So what is a carbon footprint, anyway?

A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.

Basically, it’s the number of pounds of carbon dioxide released by your daily activities and as a result of the products you purchase.

Calculate your personal impact and learn how you can reduce or even eliminate your emissions of carbon dioxide. Click Here.

Insulate your house. Make sure there are no cracks around windows and doors. Caulk, seal, and weather-strip around them. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) whenever possible. CFLs produce the same amount of light as incandescents, but use up to 66 percent less energy. The nonprofit Energy Federation Incorporated sells Energy Star–rated CFLs for less than most retailers. Leave shades and blinds open on sunny days, but close them at night to reduce the amount of heat lost through windows.

Everyday Actions

• Take shorter, cooler showers. Less energy to heat the water means less CO2 released by your power plant.
• Recycle paper, plastic, and glass. Reuse plastic shopping bags, use reusable cleaning products like sponges instead of paper towels, and make use of sites like freecycle.org and craigslist.com to get used items free or at a lower price.
• Eat locally grown, unprocessed food. Each mile that food travels to get to you involves more CO2 emissions. Support your area’s agriculture: Visit a farmer’s market, look for regional produce or create a homegrown garden. And replace red meat with fish, eggs, and poultry, which require less energy and petrochemicals to be raised than cattle.
• Wash some of your laundry in cold water instead of hot. And always use cold water in the rinse cycle. 90% of the electricity a washing machine uses goes to heat the water.
• Line or rack-dry your clothes as much as you can. Consider investing in a high-speed clothes washer, which wrings out more water.
• Because they recycle water, dishwashers can use less water than the hand-washing method. Always turn off the dry cycle at the end and use the water conservation mode.
• Plug computers, televisions, DVD players, video game consoles, and other home electronics into a power strip and turn it off when you’re not using it. Their clocks and stand-by modes draw a lot of power.

Long-Range Change

If your refrigerator is pre-2001, consider buying a new, more efficient EnergyStar model. Remember that many energy utilities offer rebates for purchasing green items. See if yours does by checking energystar.gov (under “products,” click on “rebate finder”). Make sure any fridge you purchase closes tightly enough to hold a dollar in its door, and clean the coils, defrost regularly, and keep the top clear of clutter. Reduce the temperature of your hot water heater to no higher than 120°F. In addition to reducing CO2 output, you’ll also prevent scalds and burns.

• Reduce junk mail. Ask to be removed from catalog lists; register with the national Direct Marketing Association Mail Preference Service, or try services such as 41pounds.org and greendimes.org.