No, I’m not an environmentalist, a member of PETA, or a hippy. I’m not completely jumping on the trendy earth-friendly bandwagon either but there are just a few changes that I’ve made in the past year that make me feel like I’m doing my part to lower the negative impact I have on our planet.

Bye Bye Bottled Water
Bottled water may be convenient but those stupid little bottles take up valuable space in my garbage can, litter the land-fills and our oceans, and leak more dollars from my wallet than necessary. Since bottled water is just bottled tap water that costs 1000 times more than what comes out of my kitchen faucet, I can live without it. Instead, I bought one of those uber-cute aluminum water bottles and a Brita water filter pitcher and now I’ve got cold, clean water in my fridge all the time!

Be sure to get an aluminum water bottle and not plastic so you won’t have to worry about the controversial BPA cancer link associated with plastic bottles. And don’t drink water from a plastic bottle that’s been sitting in your hot car! It’s not worth the carcinogen risk.

I’ve Stopped Eating Meat
I know most of you love ya some meat and I won’t tell you to stop eating it entirely but you may think about cutting back on your meat consumption. According to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, it is estimated that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation! Get this - Studies done by the University of Chicago reveal that if we Americans reduced our meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan to the hybrid Prius!

So if you cut out meat and substitute it with another protein source like beans or fish just one or two days a week, not only will you be doing your family’s health a favor, you’ll be helping the environment too!

Buy Cute Reusable Bags
I picked up two really cute canvas bags from Ikea for $1.50 each that I usually keep by the front door or in the car. I love taking them with me into the grocery store and telling the “paper or plastic” guy to fill up my super chic pink tote instead! Those plastic bags are ridiculous! All of America should take a lesson from Seattle and start charging 25 cents each for those things! I can’t stand how they float around in my harbor and cling to the chain link fences at my kid’s school. The least you can all do is tell the bag boy to give you a paper bag instead of the plastic.

Eat Organic Whenever Possible
If I have a choice, I will spend the extra couple of dollars and buy the food that hasn’t been doused with poison, thank you. Look at all the people in this world who have cancer. It’s no wonder! You can’t expect to eat chemicals strong enough to make a bug croak and not have a reaction. Would you spray your family’s food with Raid? Of course not. Stop being so cheap people! How can you justify spending $5 at Starbucks and not spend that same $5 at the grocery store each week to buy only organic fruits and veggies?

Now like I said, I’m no environmentalist and I still insist on driving a big, gas guzzling SUV. Believe me, I have downsized to a smaller car only to trade it in a year later complaining that the thing is just too darned small for my family of tall people and football gear. But these are little things that I definitely can live with and I’m willing to make small changes that will help our planet and make me less of a environmental moron.

Feel free to share some of your easy, environmentally friendly tips in our comments section below!