How Green Are You?

Check out Real Simple's carbon facts to see exactly how your (small) actions can make a (big) difference. Five things you can do right now -

Action: Recycle aluminum cans and steel cans

Why it's worth it: Recycling cans directs valuable metal into new products, saving 95% of the energy required to manufacture aluminum from scratch and 74% to make steel.

Year one effect: 414 pounds of CO2 saved.

The effect if everyone in the US did it for one year: equal to 3,934,118 non-hybrid cars taken off the road for a year.

Action: Recycle newspapers and magazines

Why it's worth it: Americans throw away more paper than any other kind of trash. Recycling the pounds of magazines and newspapers not only saves trees but also reduces contributions to air pollution by 95%.

Year one effect: 581 pounds of CO2 saved.

The effect if everyone in the US did it for one year: equal to 5,511,566 non-hybrid cars taken off the road for a year.

Action: Wash laundry on a cooler setting

Why it's worth it: About 90% of the energy used to wash clothes goes to heating the water. Assuming you already wash half your laundry in cold, moving the other half from hot to warm can save a substantial amount of energy.

Year one effect: 349 pounds of CO2 saved.

The effect if everyone in the US did it for one year: equal to 3,316,442 non-hybrid cards taken off the road for a year.

Action: Switch 5 light bulbs to Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs

Why it's worth it: A 25-watt CFL provides the same amount of light as a 75-watt incandescent. CFLs use a third the energy and last 10 times longer. Switching could save about $400 over the CFLs lifetime.

Year one effect: 500 pounds of CO2 saved.

The effect if everyone in the US did it for one year: equal to 4,751,350 non-hybrid cars taken off the road for a year.

Action: Compost a fifth of your garbage

Why it's worth it: Putting less trash on the curb reduces the amount of fuel required to haul it away. Plus, composting food scraps like apple cores keeps them out of landfills where they break down to release a potent greenhouse gas.

Year one effect: 832 pounds of CO2 saved.

The effect if everyone in the US did it for one year: equal to 7,906,246 non-hybrid cars taken off the road for a year.

Next up: 5 more ways to save some CO2