What single action could every American take to reduce their ecological footprint?

Question

A millions options present themselves. If every American recycled a single bag of trash per month, would that reduce the overall eco-footprint?
Please make suggestions as to concrete, easy, everyday steps that people could take to gradually but consistently reduce their eco-footprint.

Answer 1

Install compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of standard bulbs.

Exercise regularly and eat right. It takes more energy for a car, train, plane, etc to move a 300 lb person than a 200 lb person. Lose weight and you'll find that you don't really need a big SUV.

Vote with your wallet. Buy items that really are green, not just those that claim to be. This requires some thought and research on your part, but do it anyway.

Don't buy a gas guzzling vehicle.

Plan your trips for the day so that you make one trip instead of several. In other words, if you're going to go shopping, do it when/before/after you pick up the kids instead of getting them, heading home, and then going out again.

Allow your home to be a little cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer.

Make your recreation less dependant on fossil fuels. A bike is better than a motorcyle, and a sailboat is better than a motor boat.

Answer 2

Recycling was never meant to be a cure all for ecological woes. If you remember it was the third and final option of the ecological trilogy. Reduce, Reuse, and recycle.

Those are in order of importance. People have put too much faith in recycling, because it is easy. You don't have to change your life or consumption patterns, but if you toss a can in a bin, you're saving the world. Not always the case.

To simply answer your question, to lower you ecological footprint...CONSUME LESS. Don't buy what you don't need, and when you buy the things you do need, don't buy things that come in excess packaging.

Answer 3

a million, do not consume at rapid foodstuff the place they serve meat, incredibly pork. #2 do not purchase crap merely cuz it incredibly is well known. purchase used stuff as much as you are able to. Thrift shop paying for and classic shop paying for could be relaxing. in case you may purchase new, purchase issues which would be recycled or have been already recycled. Ask your mothers and fathers for autos that have severe mpg rankings and don't rigidity lots. #3 purchase domestically grown foodstuff and instruct your persons to purchase interior sight as much as accessible. interior sight is generally organic and organic, so because it incredibly is a plus. purchase organic and organic on each occasion accessible too. Even from usual label companies, so even they get the message that we don't desire poison in our foodstuff. #4 Make green a mode! Influencing different's to shrink their ecological footprints can pass a protracted way in saving the planet from human brought about climate substitute. #5 merely pay interest to what you're paying for. Does that coffee incorporate a plastic lid? do you prefer it? are you able to convey your individual mug? do you prefer that straw? Plastic lighter? Plastic something incredibly isn't sturdy. There are new corn plastics that biodegrade, so purchase those on each occasion accessible to impact plastic companies to alter their products. Many talks and youths spend a super form of it! you have the means to impact the marketplace and the marketplace is what's over-working the planet. The greater you look at what your are paying for, the greater you will locate out approximately what issues are made up of, how they're made and how they arrived to the placement you ought to purchase them from. understanding the "cycle" of a product will help you establish if is a sensible and ecologically friendly selection. chuffed ingesting!

Answer 4

You could probably reduce your dependance on driving a car by 20% overnight. Added benefit if everyone reduced their mileage by 20%, reduction in oil consumption for gas, so prices may even go down ;^)

Lower you home thermostat by 1 to 2 degrees, hardly noticeable but will save energy.

Answer 5

Stop cooking with conventional ovens and stoves, including those at restaurants. They are the biggest sources of wasted heat in a typical home. Only eat food cooked in a microwave.

I doubt if a single person who reads this will even try the idea though.

Answer 6

Well, the most effective technique would be to kill one's self. That would reduce their eco-footprint considerably--of course they should opt out of being cremated.

Answer 7

Stop and think, before everything they do, what the consequences of that action will have on the people and planet around them. There are so many individual things that focusing on one at a time is not the answer. It must be part of a larger, general awareness that everything we do-- everything-- has a consequence.

Answer 8

The first thing I would do is slap a tree hugger that doesn't like hunting.

Answer 9

buy a programmable thermostat.