It's So Easy Being Green

April 22, 2008— -- It wasn't that long ago that cutting out litter was considered cutting edge. Today, it takes a little more to be green, though not that much.

You can ditch your tie and save the environment. Japan swapped suits for open collars one summer, as offices eased up on arctic-level air conditioning. The result? The country cut an estimated 79,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

Airing your not-so-dirty laundry can also make an impact. Over a lifetime of laundering, one T-shirt can send 9 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air. But if you use warm water instead of hot water and hang your clothing on a clothesline, you'll cut the carbon dioxide by 90 percent.

Flip your fleece. Outdoor outfitter Patagonia will recycle any of your old fleece, which they melt to make new fabric and clothes.

Remember to switch off your computer. Don't just use a screensaver, which doesn't save energy. Shutting off your computer will reduce its carbon emissions by 83 percent.

Answer correctly next time you're asked, "Paper or plastic?" Choose neither. Plastic bags take 1,000 years to bio-degrade in landfills. Bring your own cloth bag instead.

Think small. Jay Shafer lives in a 100-square-foot home in Northern California. His bathroom, he says proudly, is actually his shower. You don't have to live like a hobbit, but just move out of the McMansion because a smaller home means a smaller energy bill. Consider a move to the city. Believe it or not, per person, New York City, the Big Apple, is green. Sprawl is not an option and parking is impossible, so we build up and do a lot of walking. Sometimes, reducing your carbon footprint can cause blisters, but experts say we're making great strides.

"Everyone is now aware of the environment; it's on the agenda of every state of the world and that's cause for optimism, " said Wade Davis, explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society.

And if you need more inspiration, consider the scene off the coast of Cape Cod today, where you'll find the greatest concentration of the North Atlantic Right whales seen in more than 20 years. They are endangered, 50-ton reminders of how dazzling and delicate the Earth can be.