And if we switch to energy saving lighting, we’ll cut our electricity costs – with the added benefit of reducing saving CO2.

It still pays to save gas, even with now-lower prices. When you take steps to save gas, you’re also reducing your CO2. Siilarly, cutting your electricity bill helps your wallet and the planet. Some of these steps are so easy! With little or no reduction in your lifestyle. Here are a few tips:

1. Check out what rebats are available to you in your state, thanks for Federal stimulus money.  For example, there are tax rebates for installing home solar panels, as well as energy efficient appliances. 

2. Carpool to work if you aren’t already. While gas may be low, it’s bound to rebound, so finding a good carpool match now is a great idea.

3. See if you employer will let you telecommute one day a week. Even though jobs now may be a premium, explaining to your boss that it saves your company money too (less resources used), you might get them to consider it.

4. Walk more, bike more. Take the bike out now that spring has arrived, try walking to nearby neighborhood destinations like the library or train.

We’ll post more about how saving can also cut carbon output. Once you start making small changes, you begin to see the opportunity to save – and conserve – in many more easy ways.

Just to get you started, here’s an easy way to save electricity:  Turn off your lights when you leave the house, go to bed, leave a room, leave your office at work for more than a half hour.  Turn off your ocmputer monitor, plasma TV, excess electronics, phone charger – just go around and take a look at everything that’s plugged in, and unplug it, or shut it off.  Do that every day for a week and see if you don’t lower your power use.

There are plenty of simple ways to incorporate alternative energy into your lifestyle.  Some small examples are solar deck rail lights, solar powered attic fans, and other similar products now available on the market. You can find many, many other options to start to reduce your use of fossil-fuel generated electricity.

Post you best idea here too – combining our efforts is the key to making small changes into big ones!

In fact, I did no “teaching” or “lecturing” at all; I just asked questions.  They knew all the answers, except for the highly technical stuff (how greenhouse gases get trapped in the atmosphere, what exactly is a hybrid car).  I would simply ask:  What is causing warming?  Do you know how it works? What can we do to make a difference? They were full of answers, and of course, concerns.  But in my talks with kids, I don’t play up the possibilities for catastrophe, but the belief that our own ingenuity is able to take on these changes and in the process, make the world even better than it already is.

Other parents get that worried look when they talk about how to answer their kids questions (maybe this is even harder than having “the talk” about birds and bees?) My suggestion to other parents who ask how to approach this subject is this:

Show, don’t tell.  Show your kids how much you are already making constructive changes in your family’s everyday way of living.  Show them how they can make a difference (by keeping lights off when not in use for example).  Nothing breeds fear in kids like knowing that something needs to be done (which they know) and seeing that the people they love and trust the most are not doing anything.

Get started today, there are plenty of ideas on this site for basic changes you can make. Sign up for our newsletter to get 3 ideas emailed to you each week – easy and simple changes you can adopt.  Get involved in your community – city after city and town after town are all getting on board and need their residents to step up to the plate.  Find out what’s happening in your town through ICLEI, Local Governments For Sustainability, or visit the Cool Cities Campaign (with 1003 participating cities as of this writing!) to find contact people near you. Or just call your mayor’s office.  If no one’s involved, why not you?

Let’s show our kids that we can make a difference and take care of their future.

Starting small is best. If you’ve already changed your lightbulbs to CFLs, perhaps starting to change your driving habits in small ways can be a next step.  With gas prices over $4 a gallon, you can take steps that are also kind to your wallet.

Try this to save on gas: Drive 60-65 on the highway, and speed limit everywhere else.  Cars run most efficiently at 60 mph, and you can save a whopping 20-30% on fuel by sticking to that speed.  Keep your tires properly inflated – pick up a tire pressure guage on  your next shopping trip, they cost $1 or so.  This can save $$ in fuel costs also.  Same for getting your car properly tuned up – efficiency is the key.

As for miles traveled, try to reduce, even just a small bit, just skip one or two trips a week. Dust off that bike!  Get your sneakers on for short walks and trips around town.  Skip a trip you don’t really  need to make, or combine trips instead of making three or four each weekend.

Getting started with a few simple steps will get you thinking about other ways to cut back.  Just the few things above could cut your fuel use by 20% or even better, an awesome start!

What else are you doing that’s easy and simple? Post a comment with your ideas here any time.