Food:

• Eat at the bottom of the food chain. Raising livestock accounts for almost 20% of our greenhouse gas emissions. Eliminating meat from your diet can reduce your personal carbon footprint by 8lbs a day. Try “Meatless Mondays.”

• Choose organic and local foods when shopping. The shipping and refrigeration of our foods by train, truck, and plane create a lot of emissions.

• Compost your food waste. Not only will composting likely cut your landfill waste in half, but you will reduce methane production by eliminating rotting food from our landfills. Learn more about how to easily compost at home on our “Composting” page.

• Refuse plastic shopping bags and bring reusable bags to the grocery store. Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year, which require 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture. The average plastic bag is only used for 15 minutes before it goes in the landfill to stay for all time.

• Stop buying bottled water and switch to a reusable. More than 1 million plastic bottles of water are sold EVERY MINUTE globally, with around 85% of them ending up as waste in landfills and the ocean, taking up to 1,000 years to degrade. One reusable bottle can save 1000 plastic bottles over its lifetime.

Clothing:

• Buy less fast fashion. The fashion industry is largely considered the world’s second worst polluter (only behind the petroleum industry) not only in terms of manufacturing, but also due to excess. The EPA estimates that of the 17 million tons of textile waste generated in 2018, 14.5 million tons went to landfills. This amount is double what it was 20 years ago as a result of “fast fashion”. Buy quality, timeless clothing that will last. Or try vintage!

• Wash your clothing in cold water. About 90% of the energy your washing machine uses goes towards heating the water. Just by not using hot or warm water you can save up to 500 pounds of CO2 each year.

Home:

• Recycle your prescription medication. When pharmaceuticals are flushed down the toilet, they enter our wastewater system. Wastewater treatment facilities aren't always equipped to filter out these chemicals, so they can contaminate our lakes and streams, poisoning aquatic life and potentially ending up in our drinking water. Many Pharmacies will take unused medication for recycling.

• Change your incandescent bulbs to LEDs. LED bulbs use a quarter of the energy and last up to 25 times longer.

• Turn your water heater down to 120˚F. Water heating accounts for 18% of the energy consumed in your home. Turning it down can save about 550 pounds of CO2 a year.

• Unplug “electricity vampires” like phone chargers, kitchen countertop appliances, and bathroom electronics when not in use. Even when they are turned off they are using energy.

• Install low-flow faucets to reduce hot water use, saving 350 pounds of CO2. Low-flow toilets can reduce your water use by 13,000 gallons a year.

• Run your dishwasher and laundry machines at night when energy is cheaper and in less demand. 

• Change your thermostat temperature by just one degree. 48% of your home energy use is in heating and cooling.

• Use Energy Star appliances, lighting, office equipment, and electronics, which are certified to be more energy efficient.

• Have ComEd conduct an In-Home Energy Assessment. They are happy to come and do a review of your home and provide a personal assessment report on your home’s energy saving opportunities, and will even install free and discounted energy saving products!

Driving:

• Drive less. The transportation sector is the leading contributor to climate change. A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, in addition to methane and nitrous oxide from the tailpipe. The single most impactful change you can make to your carbon footprint is drive less.

• Take care of your car. Keeping your tires properly inflated can increase your fuel efficiency by three percent, and ensuring that your car is properly maintained can increase it by four percent.

• Turn down the air conditioning. Cars produce hydrofluorocarbon emissions from leaking air conditioners.

• Don't idle. It's an urban myth that it takes more energy to start your car than keep it running. Turn off your car when you're waiting in the pick-up line at school or camp. It will reduce your emissions AND save those poor kids from breathing in exhaust while they're waiting for their parents!

• Drive an electric vehicle. Swapping your gas-powered car for an electric vehicle can reduce the CO2 produced during your commute by 7 to 10 tons each year.