The thought of actually having to do something makes you want to stop in your tracks?  No worries, just take your next free 5 minutes to help get you on your way.

1.  Sign up for paperless statements from your bank, your insurance, your utilities, etc.

2.  Set up your online banking account to pay your bills online.  Not only do you save time and money (no stamp!), but paper, ghg emissions (remember, that bill travels by truck), water to that used to make the paper, etc.

3.  Gather up that big wad of plastic grocery bags that you know you’ll never get to the bottom of, no matter how many you use for trash, your lunch , etc.  Then, go put them in your car.  How many times have you walked into the grocery store, seen that bin where you can leave your plastic bags, and thought to yourself, “gee, I should have brought my bags but I always forget!”  If you forget them in your car when you go in, then turn around, and get them.  This may be two 5 minute segments for some people, but the decluttering also feels good!

4.  Take 3 or 4 paper bags with handles, fold them up and put them in your car.  Why all the bags in the car?  Well, this is for when you go to the grocery store, think to yourself, “I should have brought my own bag instead of having to get more.”  Of course, the bags could also be string bags, cloth bags, etc.

5.  Get up out of your chair, and check your thermostats in your house.  Turn them down, even by only 2 degrees.  Check for drafts.  Check the temperature of your hot water heater.  This may take you two 5 minute segments, but every little bit does help.

It’s very easy for all of us to fall into the trap of “what difference will just one person make?”  Well, according to new statistics out by McKinsey & Co. (yes, that McKinsey…and these guys don’t fool around), American consumers have direct or indirect control over 65% of the country’s ghg emissions. 65%!!! (please note that the figure is 43% for the rest of the world).  This requires a major shift in perception, given that we have all been told that the biggest gains in cutting emissions would have to come from the industry sector.

Well, we could go into the fact that the US has 5% of the world’s population and burns 23% of the world’s oil, but that’s a downward spiralling conversation.  Instead, how about we look at the areas we have direct control over…

• Cars – 17% of U.S. ghg emissions come from passenger cars.  To make a difference in this area you could drive a more fuel efficient car, and/or drive less.
• Air travel – 2% of US emissions.  To make a difference you could fly less.
• Housing and appliances – 17% of emissions.  To make a difference here, you could make sure your house is well insulated, lower your thermostat, use energy efficient appliances, live in a smaller dwelling…

I have to say when I looked at the areas where individual consumers have “indirect” control, it all comes down to looking for alternatives.  These are areas like sea transportation (1%), agricultural and livestock emissions (2%), landfill emissions (3%), commercial vehicles (9%), and commercial buildings and appliances (14%).

What kind of alternatives am I thinking about?

• Buy locally
• Buy from smaller stores, not big box retailers
• Eat less meat
• Buy American made products
• Be careful about what you throw away
• Support businesses that are creating green initiatives

The sticking point, one has to grapple with, is that you’re not always going to save green to be green…

Special thanks to Jeff Ball at the WSJ for writing “A Big Sum of Small Differences,” 2 Oct.2008 which brought this to my attention.