How big is your carbon or eco footprint? That’s an excellent question; one that I decided to ask myself. I Googled “What is your carbon footprint” and found a variety of Web sites that offer a free calculator that will estimate, in cubic tons, the amount of carbon dioxide pollution I contribute to global warming. My estimated carbon footprint was 11.13 cubic tons per year on one site, and 12 on another, which according to those sites is below the national average. That’s great, but I want to lower it even more. So how can I do that?

I recently moved into a new townhouse and one of the first things I did was replace all of the standard, high-wattage light bulbs with energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs that use 65 to 75 percent less energy. I replaced eight vanity bulbs in two bathrooms, six ceiling lights in the two bedrooms and the upstairs hallway; and instead of using the overhead lights in the kitchen and living room (which I couldn’t reach), I have three lamps that use one 13W bulb each, compared to their normal 60W equivalents.

What about the cost? I bought a 12-pack of energy-efficient 13W (60W equivalent) bulbs for about $20. The vanity bulbs cost $13.44 for a three pack and I needed eight, so I bought three packs for about $40. There is an initial cost up front, but a lot of people slowly change their bulbs out by buying one pack each time they go to the store to do their grocery shopping.

The next question you might ask is, “How much will this save me on my energy bill?” According to www.onebillionbulbs.com, a Web site dedicated to promoting and encouraging people across the globe to change one billion bulbs, I will save $105.04 a year on my electric bill based on the 17 bulbs I changed. So, in less than a year, my $60 investment will pay for itself. More importantly, onebillionbulbs.com estimated that I will prevent 1,672 pounds of carbon dioxide from polluting the air. Well worth $60 if you ask me.

Alright, so now you are feeling pretty good about yourself and you want to do even more. Great! Let’s take a look in the cabinet under your kitchen sink and see what type of cleaning supplies you use to keep your home spotless. Chances are you are using a ton of disinfectants and chemicals that can harm the environment and possibly your health. There are more eco-friendly alternatives now widely available, such Clorox’s new line of cleaning supplies called Green Works™.

The products, according to www.greenworkscleaners.com, are made from 99 percent natural ingredients, which means they are biodegradable, come from renewable resources and are free of petrochemicals. They can’t disinfect … yet, but that day will come. The important thing is that these products are better for the environment and we’re doing something as opposed to nothing. I also bought eco-friendly dishwashing detergent from Palmolive that is phosphate-free. Phosphates can be harmful to our natural water sources.

Another cool thing I discovered, at Wal-Mart no less, is an eco-friendly pillow made in part from recycled ecospun fiber fill, or recycled plastic bottles. The pillows only cost about $5 and are relatively comfortable, but would be great for pillow shams and the guest room.

Those are just a few quick and easy steps you can take to help reduce your carbon footprint on the environment. Here are some other little things you can do:

• Buy reusable canvas bags ($1 each at Wal-Mart) and use them at the checkout instead of the plastic bags.
• If you do use the plastic bags, recycle them. Most stores have a recycling box near the entrance.
• Recycle bottles, cans, newspapers and anything else you can reasonably recycle.
• If you work in an office, try printing on both sides of the paper.
• If you have to edit documents, try editing the documents electronically either in Word or Adobe Acrobat Pro.
• Turn your computer off at night; don’t just “sleep” it. Even when your computer is sleeping, it is using electricity.
• Get a programmable thermostat and set it higher when you are gone during the day or on vacation.
• Turn off the lights when you leave a room – this goes for the home and the office.

For more tips and resources on green living, visit http://www.nrdc.org/greenliving/toolkit.asp or search for “Green Living” with a Web search engine like Google or Yahoo.