reducing our carbon footprint

I’ve been thinking alot about HOW MANY THINGS I could do to help people become more environmentally concious- all the things that are completely possible and easily doable, that somehow no one has thought about doing (or at least actually done them).  And with the internet, with blogs and neighborhood list serves, and everyone being completely inter and over connected today, and idea (especially concerning something we all care about, like our environment) could spread really fast, and maybe move people to take action.

Keeping our environment healthy is everyones job- there are hundreds of things each one of us could do, easy things. In one day, you could make really quick, simple decisions to save energy, such as:

1. Instead of just driving out to the grocery store or work, think about walking, biking, taking public transit or carpooling.  With errands that need to be done but would require driving, think about combining them to do all in one day, saving time and gas money!!! Think about it!!! Do it!!!!

2. Make smart choices about what kind of food you buy- for example, there are certain kinds of fish that are more environmentally friendly than others. For a pocket guide you can take with you to the supermarket or restaurants, click on this link: http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_SoutheastGuide.pdf

3.) Instead of buying bottled water, look for a water fountain, bring some from home, or fill up a cup from the tap (the US has the safest, most drinkable tap water in the world!) Why is this a big deal? Does it really make a difference? I wondered that myself, months ago, when I saw that the nonprofit, New American Dream, was launching a campaign to get people to stop buying bottled water. http://www.newdream.org/water/about.php It is very inefficient and wasteful of energy and water. http://www.allaboutwater.org/environment.html 

I know this is kind of a lot of information and even if anyone does read this, they may not care enough to do any of it.  But this is only the beginning. From now on, Im going to research many different aspects of the climate crisis and how we, as americans, need to do our part and cut back on our energy usage.

Im going to try and make it interesting and inspiring. Short, sweet, and to the point. After I figure this out, Im going to do something with my neighborhood list serve to give people this information.

Too many people are dragging their feet!! We need action, now!