every day is Earth Day

Like breathing? How about drinking water or eating food? Ever look at a tree and think, "Say, that's a mighty fine tree"? Today is Earth Day, and your chance to make a difference in whether you'll be able to do those things in the future. Forget the Kyoto Protocol, MTBE liability, cap-and-trade mercury rules, and seepage from uranium mine tailings (all in today's New York Times, incidentially). Leave those to the politicians and hardcore environmentalists. Here's some things you can do that really will make a bigger difference than you think:

• DON'T DRIVE. Yeah, I live in the car-friendliest city in the U.S., but I stopped driving all the damn time and I definitely feel fantastic about it. Walk, bike, pogo, skateboard, take public transportation...anything that doesn't involve you, by yourself, in a car.
• Turn the lights off when you leave a room, even if it's just for a minute. Turn off the TV if you aren't watching it. If you can, consider switching to buy your electricity from a renewable-source company, like this one.
• Buy locally grown and/or organic products. Between the two, locally grown is better than organic (it uses less energy in transportation), but locally grown and organic is the best. Look online for stores, or go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.
• Ask for paper bags instead of plastic at the grocery store, then recycle them. Better yet, bring your own cloth bags.
• RECYCLE. Easy if you have curb-side pickup, and if you live in many states, it'll even earn you some $crilla. Avoid products made out of anything besides glass, aluminum, and #1 plastic, if you can; avoid styrofoam at all costs. Don't forget to snip the plastic rings from six-packs, for those poor dolphins and seabirds.

See how easy it can be? And you don't even need hemp clothes, Chacos, tofu, or a Prius.