Many think that its impossible for one person to make a difference. When everyone has an apathetic attitude, nothing will ever get accomplished and nothing fixed. If everyone does a little some to, in this case, help the planet, big changes can take place! The world can’t be fixed over night but if everyone took some time to make minor changes in their lifestyle to become a little more greener, change can happen with little effort from everyone. These are a few things that one can do in under 30 minutes to make a difference in the world, to help save the planet. First, leave your car at home. Greenhouse gas emissions from cars can cause health damages. Try carpooling if a group needs to go to the same place. If you are only going a short distance, use a bike or walk to get some exercise. Public transportation is always available, especially in cities, and research has shown that people who take public transportation are generally healthier than those who don’t. Next seems simple. Just like mom always used to tell you, eat vegetables! Eating less meat helps the planet cut back on greenhouse gases and saving land. You can also switch to reusable shopping bags. It seems like almost every store has their own bags that you can pick up for a simple dollar to carry your groceries home every time you shop. It saves countless numbers of plastic bags that don’t get recycled in the long run. They are also made out of materials that don’t harm the environment at all. Next step would be to simply change your light bulbs! LEDs and compact fluorescent light bulbs are more energy efficient and end up cutting back on energy use and in turn on your energy bill as well. It is said that if every household replaced just one regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, it would prevent 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The last way to help save the planet in little ways that make a big impact is to pay your bills online. It saves paper since the companies don’t have to mail out bills and it cuts back on the emissions from the mail having to travel all around the globe. It is even easier since some bills can be automatically paid for you at a certain time every month! With all these little things, people can make a huge impact on saving the planet!
http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/30_minutes.htm
Environmental Science 
6 comments
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December 8, 2009 at 2:07 am
stefan8
We don’t really realize it, but conserving the environment starts with all the little things like this! Most Americans are impatient though and are used to the old traditions of living life. However enlight of the environmental and economic crises that are being to arise, more people are beginning to conserve by driving less, buying smaller cars, and using reusable bags while shopping.
December 8, 2009 at 5:57 am
bfuller19
Very good article. I never really thought about how paying bills online could save the environment. And i definitely agree with switching to LED lights. I just put one in my lamp and i can automatically tell that it is not using as much energy. It produces the same amount of light but the bulb does not get nearly as hot. These things are great.
December 8, 2009 at 10:37 pm
xenite14
People don’t really realize how much simply changing your lightbulbs saves on the electric bill until they try. I convinced my mom to change the lightbulbs at home to LED bulbs. By the next month she said that there was definately a noticable decrease electricity bill.
December 9, 2009 at 1:25 am
d8286621
Interesting article! Everyone can make a difference and not a lot of people realize that. I really like the fact that you talked about lightbulbs and public transportation, very simple changes, that no one seems to take action on.
December 9, 2009 at 2:36 am
ashmax3890
I understand the little things that people can do to save the environment, but how are we supposed to do things like not drive our cars? I understand that if we were going two blocks down the street it would be idiotic to drive a car, but in certain places in Charlotte I would not want to be found walking. Where I live in Waxhaw, it would be impossible to not drive in order to get to the grocery store or even the pharmacy. I think we need to keep looking into better fuel for cars.
December 12, 2009 at 3:48 am
mgoode1
it is so interesting how it can be so effortlessto improve the environment by doing simple things. Every little bit makes a difference. Lot of little changes eventually add up to big changes.