I've been trying to change my life for the better for awhile now, including simplifying, getting fitter and healthier, and trying to get greener - and in the last few months I've been doing a lot of researching into reducing my carbon footprint as well.

    And while there are hundreds or even thousands of things we can do to reduce the resources we consume and the emissions we produce, I've been focusing on three areas that have （among） the biggest impacts.

    One of the greatest things I've noticed is that these three changes not only help you to become greener, but can go a long way toward improving your health （and helping you to be more frugal）. Going green and being healthier and fitter often go hand in hand.

    And while I'm far from perfect, even in these three areas, I'd like to share some of my thoughts and findings with you, in hopes that you'll look into and perhaps consider these changes yourself.

    1. Human-powered Transportation.Namely, cycling and walking. While cars are seen as convenient, even the greenest cars use up tons of resources （literally） and contribute greatly to greenhouse emissions. Autos are one of the biggest emissions contributors in most people's daily lives. While not everyone is going to go car-free all the time, we can reduce the amount we use cars.

    I've been walking more, as have Eva and the kids, to parks, playgrounds, the library, meetings, restaurants, movies, things like that. Walking is an amazing form of transportation - you barely use any resources or have any emissions （other than your breath）, and you get really fit walking around （see my Japan trip report for more on how I lost weight walking）.

    Cycling is something I also love, although I'm in between bikes right now and looking out for a good used bike （I prefer used as it means I'm reducing the amount of resources I consume）. Cycling for transportation takes some getting used to, I'll admit, but it's another incredible way to get around by consuming very few resources and emitting just about zero pollution, while getting in great shape. Seriously, I highly recommend this - try it for a couple weeks and you'll see that it's a very satisfying way to live.

    Mass transit, of course, is another great form of transportation, although in places like Guam it's a bit more difficult as we don't have a very good transit system. I've tried using it and it's extremely inconvenient if you have to be anywhere within a couple of hours. I loved the transit system in Tokyo, however, and would use that all the time if I were living there.

    Try to use human-powered transportation more often - you'll love it. It really helps put you in touch with the outdoors, and takes you out of the confinement of cars, out of the frustration of traffic, and reduces the amount you spend on gas and maintenance. Someday, I'm going to go car-free, and I hope I'll take all of you with me. :）

    2. Vegetarianism or Veganism.Or, if that sounds too difficult, start by just reducing your meat consumption. From GreenWikia: "More land has to be put into agricultural production to produce meat than to produce plant products. Because the methane they belch is 23 times more effective at retaining heat than CO2, domestic animals contribute more to global warming than all human transportation combined."

    Becoming vegetarian （and especially vegan） is one of the changes you could make with the biggest impacts on the environment. If we all gave up meat and other animal products, we'd have enough food to （theoretically, at least） feed the world （most of the food we produce goes to raising animals for meat, milk and eggs）, and we'd drastically cut down on the amount of pollution and greenhouse emissions.

    Becoming vegetarian doesn't have to be difficult - in fact, it can be a lot of fun if you explore new foods and ethnic cuisines. And while becoming vegan or vegetarian does not guarantee that you'll be healthier, most vegetarians are healthier （on average） than the average American. If you replace （usually fatty） meat and other animal products with fruits and veggies and whole grains and legumes, you'll get healthier. If you replace them with French fries and Twinkies, you won't. （Feel free to argue this point, but please please don't share info from the discredited Westin Price Foundation - it's really full of pseudoscience, we've had this discussion many times before, and I would rather not have links to fraudulent articles on my site.）

    I'm not saying that you're evil if you eat meat or drink milk, or that you're necessarily unhealthy. It's definitely possible to eat healthy with animal products in your diet. But I am saying it's something you should consider, for the sake of the environment … and if you get healthier in the meantime, that's a nice side benefit.

    I recently decided to go back to veganism （I've been lacto-ovo vegetarian for about 18 months, and was vegan before that） and will write a post about it soon, including some links shared by friends on Twitter.

    3. Consume Less.This is a pretty simple （though not necessarily easy） step that can make a huge difference in all areas of your life: how many resources you consume, how healthy you are, how much you spend, how much clutter you have. Buy less, use less, eat less - get away from loving and buying stuff.

    It's interesting because when we try to become greener, many of us automatically look to buying green products … which is good, when you do have to buy something, but actually, buying fewer products overall is better than going out and buying a bunch of environmentally-conscious type products.

    By consuming fewer products, clothes, gadgets, furniture … stuff … you'll use fewer resources and contribute less to landfills. When you buy something, a lot of resources were used not only for the materials needed to make the product （wood, paper, metal, plastic, cotton, etc.）, but to harvest those materials, to manufacture the product, to package it, to transport it to the store or to your door. Get into the habit of buying less, needing less, and when you do get something you need, get it used if possible. You'll end up spending less money as well.

