Climate change has never been more at the center stage in media and politics now as it has before and it is important for us to acknowledge what all these activists have been going on about. Giving back to the environment is not so hard because at the end of the day, the smallest of efforts will go a long way towards helping keeping the effects of climate change at bay. We are often caught up in our busy lives chasing fast cars and expensive phones but do not stop to think how we are harming the environment collectively. There is a solution to that however, it is creating awareness and learning more about the littlest of the steps you can take to help out.

Sustainability is one of those really broad terms we are all struggling to come to grips with. What is sustainability exactly? Essentially, it is about using all our currently available resources at a lesser pace that is not going to incriminate our future generations. In my viewpoint, making sustainability the focal point in efforts to curb the effects of climate change. It's easy to assume that the developing countries are the ones killing the Earth and we as humans play no part- WRONG. We have just the same amount of responsibility and possibility in helping out.

There are many questions I ask myself, such as how can we as simple people change our outlooks and behavior? What kind of small alterations can be made in our daily lifestyle can be made towards bigger processes? Well there's something called 'carbon footprint'. It's basically a measure of how much a person, machine, industry, etc utilizes resources and gives out waste (not the fecal kind, no), somewhat of a input vs output. If you fly a lot, or use up a lot of electronics, or buy groceries that is not locally farmed, this all counts into your footprint. When I calculated my carbon footprint in regards to my rate of use in New York City, I would apparently need about eight and a half Earths to sustain my lifestyle. So I took on the challenge of bringing making it less and ultimately at the end of the three months, I had brought it down to five Earths instead. No, I did not drastically alter my lifestyle but I did try to change the littlest of things that added up eventually.

Here are some of my tips to how you can be an environmentally conscious and sustainable person:

1. Change your mode of transport.

Driving around is probably the most convenient and most cars usually do not have any more passengers other than the driver. BUT, it's also excreting a lot of greenhouse gases. Carpooling is a great way to change that and also make better connections with people. Public transportation is another alternative because you're traveling with a lot more other people at the same time. I avoided taxis and public transportation altogether and starting walking a lot more. It allowed me to reach my daily activity goal as well as get some fresh air.

2. Eat outside less, cook at home more.

This is pretty self explanatory. Cooking at home is a great way to learn more about yourself and your tastes because you can basically cook up anything you would like. Not all people are gifted in the kitchen department, myself included, but it's definitely worth a shot.

3. Buy more locally grown groceries and food stuffs.

It is important to support the local farmers that are independent and self sustaining without selling their products to big supermarkets for a much lower price and in turn, not getting back what they put in effort. Also, locally grown products are more sustainable because the impacts that come from transporting ' imported' products is way more without comparison. I started shopping at the greenmarkets that prop up in big neighborhoods in New York City. I get to try something new every week and have the most freshest of veggies, and I absolutely love it!

3. Consume less

Our use and throw away habits are a lot more alarming with big companies pushing consumerism in our faces. Now, I'm not saying boycott them, but it more about what you need rather than what you want. As a self professed ex shopaholic, I can clearly say that after making some very sad sacrifices, now, I only buy what I need and nothing more than that. I have gained a deeper understanding about needing possessions - nothing we have is going to define who we are, and nothing we have we can take to the grave.

4. Practice the three R's : Recycle, Reuse and Reduce.

All of these R's are interconnected in what they mean because each one of them leads to a concept. Reduce is about using less. Use what you need and keep it to the minimal. Think you can use that takeaway box for a few more uses? Do it- and that's exactly what reuse means. By reusing, we are avoiding the necessity to buy again the same products for different use. Recycling has come to be a very important part of waste management for urban areas in the recent years. Even if we are not recycling plastics, glass, metals and paper at home or at our office, if we send it to a recycle facility, they can break the components down to serve another purpose. To me this is important because we use a lot of energy and resources to make a particular product and by recycling it we use less energy and resources to make another product of the same kind.

Using these strategies, I reduced my carbon footprint and in a way helped the environment. We do not need extensive political agendas and power to change the world, but the littlest of efforts can. If all of us put in a little effort to take these small steps, I am pretty sure, we'll be helping solve most of the Earth's problems.