In case you haven’t noticed, this world is physically falling apart and climate change is real. If you haven’t already started trying to do your part, maybe now’s a good time to do it. Here are a few practical ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

 

Utilize Public Transit, or Carpool

Let’s be honest, having a car in Hudson County is practically a nightmare because finding parking is nearly impossible. Public transportation is the best way to get from place to place, especially in Jersey City where we have trains, light rails, and buses. NJ Transit is not necessarily the best, but it gets the job done. You can also carpool, if you and your coworkers/friends/classmates live near each other.

Reduce Water Use

We all hear this tip and try this for maybe a day before completely giving up on it, and with winter practically popping up a month early, those warm showers are too easy to give up. Maybe start slower with less water use and reduce your shower time little by little, or don’t let the water run when you brush your teeth.

Use Reusable Shopping Bags 

All of those plastic bags that get caught in trees or just dumped in the trash add up. Skip the plastic bags and opt for some reusable shopping bags. They hold more groceries, last longer than a plastic bag, and most supermarkets sell each bag for a dollar. If you’d rather not spend money on bags, you can just …

Reuse and Recycle

I live in a household where we have one plastic bag filled with other plastic bags. At the very least, reuse and recycle the plastic bags. You can also buy reusable water bottles to reduce the amount of plastic you waste per bottle, or at least reuse and recycle your plastic water bottles.

Go Paperless

If you own a laptop or phone, try going paperless for your bills. This way, you don’t have to worry about wasting paper! Some businesses actually waive certain fees if you go paperless, so definitely look into that with any bank, phone, or cable company you use.

Buy Local Groceries

Buying from supermarkets is cheaper. I won’t lie, I typically just go to ShopRite or ACME for groceries because I can get everything all at once for a cheap price. My family goes to local supermarkets, bodegas, fruteros, etc. for their foods and their items are (for the most part) local. Of course, you can also try out farmers markets (there are plenty in Jersey City).

Be Less Wasteful of Food

According to the USDA, food waste is approximately 30-40 percent of the food supply in this country. This all goes to landfills and generates methane. You can try to waste less food by either eating saving the food you don’t eat and eating food before it goes bad, or try cooking/buying smaller quantities of food.

Unplug What Isn’t Being Used

Electronics waste energy. There’s no need to keep a laptop charger plugged in all day every day when it’s not being used. Unplug the extension cord that has nothing attached to it, unplug the printer that hasn’t been used in weeks, and unplug the kitchen appliances that are barely touched.

Turn Off the Lights

If no one’s in the room, nothing is being used, and there’s no reason for the light to be on, turn it off. This saves energy in the home and could bring down your PSE&G bill. We all win here.

 

Don’t Litter

I saved the easiest one for last – don’t throw your trash on the ground. That’s it. There are garbage cans on almost every corner in Hudson County. Properly disposing of trash saves us the frustration of having junk in our sewage systems, which clogs everything up and leads to the flooding we see every time it rains.

 

There are other long-term ways to reduce your carbon footprint, including eating less meat, but that possibility varies per person. The tips listed above are generally easy to follow, so why not give at least one of them a try?