How do I reduce my carbon footprint? Mine is probably at 16 inches?

Question

I always find myself throwing stuff away. My family makes like 1 big trash bag full of garbage a day.

Answer 1

Encourage your family to buy in bulk. This cuts down on packaging and is usually cheaper too. Invest in airtight storage containers so that the bulk bought items can be stored in them and stay reasonably fresh.

Most packaging I find comes from take-aways and junk food so perhaps reduce the amount of this you are eating. Don't buy food that has too much packaging.

If you're throwing food away then perhaps you are preparing too much at once and think if any of it can be given to the birds to eat or if any can be buried in the garden where it will become part of the soil.

Answer 2

the best thing to do is to start incorporating small changes into your daily routine so you don't have a drastic lifestyle change.  It won't seem like such a huge difference (unless you know you're 100% committed to sticking to it).

Some little things you could change now:

take shorter showers -- saves water and the resources used by your hot water heater to sustain your lengthly shower

turn down the thermostat -- even by a degree or two, you probably won't feel a big difference, but you'll be saving energy 24 hours a day

opt to walk or bike & carpool or use public transportation whenever possible -- this reduces (or eliminates if you're walking!) carbon emissions

turn off lights & electronics when you leave the room.  turn off stuff after others too.

unplug your phone as soon as it's done charging, or try to charge its battery in your car if you're in there anyway

down the road, here's some stuff you can encourage family to do:

don't run the dishwasher or washing machine until the load is full -- it'll reduce the number of cycles you'll run overall, which cuts down on electrical and water consumption

make lists when you go shopping -- try to get all your items in one trip instead of making multiple trips

defrost the freezer regularly -- it takes less energy to cool a defrosted freezer

change incandescent light bulbs to low-energy fluorescent ones

turn down the maximum temp on your hot water heater -- how often do you use scalding tap water anyway??

this is just a start.  there's a bunch of ways to reduce your footprint.  hopefully this gets you started, but a little google goes a long way for suggestions!