    By consuming less food, you'll （likely） get healthier. Well, not if you're underweight - you probably need more food actually. But for those of us who have a few extra pounds （or a lot of extra pounds）, eating less is just what the doctor ordered. Fewer calories means you'll lose weight, and if you add to that a regimen of walking and cycling, eating less meat and consuming more plant foods, you'll definitely get healthier. Eating less food doesn't mean you need to starve yourself - just eat smaller portions. Eat slower and more mindfully. That takes practice, but learn this habit over time and you'll save not only your waistline, but your budget and a lot of resources as well.

    一直以來(lái)，我都在嘗試做些改變使我的生活質(zhì)量更高，包括簡(jiǎn)化生活，使身材更健美及健康，甚至做個(gè)環(huán)保主義者 ----最近幾個(gè)月我也做了許多減少碳使用量的嘗試reducing my carbon footprint

    雖然我們能做上百甚至上千件事情去減少資源的消耗以及自身生產(chǎn)物的排放，但我始終專(zhuān)注于進(jìn)行其中最重要的三件。

    最棒的一件事是我已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)這三個(gè)改變不只使你成為一個(gè)環(huán)保主義者，還可以對(duì)你的健康大有裨益（同時(shí)幫助你更節(jié)儉）.因?yàn)楦�環(huán)保和變得更健康以及身材更勻稱(chēng)這三件事通常是相鋪相成的。

    雖然在這三個(gè)方面我做得也不夠，但愿意在這里與你分享我的想法和發(fā)現(xiàn)，希望會(huì)引起你的觀注并對(duì)你有所幫助

    1. 人力交通工具。比如，自行車(chē)和步行。汽車(chē)被視作便捷的交通工具，即便是最環(huán)保的車(chē)也要使用上噸資源（書(shū)面）并且排放大量的廢氣，日常生活中，大多數(shù)人使用的汽車(chē)便是廢氣大排放量的交通工具之一。當(dāng)然我不是呼吁我們做什么都不要用車(chē)，只是可以人為地減少用車(chē)的次數(shù)。

    我經(jīng)常步行，和Eva帶著孩子一起，去公園，操場(chǎng)，圖書(shū)館，去開(kāi)會(huì)，去飯館或去看電影，諸如此類(lèi)的。 步行是令人驚奇的"交通方式" - 你不會(huì)用到任何資源或排放什么 （除了你的呼吸）,并且通過(guò)步行你的身材真的會(huì)變得很勻稱(chēng)健美 （參看我的 Japan trip report可以知道我如何通過(guò)步行減輕體重）.

    騎自行車(chē)也是我喜愛(ài)做的一件事，不過(guò)我會(huì)找一個(gè)性能良好的自行車(chē)而不是隨便一輛騎上就走（我喜歡騎得更省力的從而減少我資源的消耗）.騎自行車(chē)旅行的方式需要時(shí)間來(lái)習(xí)慣，這點(diǎn)我承認(rèn)。不過(guò)，這是另一個(gè)不可思議的消耗極少資源以及幾乎零污染而得到健美體形的方式。 我極力推薦這個(gè) - 試它個(gè)一兩周時(shí)間你就會(huì)看到這是一種另人滿意的生活方式。

    當(dāng)然，軌道交通是一個(gè)很不錯(cuò)的運(yùn)輸工具，但是像在關(guān)島這樣的地方因?yàn)闆](méi)有非常好的交通系統(tǒng)而使得出行變得困難，我曾經(jīng)乘座過(guò)，但是到任何地方都要花上個(gè)把鐘頭，它顯得尤為不便。然而我喜歡東京的軌道交通，如果我在那生活，出行都會(huì)選擇它。

    嘗試著更頻繁的使用人力交通工具吧--你會(huì)愛(ài)上它的。它真的可以使你方便地走出家門(mén)，擺脫汽車(chē)工具的束縛，遠(yuǎn)離交通擁堵的煩惱并且省下你的汽油費(fèi)和修理費(fèi)用。某天，我要實(shí)行無(wú)車(chē)日，那時(shí)我希望全程有你陪伴：）

    2.普通素食主義者和純素食主義者，要么，如果那聽(tīng)起來(lái)太難做到，就先從減少食用肉類(lèi)開(kāi)始。引自 GreenWikia:"供生產(chǎn)肉類(lèi)產(chǎn)品占用的土地比生產(chǎn)植物類(lèi)作物的土地，范圍要廣闊。因?yàn)樗麄兠俺龅募淄楫a(chǎn)生的熱氣比二氧化碳高23倍，所以家畜的貢獻(xiàn)超過(guò)了人類(lèi)因交通運(yùn)輸制造的全球變暖"

