Here in the Northwest the legend of Bigfoot runs rampant. The nearly 100-year old story is actually repeated on many continents with different names.

Now there’s a new kind of footprint, and I think we should call it “The Story of Smallfoot”, since it’s not a legend of lore, but reality. This new footprint should be smaller than a human’s, instead of the size of Sasquatch’s foot. Your “carbon footprint”, according to Wikipedia: “is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide or CO2 emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels; in the case of an individual or household, as part of their daily lives;

A carbon footprint is often expressed as tons of carbon dioxide or tons of carbon emitted, usually on a yearly basis. There are many versions of calculators available for carbon footprinting.
This is directly related to the amount of natural resources consumed, increasingly used or referred to as a measure of environmental impact. Carbon dioxide is recognized as a greenhouse gas, of which increasing levels in the atmosphere are linked to global warming and climate change.”

There wasa great personal story in the Seattle Times today that I enjoyed and appreciated. I recycle and try to reuse things, too, but I admit not to the extent of this family. Read Simple Steps Reduce Carbon Footprints

Can you think of 3 ways to reduce your carbon footprint, today?

I can…

1. Try to buy more bulk foods, so I can use reusable containers and use less packaging, that ends up in the recycle bin, but it would be better to not have used it at all
2. Plant a garden to grow salad and other vegetables. It is hard for me to commit to this, this year, since I will be moving at the end of August – but I can dig up my plants and take them with me to start my deck container garden at the new place.
3. Public transportation is real difficult for me. But I have started parking in a central location and walking to a bunch of different shops at once, for exercise and also to save the gas/hassle of parking in different spots. Last Thursday I had a massage appointment and I also need to go to a pet store, so I parked at the pet store, walked 10-12 blocks to my appt., then walked back and did my shopping (I had Sophia with me so we got some good exercise!). It only took about 15 minutes each way and I got my walk in for the day. I am going to try to do that sort of thing more often.