In this day and age, with the avalanche of information about climate change and carbon emissions, there is really no excuse not to be taking steps to go green. In this issue, more than most – every little bit helps. And you don’t even have to make huge life altering changes; just a few small steps go a long way towards helping Mother Earth.

Tank it
Put a bottle filled with water or pebbles in your toilet tank. This can help save an average of ten gallons a day per home.

Embrace the sun
Invest in a solar powered charger for your handphone or iPod. The chargers, which come in all shapes and sizes, are pretty pricey but well worth the investment. Available locally from Helvita Solutions (03 2289 0643/www.helvitasolutions.com) and Muvtech Engineering And Supplies (017 873 8027), these chargers store energy from the sun until you need it. Or, if you want to splurge a little more, check out the solar bags from Reware (www.rewarestore.com), that are made from recycled plastic and can charge various small electronic devices.

Take your temperature
Do you really need the air conditioning on all the time? Suck it up and embrace the heat once in awhile. Or if you can’t, then just adjust the temperature by a few degrees. The same goes for your fridge, freezer and water heater. Plus, cold showers help your circulation and relieve early morning ‘excitement’.

Don’t be trashy
Do as much online as possible to avoid wasting paper. Pay bills, shop, keep your accounts and personal details in check as well as so much more online. Some companies deal with you online and offer bill-less options; DiGi and Celcom even have discounts for those who use e-billing. Give them a call and check. Also, try to BYOB (bring your own bag) and tupperware as much as is humanly possible to avoid waste. Check out Ultra (www.weareultra.com) and Tiny Tapir (Bangsar Village 1/Ampang Park/www.tinytapir.com) for chic and eco-friendly bag options, or just reuse pretty paper bags.

Stop washing your car
Washing cars by hand wastes huge amounts of water (up to 100 gallons). So save your car washing for when it rains (in this country, you really don’t have to wait long) or take your car to an automatic carwash, which uses less than half the amount of water in comparison (and you save time).

Don’t dispose, donate
Instead of throwing away unwanted items, try seeing if they can be salvaged. Make old clothes into distressed pieces, use them in arts and crafts projects, sell them at a flea market, donate them to charities or visit freecycle.org, and give them (and literally anything unwanted) away for free. Or if you want to recycle, check out the Community Recycling Centres available at certain Jusco Centres (Bukit Raja/Cheras Selatan/Alpha Angle/Taman Maluri/www.jusco.com.my) where they sometimes even pay for the recyclables.