The Daily Green reports that small changes by American consumers, such as using reusable shopping bags or even cutting out meat one day a week (or more!), can have a greater effect on climate change than in other countries.
For example, passenger cars make up 17% of US emissions, according to the article. Consumers have control over this number; they could buy more efficient cars or drive less. Residential buildings and appliances contribute another 17% of emissions. Homeowners can reduce this number by addressing energy issues in a home such as adding more insulation or replacing an old washing machine with an energy efficient one.
It seems that there are positive ways of phrasing this and negative. TDG and the Wall Street Journal appear to have taken the positive way, so we'll stick with that for now. The good news is that there are plenty of very easy things to do to start making your dent:
1. Winterize your home
2. Switch to wind energy
3. Green your office
4. Convert your car to a plug-in hybrid (kidding -- obviously not easy and not cheap, but very cool)
5. Start biking to work
6. Eat less meat
The point is, this is positive feedback for people who have been working on their carbon footprint in the US -- it can help and it is helping.