Amidst all the crazy rumors swirling around about global warming, one thing’s for sure: you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that the environment is struggling (whether you believe in global warming or not). It’s obvious in the plastic swirling in our oceans, it’s obvious when yet another acre of trees is demolished to make room for that new resort plastered all over the news… shall I go on? Our wasteful, oblivious lifestyle has threatened countless animal and plant species. Eventually, we will threaten our own.

Yeah Yeah, I know. “Not in my lifetime.” Well, it may not cause problems directly in your lifetime. (Unless it was on your bucket list to dive on an unbleached Great Barrier Reef or actually see the Amazon Rainforest - not just read about it in textbooks.) But hey, you really wanted to save money and not buy a 99 cent reusable grocery bag, that’s worth it.

Sometimes, it’s hard to find common ground in which people can understand just how serious the well-being of our environment is. Someone once explained it to me like this: Imagine your home. You keep it clean and sanitary (at least I hope you do). Now imagine someone coming into your house and leaving a plastic water bottle on your kitchen table. Every time they visit. Eventually it gets to the point where you can’t even see the floor through the sea of plastic. That would be horrible.

Well, that’s what’s happening to our planet and believe it or not, our planet is your home too. So, you shouldn’t let people trash your home. Just because you can’t see the effects as obviously as you would within the confines of your personal residence, doesn’t mean that they’re made up. This isn’t something we should be ignoring because, eventually, the damage will be irreversible.

Alright, enough with the heavy. Since I have been trying to live a more “green” lifestyle since before I can remember, here’s a few of the extremely easy changes you can make in your daily routine to reduce your carbon footprint.

1. STOP Using Plastic Straws

Whether you use them in a restaurant, at home, anywhere really. Besides, it would probably be cheaper to buy a pack of reusable straws that you could wash and use over and over and over. And if saving a few bucks isn’t enough, just think of how many sea turtles you’re saving.

*warning* this video isn’t for the faint hearted, its graphic:

2. Buy Reusable Grocery Bags

C’mon. They’re less than a dollar. Plus, a lot of major grocery store chains have begun to charge around 5 cents per bag for single-use plastic grocery bags. Major kudos to them. Before you start to complain, I recently read a news article about a sperm whale that washed up dead on the beach. An autopsy revealed that the whale's cause of death was too much-ingested plastic. It’s a small sacrifice to make, really.

3. Get a Reusable Water Bottle

Not only is this motivation to stay hydrated, you decrease the consumption of wasteful plastic bottles that end up sitting in a landfill unable to biodegrade. Plus, you can put artsy and personalized stickers all over them (it’s a trend). They’re also more cost-efficient since ya know, you won’t have to buy a case of water every week.

I could go on and on listing all the things you could tweak to do your part in saving the environment. It may not seem like you’re doing a lot. It may seem like your efforts are worthless, but they’re not. Imagine if no one stepped forward to help, only then there would be no progress. Every effort whether it be massive or individual helps. Do your part, however, you can. Trust me, it’s a big step in the right direction.