I have calculated my personal carbon footprint to be about 3 tons per year. The national average is about 7.5 tons per year. In an effort to lower my footprint to neutral I have set forth a personal plan of action.

I will reduce my driving miles and start saving for a more fuel efficient or hybrid car. Changing the lighting in my house and office to compact fluorescent lighting and lowering my thermostats will make further reductions of my CO2 output. I am in the process of making arrangements for three trees a year to be planted to offset my carbon footprint; this move alone would greatly help make me carbon neutral since tress absorb 1 ton of carbon over their lifetime. I have a head start on outputting carbon but I will only live 30 more years or so and the trees will be able to keep absorbing my mess after I’m gone.

These steps are easy to do and will not effect my lifestyle to any great extent. There is nothing new about these steps either, which proves that we all know what we could do on a daily basis to contribute to the lowering of carbon emissions. The next step is to explore what new technologies or personal habits I could employ to become personally neutral.

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