready supply of hot water available?
6. Choose products with the Energy Star rating if buying a new household appliance.
7. Turn down the thermostat at night and when you are away from the house, or, even better, install a programmable thermostat that adjusts the temperature automatically.
8. Recycle. By reducing the amount of garbage you throw away each week through increased recycling, you can dramatically reduce the amount of carbon dioxide you are responsible for. For example, if you make changes so that you can switch from a 90 gallon garbage tote to a 60 gallon tote, you are in effect cutting your carbon by over 3,000 pounds a year!
9. Turn your computer and monitor off at night and when you are away from the house. Another related tip is to not use a screen saver, but rather set your monitor to go into a low-energy “sleep” mode after several minutes of inactivity.
10. Telecommute. Granted, not everyone can do this, but see if your employer will allow you to work from home one day a week.
11. Plant trees. Over the course of its 90-120 year lifetime, a tree will store one ton of carbon.