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No Impact Man Colin Beaven (the New Yorker who, along with his wife and daughter, sought to reduce their environmental impact as much as possible for a year, then made a and wrote a book about the experience) has culled his experience and knowledge and come up with “10 ways to change your life (not just your light bulbs)”:

1) EAT YOUR VEGETABLES
All you have to do is stop eating beef. Worldwide, beef production contributes more to ����APP change than the ­entire transportation sector. The carbon footprint of the average meat eater is about 1.5 tons of CO2 larger than that of a vegetarian. Cutting beef out of your diet will reduce your CO2 emissions by 2,400 pounds annually.

2) DRINK FROM THE TAP
You can save money and your environment by giving up bottled water. The production of plastic water bottles together with the privatization of our drinking water is an environmental and social catastrophe. Bottled water costs more per gallon than gasoline. The average American consumes 30 gallons of bottled water annually. Giving up one bottle of imported water means using up one less liter of fossil fuel and emitting 1.2 pounds less of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

3) OBSERVE AN ECO-SABBATH
For one day or afternoon or even one hour a week, don’t buy anything, don’t use any machines, don’t switch on anything electric, don’t cook, don’t answer your phone, and, in general, don’t use any resources. In other words, for this regular period, give yourself and the planet a break. Every hour per week that you live no impact cuts your carbon emissions by 0.6 percent annually. Commit to four hours per week, that’s 2.4 percent; do it for a whole day each week to cut your impact by 14.4 percent a year.

4) TITHE A FIXED PERCENTAGE OF YOUR INCOME
Tithe a fixed percentage of your income to non-profits of your choice. If an average U.S. family contributes 1 percent ($502.33) of its annual income ($50,233) to an environmental non-profit, they could offset 40.7 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Many of our public health and welfare services are tied to consumer spending which, in turn, depends upon planetary resources. If you want to help, don’t go shopping. Just help.

5) BUILD A COMMUNITY
Have dinners with friends. Play charades. Sing together. Enjoying each other costs the planet much less than enjoying its resources.

Read the last at Yes! magazine.