
Ask HN: How to change lifestyle to reduce negative environmental footprint? - Eugeleo
I&#x27;m a student and would like to work towards more environment-friendly lifestyle. There are currently two problems with this:<p>1. There&#x27;s a whole market built around overpriced &quot;vegan&quot; goods, bamboo toothbrushes, etc., everybody saying their product is _the_ one that will save the world.<p>2. There&#x27;s a lot of contradictory info; e.g. somebody saying that paper bags in markets are a great move, while others are pointing out that the production of said bags is x times worse than that of plastic bags when it comes to carbon footprint.<p>I don&#x27;t know who to believe, and there&#x27;s nobody I know who is well informed on these issues. But maybe somebody here could help me build a list of things&#x2F;actions (or share his&#x2F;her own) that help to reduce one&#x27;s carbon footprint or to preserve the environment in other way. I&#x27;m sure many people here care about these issues and try to fight them, and thus are better informed than my peers.<p>(e.g. 1. Don&#x27;t use car for &lt;5km rides 2. Don&#x27;t use plastic bags when buying fruit, use reusable linen ones instead 3. ... )
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cimmanom
Some of the big ones go against the grain of the American suburban ethos:

Live somewhere where you don’t have to drive at all.

Don’t fly on airplanes.

Choose multi-family housing with central heating and air, the larger the
building the better (both because larger heating/AC systems are more efficient
and because the lower surface area to volume ratio helps reduce loss).
Minimize your use of heat/AC and hot water.

Purchase only produce grown locally (shipping produce is very carbon-
inefficient).

Buy less stuff overall.

