Reduce where you can, neutralize the rest.

To do your part in the fight against global warming, there are two actions you can take, now:
1) Reduce — when you incorporate some of our easy-to-follow reduction tips into your lifestyle, you’ll quickly begin lowering the size of your carbon footprint; 2) Offset — while it’s nearly impossible to reduce your carbon footprint to zero, you can use our carbon calculator to offset what remains and neutralize the negative impact your life creates. By purchasing carbon offsets and renewable energy credits you’re investing in cleaner technologies that help neutralize your impact on global warming.

Tread lightly, leave a smaller footprint.

No matter how many eco-conscious strategies you use, it’s virtually impossible to have zero carbon emissions. But that doesn’t mean you can’t try. The good news is, while following simple reductions strategies is great for the environment, it’s good for your wallet, too. Start saving the environment and your money by reviewing the tips shown below, or visit the links we’ve provided to help you explore your reduction opportunities even further.

Carbon Reduction Tips

Car

• Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon. The best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it. No more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days is needed. Anything more simply wastes fuel and increases emissions.
• Avoid high speeds. Above 60 mph, gas mileage drops rapidly. The http://fueleconomy.gov/ web site shows how driving speed affects gas mileage.

Home

• Insulate your attic! If you've managed to stop heat from escaping downstairs, you may still be letting it seep out through your roof. To make the most of energy saving efforts, consider checking insulation levels in your attic. According to the Alliance to Save Energy, households with less than 6 or 7 inches of insulation in the attic generally benefit from adding 6 to 10 additional inches. Energy Star recommends distributing insulation evenly, with no low spots out near the eaves.
• Only heat the rooms you use. Your heating system guzzles needless energy trying to keep every room in your house cozy during winter. Make sure the room with your thermostat is getting heat, but instead of sending warmth to the four corners, keep vents and doors closed in rarely used rooms. This reduces the amount of work your heating system needs to do to reach your thermostat’s temperature setting. You might even find that your house has fewer drafts and warms up faster. Now that's cozy.
• Lights out: This year, you finally swapped out your incandescent Christmas lights for energy-efficient LED ones. Now, what to do with those old, wasteful, tangled strands? Retailer HolidayLEDs.com is accepting incandescent holiday lights for recycling through the end of the month.
• We greet again: Old holiday cards can provide cheer a second time around. Send them to CardsDirect, which will distribute those that can be reused to charitable organizations and recycle the rest. Of course, you can also recycle old cards yourself, and/or turn the images into gift tags or new cards for next year.
• Take a pledge this New Years' to reduce your home energy use by buying energy-efficient light bulbs. Installing only 6 compact fluorescent light bulbs will save the average American family $60 per year. If there's a fire in your fireplace this Christmas, turn down that thermostat! Lowering the temperature even five degrees can take 10% off your energy bill.
• Now you can decorate your house with LED lights that use 90 percent less energy than conventional holiday lights, and can save your family up to $50 on your energy bills during the holiday season! LED lights are available at many major retailers, including Target, CostCo, and Ace Hardware.
• Recycled your Christmas tree! Ninety-eight percent of Christmas trees were grown on farms, not in forests, so at least it's not as if you're cutting down an ancient tree. Each year, 10 million Christmas trees end up in the landfill. While your tree won't fit in the recycling bin with your newspapers and bottles, you can recycle your tree: many cities offer programs to turn your tree to mulch or wood chips. Call (800) CLEANUP or visit www.earth911.org to find the tree-recycling program near you.

Life

• Eating meat costs a lot of energy - a 6 oz steak requires 24 times as much fossil fuel based energy to produce as an equivalent amount of vegetables and rice. Eating vegetarian just once a week can make a big difference.
• In the United States, food typically travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to plate, as much as 25 percent farther than in 1980. Transporting our food that far means higher energy consumption, lower quality produce, and less local agricultural investment. Visit your local farmer’s market and make a meal entirely from local food - you’d be surprised how good it feels!
• Organic food seems to be everywhere, but what does organic really mean? According to the USDA, organic food is “produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations.” Look for the label “USDA Certified Organic” on all organic foods at the grocery store, and you’ll know you’re buying a more sustainable product.
• Next time you’re at the grocery store, pay attention to how much packaging all of the food comes in. You can reduce your household waste by purchasing items that have minimal packaging, buying the largest size of an item you can reasonably use, and buying in bulk.
• Back to nature: Cut Christmas trees can--and should!--be mulched to help create healthy new soil. Check with your local recycling and disposal company to see if they do curbside pickup or click on over to Earth911 to find a recycling location near you. The National Christmas Tree Association has stories about other cool ways that trees are being recycled around the country.
• By purchasing a 100% new renewable energy product for a year, an American household using an average of 938 kWh per month could help avoid contributing over 15,600 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.
• Of the 25 billion single-serving plastic water bottles Americans use each year, 80% end up in landfills. Recycle your water bottles and, better yet, choose to re-use a refillable water bottle made of a refill-safe material.
• The gift keeps giving: No need to hunt for receipts or wait in line at the store. Unwanted gifts can be swapped for what you really want online. Even gift cards can be sold back or exchanged.
• Getting a new cell phone for Christmas? Not sure what to do with the old one? Now, you can drop off that old phone at any Staples store, as part of the Sierra Club cell phone recycling program. Each year, 130 million cell phones are thrown out, weighing approximately 65,000 tons. Recycling your old phone prevents hazardous elements like mercury, cadmium and lead from ending up in our landfills.
• "Phantom" loads occur in most appliances that use electricity, such as VCRs, televisions, stereos, computers, and kitchen appliances. In the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. This can be avoided by unplugging the appliance or using a power strip and using the switch on the power strip to cut all power to the appliance.
• Most mass-produced wrapping paper you find in stores is not recyclable and ends up in landfills. Instead, here's a great chance to get creative! Wrap presents with old maps, the comics section of a newspaper, or children's artwork. If every family wrapped just three gifts this way, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.
• How many phone books do you need? Stop getting those bulky throwbacks by contacting the manufacturer (their contact information is usually listed on the phone book’s inside cover) and asking to be taken off their mailing list. Use online phonebooks or search the web to find what you need instead.
• Get with the times and download new music instead of buying it on CDs. The “jewel cases” that CDs come in are usually made from polyvinyl chloride, a dangerous material that cannot readily be recycled. Downloading will also help cut down on the production costs and energy used to create the discs themselves. And many record labels (to use a quaint term) are making those clever liner notes available online.
• Choose eco-friendly gifts to fill your family’s stockings. Gifts of Green all come with a tree planted in a national forest, and are inexpensive enough to buy one for all the kids. Another great stocking stuffer is "guilt-free" chocolate! Give the gift of organic, fair-trade chocolate and you can eat your way to a better planet.
• Get a pesticide-free tree! Demand is on the rise for Christmas trees that are not covered in chemicals; some growers use 40 different pesticides, as well as chemical colorants. The good news is that there are now a number of tree-farms that sell pesticide-free trees, so ask your local Christmas tree seller, or search for an organic tree farm near you.
• ENERGY STAR computers and monitors save energy only when the power management features are activated, so make sure power management is activated on your computer.
• Donate your time or money to an environmental group! Get into the holiday spirit by volunteering! There are countless ways to help improve your community—and the planet—from cleaning up a local river to helping inner city kids experience the outdoors for the first time. Contact your local Sierra Club to find out about volunteer opportunities near you. A donation in honor of a loved one can also be a special holiday gift.
• Unplug battery chargers when the batteries are fully charged or the chargers are not in use.