People always talk about reducing your carbon footprint. Or how enormous America’s footprint is and how we all contribute to global warming, the corruption of animal habitats, the melting of the polar ice caps and a whole bunch of other horrible things that are destroying the earth. Rarely, however, is the discussion about practical and simple ways to moderately reduce our carbon footprint.

Yes, one tends to see the smug liberal denouncing everyone who drives a car because he rides a bike and his heating runs on vegetable oil or something similarly idiotic. Those people are easy to ignore, and they rarely convince anyone to change their ways. But some thought into where some of our trash goes and where it comes from, for example, is a good way to think about how we contribute to some of these horrible things being done to the earth.

The use of a tissue is a good start. We all know that paper and paper-like materials including tissues come from trees, and if you’re anything like me you’ve been beaten over the head so many times by this sad fact that you can’t seem to care whatsoever anymore. No matter how little you care though, it is still from a dead tree. Once we’ve used this tissue, it goes in the trashcan and out of our mind. This seems to be the root of a larger problem. The things we dispose of are only with us for a very short period of time.

A tissue, takeout food containers, Starbucks coffee cups...it seems as though a lot of things are made to be used once and then thrown out. This way we wind up using more and buying more etc. This has become the norm today, but I’m sure you can think of your grandfather, or an older man in a movie, and remember them pulling out a handkerchief to wipe their mouth or blow their nose. Not so long ago this was the norm and while it seems a little gross to reuse a tissue like that, it is much better for the planet. And you can have several handkerchiefs and wash them with your clothes. There are tons of simple things like these that can reduce how much waste you put out and aren’t much of a life adjustment.

In a class of mine, we have been reading a book in which a man and his family try to have no negative impact on the environment for a whole year while living in New York City. This is where the inspiration for this article stems from. He realizes how mighty of a task this can be. Eventually, though he accomplishes it fairly well. I certainly am not challenging anyone to take this up upon themselves, I know it would be a mighty struggle for myself and frankly, I don’t want to try it. However, it has made me more conscious of what I use and dispose of every day. Small changes can lead to big results and I try to incorporate them into my life every now and then.

An interesting idea from the book is when this man had no choice but to have a negative impact on the earth, he offset it by having a positive impact on the earth. This is another thing to consider. Simply picking up trash on the side of the street or on a beach can make a difference. If you feel weird about it just think that you’re leading by example. If everyone was picking up trash and you weren’t, then you’d feel just as weird.

Just consciously thinking about our trash and where it goes and the animals it affects can give you reasons to rethink what you use. If plastic water bottles choked dogs to death, hardly anyone would still use them. Fortunately they don’t, but unfortunately, they kill fish and seabirds. It can be difficult to feel sympathy for animals that you do not encounter very often. When we throw out plastic, it typically ends up it the great pacific garbage patch off the west coast of the U.S.

If you’re not familiar, give it a "Google" and enjoy the forthcoming feelings of disgust. Once the trash and plastic have floated around for long enough it dissolves into smaller bits, some of which are eaten by plankton. The food chain process happens a bit more and eventually it can end up in your sushi. These are all just things to consider and at least think about using more eco-friendly items.