Learning to live green

(CoCo)—The term to learn these days is carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases being produced. They are measured in units of carbon dioxide (CO2). This gas is the biggest contributor to global warming.

All over the world, people have become attentive to their environment and are making efforts to live green. Living green doesn’t mean having a green yard or owning a green house, it’s about implementing a lifestyle that treads as lightly on the planet as possible in an effort to help stop global warming and conserve our limited natural resources.

Living a green lifestyle means involving the use of less energy, consuming less stuff and making more eco-friendly choices about everything from food to transportation to fashion. Everyone can put into practice simple changes that can really make a difference to the sustainability of our planet.

Most everything we do uses energy, whether we’re cooking a meal, taking a shower or using an air conditioner to stay cool. Energy is simply the ability to do work. It comes from all different types of sources but mainly in the forms of heat and light.

Green living is as easy as switching from a regular light bulb to a compact fluorescent light bulb. Studies have shown that if every household in the U.S. replaced one bulb with an energy bulb, it would have the same impact as removing one million cars from the road.

There are many ways to live green like recycling in your home, start with cans and plastic bottles. Buy foods that are locally produced, they help build sustainable communities. When you go shopping, bring your own reusable bags and avoid the use of plastic bags. Plastic bags take 450 years to breakdown. Unplug appliances that are not in use like your TV, radio or computer.

Next time you travel, reduce 10 pounds of your luggage weight. For every passenger that would mean 3.5 million fewer tons of CO2 emissions per year. When you really think about it, bringing five extra pairs of shoes than you need burns fuel.

When you host parties or have picnics, reduce, reuse and recycle. If Americans used one less package of paper napkins for every home in the country, it would save 1 million trees.

Here are three easy ways to live green every day:

1) Get your morning coffee in a reusable cup. Americans throw away about 40 billion disposable cups each year.

2) Unplug all chargers (cell phone, iPod) when they are not charging their intended device. This reduces carbon emissions by about 100 pounds per year, per charger.

3) Speed up your shower, spending just two minutes less in the shower each day could prevent 400 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere or simply take cold showers.

Live green, it’s easy and you are helping to conserve our planet. “ You must be the change you wish to see in the world” —Mahatma Ghandi