by Cole Runyan

What’s a carbon footprint?

Put simply, your carbon footprint is the indicator of your average carbon emissions based on your lifestyle. The affecting factors can include anything from what car you drive to how much red meat you consume. If you are consistently mindful of these factors, one person can have a great impact on carbon emissions. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to begin reducing your carbon footprint today.

Step 1: Eat less meat

According to this article, beef and dairy emissions are responsible for nearly 15% of all global emissions. One single pound of beef requires nearly 5,000 gallons of water to make – therefore making the beef and dairy industry the number one freshwater consumer in the world. Huffpost explains that the average American will consume 8.5 ounces of meat per day. Cutting out meat or dairy of your daily ritual will greatly reduce your carbon footprint.

Step 2: Plant a garden

A well known fact about plants is their ability to absorb carbon dioxide. Typically, urban areas suffer from what is known as heat islands; areas of dense heat absorbing materials such as pavement or buildings. By planting a garden, you can help reduce the heating of an area greatly, in turn reducing carbon emissions and your carbon footprint. Trees and greenhouses also yield the same effects of reducing heat islands and carbon emissions.

Step 3: Drive less or carpool

Walking, cycling or taking the bus to work substantially decreases one’s carbon footprint. Taking the subways, train or carpooling for your commute will greatly reduce emissions as well. Many cities are now accommodating a lifestyle where car ownership is not required, a catalyst for change where carbon emissions are concerned.

Step 4: Line-dry your laundry

According to The Guardian, one dryer load of laundry uses 5 times more electricity than washing. By line-drying your clothes, you can greatly reduce your own carbon footprint. This may sound impractical for most people, however, it goes a long way to know that running a clothes dryer is equivalent to leaving 225 light bulbs on for an hour. By utilizing alternative methods for washing and drying your laundry, not only are you reducing your carbon emission levels, but saving money as well.

Step 5: Shop for produce locally

Buying your produce locally ensures that what you are buying hasn’t been imported from elsewhere, guaranteeing a lower carbon emission footprint. Import and export emissions from planes and trucks affect the carbon levels on the planet significantly. Local produce grown in gardens and greenhouses also serve to lower carbon emissions.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.