    成為一個(gè)素食主義者（尤其是全素食主義者）會(huì)對(duì)環(huán)境產(chǎn)生巨大的影響，而這是你可以做到的一個(gè)改變。如果我們都不食用肉類(lèi)和其它動(dòng)物產(chǎn)品，我們會(huì)有足夠的食物（理論上講，至少）供應(yīng)整個(gè)世界（我們生產(chǎn)的很多食物同時(shí)用來(lái)提高動(dòng)物的產(chǎn)肉，產(chǎn)奶以及產(chǎn)蛋上）,而且我們應(yīng)該大幅度降低嚴(yán)重的污染和溫室氣體排放。

    成為素食主義者不必很困難--事實(shí)上，如果你發(fā)掘出其它一些新的食物或民族美食你也會(huì)感到很多樂(lè)趣的。當(dāng)然成為純素食主義者或普通素食主義者也不保證你一定會(huì)比不食用前更健康，（平均而言）許多素食主義者是比普通人健康的。如果你用谷類(lèi)豆類(lèi)或蔬菜，水果等代替比較肥膩的肉類(lèi)及其它動(dòng)物制品，你會(huì)更顯健康。相反如果用法式的薯?xiàng)l或高糖份蛋糕Twinkies來(lái)代替，那就未必了。

    （大家隨意探討這些話題，但是千萬(wàn)請(qǐng)不要提及名譽(yù)掃地的威斯汀價(jià)格基金會(huì)-它真的充滿偽科學(xué)，我們以前也討論過(guò)多次，在這里我不再鏈接這些文章了）

    我不是指吃肉類(lèi)或喝牛奶的人就是魔鬼，就必然是不健康的。當(dāng)然在你的飲食食用這些也會(huì)是健康的，但我要說(shuō)的是你應(yīng)該在吃之前要考慮一些事情，（三思而后吃，嘿嘿，我加的）,看看我們生存的環(huán)境…而如果你在此其間想變得更健康，這是個(gè)對(duì)你有好處的建議。

    我最近還是決定做回純素食主義者（我曾經(jīng)做了18個(gè)月的奶蛋素食主義者，之前是純素食者）我會(huì)盡快寫(xiě)些文章，和我的朋友們?cè)赥witter上分享

    3.減少消費(fèi)。這是一個(gè)非常簡(jiǎn)單易行的改變（雖然不一定很容易）,它可以使你的生活產(chǎn)生翻天覆地的變化：你消費(fèi)了多少資源你就有多少健康，你花了多少錢(qián)就有多少垃圾被你買(mǎi)回來(lái)。少買(mǎi)些，少用些，少吃些--從物欲和購(gòu)物中解脫出來(lái) get away from loving and buying stuff.

    這是非常有趣的現(xiàn)象，當(dāng)我們?cè)噲D變得環(huán)保的時(shí)候，我們多半會(huì)自然而然地去買(mǎi)環(huán)保產(chǎn)品當(dāng)然你若真的需要它，這樣做是好的。但是很多時(shí)候，買(mǎi)得較少則好過(guò)買(mǎi)一大堆有環(huán)保標(biāo)識(shí)的產(chǎn)品

    通過(guò)購(gòu)買(mǎi)較少的產(chǎn)品，服裝，小工具，家具，雜物…你會(huì)使用較少的資源降低堆填區(qū)的容積。當(dāng)你購(gòu)買(mǎi)行為發(fā)生的時(shí)候，許多資源不僅僅是做為生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品的材料（木頭，紙張，金屬，塑料，棉花，等等）它們本身是產(chǎn)品，你還需要去另外的材料，包裝好，運(yùn)送及貯存，直到送達(dá)你處，請(qǐng)習(xí)慣買(mǎi)得少用得少吧，當(dāng)你確實(shí)需要就盡可能的使用它。你也會(huì)為此花費(fèi)更少的錢(qián)。

    通過(guò)食用較少的食物，你會(huì)（可能）更健康。當(dāng)然，如果你體重過(guò)輕--你可能需要更多食物。但是對(duì)我們大多數(shù)體重偏重（或超重）的人而言，醫(yī)生也會(huì)指示你少吃為妙。較少的卡路里意味著你可以降輕體重，如果加上散步或騎自行車(chē)的提議，少吃肉類(lèi)和少購(gòu)買(mǎi)大量的食物，你一定會(huì)變得更健康。少吃食物不是說(shuō)你必須餓自己一頓--只是吃小部份而已。細(xì)嚼慢咽， Eat slower and more mindfully要做練習(xí)，隨著時(shí)間的推移練習(xí)這個(gè)習(xí)慣，這樣你不只保持了你的腰圍，還保持了你的預(yù)算和資源。