Do your part to reduce waste by choosing reusable products instead of disposables. Whenever you can, recycle paper, plastic, newspaper, glass and aluminum cans. If there isn’t a recycling program at your workplace, school, or in your community, ask about starting one.

Wherever practical, replace regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. CFLs also last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, use two-thirds less energy, and give off 70 percent less heat.

Less driving means fewer emissions. Besides, saving gasoline, walking and biking are great forms of exercise. Explore your community’s mass transit system, and check out options for carpooling to work or school. When you do drive, make sure car is running efficiently. For example, keeping your tires properly inflated can improve your gas mileage by more than 3 percent.

When it’s time to buy a new car, choose one that offers good gas mileage. Home appliances now come in a range of energy-efficient models, and compact florescent bulbs are designed to provide more natural-looking light while using far less energy than standard light bulbs.

Avoid products that come with excess packaging, especially molded plastic and other packaging that can’t be recycled.

Set your water heater at 120 degrees to save energy, and wrap it in an insulating blanket if it is more than 5 years old. Buy low-flow showerheads to save hot water and about 350 pounds of carbon dioxide yearly. Wash your clothes in warm or cold water to reduce your use of hot water and the energy required to produce it.

Save electricity and reduce global warming by turning off lights when you leave a room, and using only as much lights as you need. And remember to turn off your television, video player, stereo and computer when you’re not using them. It’s also a good idea to turn off the water when you’re not using them. While brushing your teeth, shampooing the dog or washing your car, turn off the water until you actually need it for rinsing. You’ll reduce your water bill and help to conserve a vital resource.

Don’t burn garbage. This releases carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons into the atmosphere. Cut down on your garbage-but fewer packaged materials to prevent further global warming.

If you have the means to plant a tree, start digging. During photosynthesis, trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. They are an integral part of the natural atmospheric exchange cycle here on Earth, but there are too few of them to fully counter the increases in carbon dioxide caused by automobile traffic, manufacturing and other human activities. A single tree will absorb approximately one ton of carbon dioxide during its lifetime.

Share information about recycling and energy conservation with your friends, neighbors and co-workers, and take opportunities to encourage public officials to establish programs and policies that are good for the environment. Conservation, substitution alternative energy sources, recycling, sequestration of carbon, transportation alternatives, and generally promoting wider awareness of the threats that global warming and pollution represent to us.