You may not be able to reduce global warming, end pollution and save endangered species single-handedly, but by choosing to live an earth-friendly lifestyle you can do a lot every day to help achieve those goals.

And by making wise choices about how you live, and the amount of energy and natural resources you consume, you send a clear message to businesses, politicians and government agencies that value you as a customer, constituent and citizen.

Here are five simple things you can do—in 30 minutes or less—to help protect the environment and save Planet Earth.

Drive Less, Drive Smart
Every time you leave your car at home you reduce air pollution, lower , improve your health and save money.

Walk or ride a bicycle for short trips, or take public transportation for longer ones. In 30 minutes, most people can easily walk a mile or more, and you can cover even more ground on a bicycle, bus, subway or commuter train. Research has shown that people who use public transportation are healthier than those who don’t. Families that use public transportation can save enough money annually to cover their food costs for the year.

When you do drive, take the few minutes needed to make sure your engine is well maintained and your tires properly inflated.

Eat Your Vegetables
Eating less meat and more fruits, grains and vegetables can help the environment more than you may realize. Eating meat, eggs and dairy products contributes heavily to global warming, because raising animals for food produces many more greenhouse gas emissions than growing plants. A 2006 report by the University of Chicago found that adopting a vegan diet does more to reduce global warming than switching to a hybrid car.

Raising animals for food also uses enormous amounts of land, water, grain and fuel. Every year in the United States alone, 80 percent of all agricultural land, half of all water resources, 70 percent of all grain, and one-third of all fossil fuels are used to raise animals for food.

Making a salad doesn’t take any more time than cooking a hamburger and it’s better for you—and for the environment.

Switch to Reusable Shopping Bags Producing plastic bagslitter uses a lot of natural resources, and most end up as that fouls landscapes, clogs waterways, and kills thousands of marine mammals that mistake the ubiquitous bags for food. Worldwide, up to a trillion plastic bags are used and discarded every year—more than a million per minute. The count for paper bags is lower, but the cost in natural resources is still unacceptably high—especially when there is a better alternative.

Reusable shopping bags, made of materials that don’t harm the environment during production and don’t need to be discarded after each use, reduce pollution and save resources that could be put to better uses than making plastic and paper bags. Reusable bags are convenient and come in a variety of sizes and styles. Some reusable bags can even be rolled or folded small enough to fit into a purse or pocket.

Change Your Light Bulbs
Compact fluorescent light bulbs and light-emitting diodesThomas Edison. For example, compact fluorescent light bulbs use at least two-thirds less energy than standard incandescent bulbs to provide the same amount of light, and they last up to 10 times longer. Compact fluorescent light bulbs also generate 70 percent less heat, so they are safer to operate and can reduce energy costs associated with cooling homes and offices. (LEDs) are more energy efficient and less expensive to use than the traditional incandescent bulbs invented by

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, if every U.S. household replaced just one regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, it would prevent 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the equivalent of taking 7.5 million cars off the road. On top of that, for every incandescent bulb you replace with an approved compact fluorescent light bulb, you will save consumers $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb.

Pay Your Bills Online
Many banks, utilities and other businesses now offer their customers the option of paying bills online, eliminating the need to write and mail paper checks or to keep paper records. By paying your bills online you can save time and money, lower the administrative costs of companies with which you do business, and reduce global warming by helping to prevent deforestation.

Signing up for online bill paying is easy and doesn’t take much time. You can either choose to have certain bills paid automatically each month or elect to review and pay each bill yourself. Either way, you will receive outstanding returns on your small investment of time.

你单枪匹马可能无法减少全球变暖,制止污染,拯救濒临灭绝的物种,但你可以采取一种对地球有利的生活方式,每天做大量的拯救工作来实现目标。

而且,通过明智地选择生活方式,有节制地消耗能量和自然资源,如你可以发清洁短信给视你为顾客、选民和公民的商人、政客以及政府机构。

以下就列举出简单可行的五招,有助于你在30分钟内保护环境拯救我们的星球-地球。

少驾车、巧驾车

每次只要你不驾车出门就可以减少空气污染;而且可以改善你的健康还为你省钱。

短距离出行你可以步行或骑自行车;长距离的话就可搭乘公共交通工具。30分钟内,大多数人是可以轻而易举地步行一英里甚至更多;骑自行车,搭乘巴士、地铁或往返列车的话就可相应地跑得更远了。研究发现选择公共交通的人群比自驾车的人群更健康。搭乘公共交通的家庭每年节省下来的钱足够支付他们一整年的食物。

一旦你确需驾车的话,请务必花几分钟检测一下引擎确保它能正常运作,轮胎充气也要恰到好处。

常食蔬菜
少吃肉多吃水果、谷物和蔬菜会出乎你所料地有利于环境。食肉、蛋和乳制品都会加剧全球变暖,因为饲养肉食动物比栽种植物释放出的温室气体多得多。2006年芝加哥大学所做的一项报告显示素菜饮食比转而驾用混合动力车更能减少全球变暖。
饲养肉食动物也需占据大量土地,消耗大量水、谷物和燃料!每年仅在美国,肉食动物饲养占地就达总农业用地的80%,耗水达到总水资源的50%,吃掉总谷物的70%并消耗总化石燃料的1/3。
拼一盘沙拉所需时间不再比做一份汉堡长,但前者更有利于健康且也有利于环境。

改用可重复使用的收购物袋
生产塑料胶袋需要消耗大量自然资源且大多数胶袋用完之后随处乱扔以致污染景观、堵塞下水道,将无处不在的胶袋误以为食物的成千上万海洋哺乳动物也难逃死劫。全世界每年使用之后被丢弃的胶带多达一兆亿个(即100多万个/分钟)。纸袋价值较低,但自然资源的成本仍高的让人无法接受,尤其当出现更好的替代物时它们的成本就会高之又高了。

更换灯泡
压缩荧光灯灯泡和LED灯灯泡。比如,压缩荧光灯灯泡与标准的白炽灯泡,前者只需2/3的能量就可以产生同样量的光且寿命是后者的10倍,所产生的热量也只有后者的70%,因而操作更安全,也可降低与冷却房屋和办公室有关的能量成本。据《有关科学家联盟》提议,如果全美每个家庭仅换掉一个标准的白炽灯泡而改用压缩荧光灯灯泡,发电站将可能减少释放900亿磅温室气体,相当于750万辆轿车不上路。另外,你用获准的压缩荧光灯灯泡替换每个白炽灯灯泡的话,在一个灯泡的有效寿命期内,你将为消费者节约$30的能量成本。