Citizen Printer

On average, which “green lifestyle” choice can have the greatest impact?

Turning off the lights when you leave a room Bringing your own bag when you shop Eating less meat Recycling your printer paper

Public Comments

none of those things make that big a difference. I mean it's all good stuff, but don't be thinking you're living green by bringing your own bag to the store. The single biggest difference you can make, is conserving what you use. Just don't be wasteful. That's it. Just cutting out what you waste makes the single biggest difference.
It depends what aspect you want to focus on -less waste: own bag -less emissions:lights -rainforests-paper Try eating meat from freerange/sustainiable sources
they are all great answers (one person can and does make a difference) (it is just that it does not make up for those who choose to do nothing). If you are asking which out of the given examples makes the biggest difference then that would be the eating less meat one but, like I said, they are all good ideas. if you are asking what makes the biggest impact that one individual is capable of doing in order to do the most for the environment well you are likely going to get a lot of people disagreeing. i have heard that it is to not have children. makes sense. i have also heard that planting a vegetable garden instead of a lawn and/or driveway is also a huge conservation effort (so long as you do not use pesticides etc.) cutting back on consumption is always going to be helpful but then you still have got to think about the things you do choose to buy. like if you do not buy a whole lot of clothes but you have got to have your bleach for laundry and your Raid for bugs, well, that just seems a little bit pointless. recycling has been the most effective overall system of conserving natural resources on a wide scale basis. so, in all, i guess my answer would be the greenest lifestyle choice one can make is to simply choose to try to be green by being more aware. after all, if you hadn't chosen to make such a commitment then you wouldn't even be asking such a question, right?
Eating less meat. There is much more area (and water) required for feeding a same pound of animal, than producing the same pound of vegetables or grains. It also emits less carbon and pollution (particularly if it's organic).