Worrying About My Carbon Footprint

I have a confession to make - I am very interested in green and sustainable design and construction, but I feel like I personally (and my fam) haven't done our part to contribute.  With our new home purchase, we have definitely given some thought as to how we can reduce our carbon footprint.

Here is what we are thinking:
Outside

• Add a Garden - stock it full of all our favorite fruits and veggies and herbs.  Not only does this save us money, it helps the environment by reducing transportation costs and emissions (ours and the manufacturers) 
• Compost - another great option now that we have a yard.  It reduces the amount of trash we contribute to the landfill and gives us great nutrient rich soil

Inside

• Reduce our energy costs 
• replace our old furnace and AC unit with efficient ones
• seal any cracks in our home to reduct air leakage
• insulate, insulate - our attic and basement could use some help
• Add low flow fixtures - some faucet, toilet, and show head replacements could be in our future

Other

• Use reusable grocery / shopping bags - Done!  We got a couple of Giant reusable bags and love them.  Less bags to tote (they are sooo strong) and less plastic heading to the landfill (note: we used to use all our plastic bags .. as Grouper poop bags .. when we lived in the condo - so that was re-use right there.  But, now we have a pooper scooper and consolidate his waste)

Those are just a couple of thoughts for now.  Updates as they happen.  Let me know if you have any ideas on how we can live a better, greener life :)

Update 2/22/13 - I drove by the trashman this morning.  It is amazing how much trash people throw away every week!  I want to make it a priority that we reduce our trash production as much as possible!