Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
There are many actions you can take to reduce your carbon footprint, which can be as easy as
purchasing efficient light bulbs, or as involved as committing to commute by bike for a year.
The following list of simple actions will help families reduce their carbon emissions. Chances
are you're already doing some of these!
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- Carpool, ride your bike, take the bus
- Combine errands by car, reduce unnecessary trips
- Hang clothes instead of using the dryer
- Buy locally produced or grown products
- Keep your vehicle's tire pressure at correct level
- Use Energy Star products
- Be more efficient in your use of water
- Reduce trash, compost your waste, recycle
- Remove your name from unwanted catalogs
- Volunteer for a work day in your community to help parks or local forests.
- Talk to your friends and neighbors.
It can be easy to dismiss these actions as too small to make a difference, but that's simply not
true.
- If every family in the U.S. switched 5 incandescent bulbs to energy star labelled bulbs, it would prevent the greenhouse gas equivalent of 10 million cars [1].
- If 20% of American households switched to electronic billing, payments, and statements, 1.8 million trees would be left standing in our forests [2].
- If an average family of four recycled all of its mixed-plastic waste each year, they would
prevent 340 pounds of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere [3]. Imagine if every family
recycled!
Learn More About the Actions You Can Take
How Forests Reduce Carbon
National Forests Help Our Planet
Our country's 193-million-acre National Forest System plays an important and positive role in offsetting carbon emissions.
Our National Forests provide benefits to many Americans, including clean water and air. The millions of acres of trees growing on National Forests help absorb carbon dioxide. Forests, lakes, waterways, and snowy mountain ranges help keep regions cooler, but maximizing the positive effects of our National Forests depends on healthy forests.
Through our granting programs, the National Forest Foundation supports hundreds of projects that improve the health of our National Forests. These on-the-ground conservation projects help restore watersheds and wildlife habitat, reduce risk of catastrophic wildfire, plant trees and vegetation in burned and damaged areas, eradicate non-native species, and improve recreation.
The Carbon Capital Fund
Check out your results from the Carbon Calculator. How does your carbon
footprint compare to that of the average American? Each of us can take actions to help reduce our
carbon emissions. You can offset your individual carbon footprint by contributing to the National
Forest Foundation's Carbon Capital Fund. The
Fund supports reforestation
projects on U.S. Forest Service land, which are designed specifically to offset carbon
dioxide emissions in our environment. These projects also provide a host of benefits like clean
air and water, improved wildlife habitat, and better recreation opportunities.