One of the terms that is bandied about a lot recently is Carbon Footprint. A person's carbon footprint is the amount of CO2 they are responsible for producing each year. If you intend to live a more sustainable life then reducing your carbon footprint is a good way to measure that. The first question to answer is "What is my carbon footprint." Thanks to the wonders of the Internet CarbonFootprint.com can help you measure your CO2 output.

Paper or Plastic? I'm asked that simple question about once a week and I now have a better answer - Canvas. I've known for a while that neither paper or plastic is a great shopping bag choice. Paper bags, as they are currently produced in the U.S., require cutting down about 14 million trees each year. The 30 billion plastic bags Americans use each year require 12 million barrels of crude oil for their manufacture. Why not short-circuit the debate between the lesser of the two evils and use a canvas bag?

When I first moved into my home the front and back yards were a mess. Other than (thankfully) a few trees, both the front and back yards were barren. My new home featured a landscape of bare dirt, rocks and a few weeds. The realtor offered to get the seller to pay for a load of gravel to spread in the front yard, but I said no. Crazy? Perhaps. I just can't stand gravel-scaping in lieu of actual plants. So, instead of covering up the problem, I started planning a native and xeric landscape around my home.

That's the proposition from the folks at the New Belgium Brewery (makers of Fat Tire Ale). If you will donate your car, sign over the title to a charity, and give it away completely ... the New Belgium Brewery will give you a custom-fitted commuter bike. Wow! Now you have to commit to riding the bike (and not driving a car) for a full year, submit a video or letter application, but that's about it. If you're ready to give up your car completely go to FollowYourFolly.com and go to the Bike Trade section of the website for more info.

Buy it once and make it last.

I like to save money. That's not unusual, but my desire to be frugal can lead to being cheap. Unfortunately, being cheap leads to spending more money, because cheap items often don't work well or last long. I seem to have this cheap/frugal problem any time I have to choose between two or more widgets in a store. When I look at a range of items, I tend towards the lowest price. I should know by now that the cheapest item can become the most expensive item in the long run.

I am in the process of establishing a native grass (buffalo and blue grama) lawn in part of my backyard. Beyond the weeding of undesired plants and occasional watering I have been reintroduced to mowing after several years. Because I'm working to reduce my ecological impact I decided to go with a Reel (not "real") Push Mower. As I am the power for this mower it needs no fuel (other than a good breakfast for me) or electricity to run. Well, after a few weeks of mowing I can tell you about the pros and cons of using a reel push mower.