Let's talk about areas of your life where positive environmental choices can make a big difference. Changes to your home and everyday living will add up over time and make the world a better place for us all.

1. Environmentally Efficient Choices For Your New Home

New homes are being built with sustainable lumber, energy efficient windows, programmable thermostats and cool roofs. Hot roofs are black or some other dark color while cool roofs reflect sunlight back into the sky and away from the building. Another way to make a roof more environmentally friendly is to install solar panels.

New homes also have important features like programmable thermostats and ac disconnects. Insulation is another area where new homes excel. In fact, newly constructed "green" homes are pretty much airtight, so the outside air never enters unless you program it to enter. This means no more freezing nights, stifling afternoons, or humid mornings. Your installed equipment will always work on keeping the temperature and humidity perfect for you.

2. Environmentally Efficient Choices For an Older Home

Not everyone can afford a brand new home with these energy efficient features, though. What can you do if you own an older home? Back in the 1940s and '50s, builders and homeowners tended to assume that fossil fuels would always be plentiful and affordable. They also did not worry about pollution. The 1970s and the oil crisis made everyone realize that heating choices for houses would soon have to change. When people realized that oil heat was not sustainable, houses started to be built with insulation to at least trap the heat produced by the old oil burner and to keep the cold air out.

Older houses can become more energy efficient by installing insulation, putting in better windows and adding solar panels to the roof. If you are handy, you can purchase insulation and add it yourself or you can hire someone. Either way, the cost of adding the insulation will more than pay for itself next winter. Changing to LED lights and replacing your leaky windows with double or triple panes will also be a big step up on the environmentally efficient ladder. If replacing all of your windows is out of your budget, consider a home equity loan. In most states you can also claim home energy improvements when you file your taxes.

3. Environmentally Efficient Everyday Choices

Now that your house is environmentally efficient, it's time to think about the everyday choices you make and how eco-friendly they are. By now, almost everyone has the hang of recycling and many towns have banned plastic bags. There is much more to be done, though. Did you know that tons of clothes end up in landfills? Clothing is driven, in part, by the fashion industry. Some people discard last season's clothes and buy a whole new wardrobe twice a year. Obviously, this is an extremely wasteful lifestyle.

There are many places where used clothing can be donated and the really environmentally-minded will shop there, find some barely-worn bargains, help charities and keep the clothes out of the landfill cycle. Besides clothes, there are many things you can do to make your life more environmentally friendly. Buy cloth shopping bags and stop taking plastic straws and utensils at deli counters, takeout windows and in your drink at Starbucks. Easy-to-carry kits can be purchased online that include metal straws as well as metal forks, spoons and knives.

Once you start thinking about what is best for the environment, wasteful choices that are harmful to both your wallet and the planet will begin to stand out to you. Although it may be a bit of a learning curve at first, you will see in the long run what a positive difference you can make.