Forget what Kermit said. It IS easy being green!

There is a common misconception that switching to a greener lifestyle requires a great deal of sacrifice, but making small changes to reduce your consumption and decrease your carbon footprint is easy. In fact, there are several things you can RIGHT NOW to decrease your impact on the environment. Read on for a brief list of painless steps to a greener you.

1. Unplug your cell phone/iPod/ PDA/ laptop charger when it isn’t in use. Surprisingly enough, these little power cords suck up energy just by sitting there.

2. Turn off your screensaver. The flying ribbons and hypnotic pipes were developed to extend the lifespan of monochrome monitors, which are not obsolete. Your swanky new machine is much less likely to experience the image “burn in” to which old machines fell prey. Better yet, just turn off your monitor altogether or adjust your power settings to enable hibernation or sleep mode when the computer is idle.

3. Change your light bulbs. Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) use about 75% less energy and last much longer than incandescent bulbs. http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls

4. Make your home cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer. Adjusting your thermostat down 2o in the winter and up 2o in the summer will save about a ton of carbon dioxide each year—not to mention the money you’ll save on your heating and cooling bills.

5. Cover your pots and pans while cooking. Trapping heat in the dish decreases cooking time and saves energy.

6. Sing in the shower, not the bath. The average bath uses 30-50 gallons of water, while the average 4-minute shower uses 20 gallons of water. Don’t believe there is much of difference? Stop the drain while you take a shower and compare the water level to that of your usual bath.

7. Take shorter showers.

8. Use a clothesline. Mother Nature can dry your laundry just as effectively as your dryer, and she even gives your clothes that fresh, sunny scent without the help of dryer sheets.

9. Recycle. Enough said.

10. Invest in a reusable water bottle instead of buying bottled water. You’ll reduce plastic waste and save money. http://www.kleankanteen.com/

11. Don’t brown-bag it. Pull your old lunch box/bag out of storage and use it to pack your lunches instead of plastic or paper bags. I find that my lunch sack from middle school with the multicolored frogs on it is an excellent conversation starter at work.

12. Buy locally grown foods. If your fruits and vegetables have crossed more state lines than you did on your post-college road trip, there is a problem. Buying locally reduces fuel consumption and stimulates the community economy.

13. Snag a reusable grocery bag. Most major food markets have jumped on the reusable bag bandwagon so it’s easy to pick up one or four when you’re checking out. Using these bags eliminates the need for plastic grocery bags, which end up in trees and streams too frequently. Bonus points if you can find one made of organic materials.

14. Walk, bike, carpool, or take mass transit on your daily commute. Cars run on gasoline and emit carbon, so the fewer miles you drive, the better—especially now that you have to take out a loan to buy gas.

15. Take the Good Neighbor Pledge and make a promise to help stop global warming. See the National Wildlife Federation’s website for more information: http://www.nwf.org/goodneighbor/pledge.cfm