Hi Jai, Thanks for the good tips and the useful references about calculating your carbon footprint. I live in Seattle which has an aggressive program of recycling for glass, paper, plastic bags, and such. It also picks up yard and food waste and paper from paper-shredders which go to a composting facility. There’s not much left that needs to go to a landfill.

One thing to think about besides your carbon footprint is your utility bill. When you use water, you get charged twice: once for the cost of providing the clean water and once for the cost of treating the wastewater. Even if you water your lawn and there is no wastewater, you get charged anyway.
So there are several good reasons to not use too much water. Great job.

@ Aman – glad you enjoyed. I use halogen lights in my lamps because they are more energy effecient,
@ Anastasiya thanks for the added tips re: plastic bags. A lot of stores are now banning plastic bags and only using paper bags. We shop at Whole Foods and Planet Organic where they only use paper or canvas bags.

Hi Jai,
Thanks for this post… these are nice easy steps to follow. I will start incorporating these gradually into my life. I usually use lamps for light to be more energy efficient.

I try my best to be as green as possible and your tips are really useful. I need to show my husband tip #1:-) Sometimes I get tired of washing his clothes a few times a week because he liked to wear all his shirts and shorts just once.
I wanted to add one tip about plastic bags. I know that most grocery stores collect these bags and then recycle them. The most important thing is not to forget to take your bags to the store the next time that you are going there.
Also if you buy a new TV or any other appliances you should ask the store about recycling your old ones. Most stores will do it for you at absolutely no cost.

@ Krishna – Yeah I agree a lot of companies use the green label as a marketing tool to enhance their image and sales. I think we need to take due diligence and research some of these companies and assess if they are really green. Then make informed decisions.

@Madeline – That’s Great I didn’t know Seattle was so environmental friendly. Maybe it’s a west coast thing. Vancouver is the same. Hopefully other states can follow suit.

Very powerful post and very powerful tips.

Showering less is a tip I can immediately apply. Out where I live in Melbourne, there is water shortage and conserving water in anyway will help the environment in more ways than one.

Also great links, esp http://www.freecycle.org. I searched and found half a dozen groups near where I live in Melbourne, I wasn’t expecting that !

A question, though, what do you think about the commercial aspects of “green”. Sometimes I feel so many companies are jumping into the “green” bandwagon and labeling their products eco-friendly that we need more sites like “goodguide” to find out the real impact of our habits on the environment…