• Whenever possible, use an alternative to drivng alone in your car. Walk, bike, share a ride, telecommute, or use public transportation instead. For every gallon of gas combusted driving a car, 19 pounds of CO2 are emitted into the atmosphere. So, every time you fill up and use 20 gallons of gas, you emit over 385 pounds of CO2. (source: US EPA)
• Drive smart: slow down, remove excess weight from your car, avoid excessive idling, inflate your tires properly, keep your car tuned up, and plan and combine trips. No matter what kind of car or truck you drive, gas mileage drops dramatically at speeds over 60 mph. As a general rule, every 10 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an extra $0.54 per gallon of gas (when gas costs $3.25/gallon). (source: CNNMoney.com) If you need to go 30 miles, driving at 60 mph will get you there in 30 minutes. Driving 70 mph will get you there just 5 minutes earlier.
• Eat locally grown food. If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. (source: http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/)
• Buy and use less stuff. The US EPA estimates that 50% of our greenhouse gas emissions come from indirect sources such as buying food and other consumer prodcuts. Rethink- Before purchasing any product, rethink its uses and your needs; Reduce- Create, consume and throw away less from the outset by purchasing durable, long-lasting goods and seeking products with less packaging and that are recyclable when their useful life ends: Reuse- When you buy used or repair what you have, no new raw materials are extracted and less pollution is created in manufacture and transport.
• Conserve energy. The United States uses a lot of energy—nearly a million dollars worth each minute, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Homes use one-fifth of the energy consumed in the US. Based on national averages, the energy use in a typical house is broken down into four main categories: 8% refrigerator, 13% water heating, 34% lighting, cooking, and other appliances, and 45% heating and cooling.
• Reduce hot water use. 25% of each energy dollar goes to heat water. (source: California Energy Commission)
  
  • Wash only full loads and replace your old clothes washer, the second largest water user in your home
  • Wash your clothes in cold water
  • Reduce the amount of time you spend in the shower
  • Replace your showerheads and faucet aerators with low flow ones
  • Only use your dishwasher when it is completely full. Make sure you have an efficient model
  • If you wash dishes by hand, only run the water as needed  
  • Consider installing in a solar hot water system
• Reduce water consumption. 19% of all the energy used in California is required to bring us potable water and to treat that water after it goes down the drain. (source: Toby Goddard, City of Santa Cruz Water Department). Five top ways to conserve water are to:

• Stop your leaks
• Replace your old toilet, the largest water user inside your home
• Plant the right plants with proper landscape design & irrigation
• Water only what your plants need