10 best ways to green your everyday life

In the style of David Letterman, here are the Top 10 Ways to Green Your Everyday Life:

#10 - Make sure your home is properly insulated. This is especially true in colder or warmer months when you're running the air conditioner or the heater. The more natural cooling you have with windows open and trees shrouding your property, the better. In cold months during winter, ensure that windows are properly sealed.

#9 - Carpool. This is a great way to make friends and get to know your neighbors.  Check out eRideShare.com to get started.

#8 - Walk, just walk! Now that the weather's cooling, it's a great time to shake those extra 10 pounds and peruse your neighborhood on foot. Keep a pedometer on yourself and before you know it, you'll not only cut back on fuel consumption but your waist line will be smaller.

#7 - Pick two hours a day to disconnect. This doesn't mean you can't be reached by phone in case of an emergency, but stay off the Internet, tv, Blackberry, etcetera. Read a book. Visit with a friend. Cook your favorite supper. You will save energy and improve your brain. Extra points if the book is learning-a-foreign language (key for the over 50 set).

#6 - Buy carbon offsets to reduce your carbon footprint. Entergy has a matching program of up to five tons of carbon offsets bought per individual.

#5 - Rethink your appliances. Not only should appliances be turned off, but also unplugged. When you go buy your next washer or refrigerator, check the manufacturer's label for whether it's Energy Star certified. According to Entergy, appliance use accounts for 20 percent of our household's energy use, on average.

#4 - Rethink your autos.  Daimler, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and GM all are in various stages of fuel-cell vehicle introduction, though most manufacturers won't have full-scale roll-outs til 2015. Consider leasing a car with one of their programs or purchasing a hybrid or electric vehicle right now. If you think it's less affordable, remember how you felt when oil started to gush out of the Macondo well.

#3 - Recycle your electronics! There is an exclamation point here because landfills both in the US and in many 3rd world countries are being polluted with the chemicals that issue from dead hard drives, laptops and cell phones. With Americans' thirst for ever-more modern gizmos, think about where your electronics go to die. Join a local electronics-recycling program today. Check out The Green Project at 2831 Marais St.

#2 - Put down that plastic bag. Plastic does not recycle. It merely swirls around in tiny bits in the ocean till the end of time.

And the #1 way to "green" your everyday life?

#1 - Be aware. Don't dump your can of cola in a standard waste basket. Wait and bring it to a recycling center. Don't buy plastic bottles of water at the store - keep a Brita or other water filtration system at home. Don't throw out junk mail; turn it over, cut it up and use it for scrap paper.

It all makes a difference -- and future generations are already thanking you.