I'm bad for the environment :-(

According to The Nature Conservatory's carbon footprint calculator, my estimated carbon footprint is 35 tons of CO2 per year. That's above the national US average of 27 tons, and way above the world average of 5.5 tons. By another calculator, it's 19.9 tons, which is "much larger" than the average of 7.5 tons per year. Whichever calculator you use, it's incontrovertible that I'm shamefully bad in terms of CO2 output. And I thought I was a good citizen!

Where is most of the usage coming from? After all, I try to turn off lights, and maintain my car, and to reuse and recycle (or, even easier, donate). Apparently, it's my massive use of transportation. My 4 flights last year and my driving (which is apparently more than the US average, but it's only because I drove to NYC and back folks!!) accounted for a whooping 30% of my carbon footprint - and that's with a pretty energy efficient Mazda6. Most of the rest, roughly 50%, comes from my home usage, in particular my electricity bill.

I would LOVE some advice on how to make that bill go down, because I hate paying whopping electric bills even more than I hate single-handedly destroying the planet. I try to turn the thermostat down low, although I admit sometimes it goes to 74 F as the default temp even though I've tried repeatedly to program it to 80F. I close my laptop when I'm not using it - do I need to actually shut it down? I turn off lights when I'm not in the room. I run the dishwasher only when it's full. I don't water my plants during the day (hell, anyone who's been in my backyard can deduce I hardly water them at all). I use energy-saving light bulbs, you know, the types that use 15 watts to run a 60 watt equivalent, and last 10 times as long. Any tips, anyone? What am I doing wrong???

Anyways, here is a link to "50 Ways to Help the Planet." The tips are good, but I'm already doing most of them, so maybe helping the planet isn't the same as reducing your carbon footprint. But if you're not doing these things already, it can't hurt :-)