Today is Earth Day, but with the looming recession and concerns about the economy, going green might be one of the last things on your mind.

What might surprise you is that going green can actually help you reduce your daily living expenses. Lowering your daily consumption of consumer goods and paying more attention to your electricity usage, for example, will reduce your carbon footprint and also your monthly bills.

To help you get started, we've come up with a few Earth-friendly websites to help you go green on Earth Day.


Nature.org

You can start by measuring your own carbon footprint with the carbon footprint calculator on nature.org. The quick survey will ask you questions about your home energy habits, such as whether you've installed efficient lighting in your home, and questions about your food and dieting habits (eating meat increases your carbon footprint).


At the end of the survey, the results will show you how large your carbon footprint is and compare it with the average American's footprint, and average footprint per person around the world.




  Treehugger.com
Now that you know how much CO2 you're creating, you can find out the best ways to reduce your emissions. A great place to start is treehugger.com, one of the longest running Earth-friendly websites out there.

This site has great information if you want to learn about the culture of going green, but it's also a wonderful resource for easy ways to go green yourself. Check out the section under #3: "Take Action" for information on how to go green and even a green buying guide.

Treehugger.com even mentions www.goodguide.com, the website we featured a few weeks ago on Web Watcher.




   Veggiemealplans.com
Raising cattle and other animals for consumption is one of the largest contributors to environmental problems (eating one pound of meat emits the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving an SUV 40 miles).

So an easy way to start being more environmentally friendly is by being more veggie friendly. If you aren't so savvy on making vegetarian meals, veggiemealplans.com is a great place to start. The best feature of this site is the 33-meal-plan section. This lists ways you can plan out meals for your entire week.


If these sites have got you looking for even more ways to go green, check out some of these other environment-friendly sites:

  • Earthday.net: Comprehensive website to promote environmental education and programs.
  • Noimpactman (blogger): Learn about one man's adventure into going green from head to toe.
  • Goodguide.com: Compare, buy and learn about green-friendly products.
  • Lighterfootstep.com: Focuses on practical green living.