1.Curtail car use.Walk and bike for short-distance outings, take public transportation, and reduce car trips by consolidating errands.

2.Do not buy plastic bottled water. Just making the plastic containers for our nation's bottled water habit wastes 50 million barrels of oil a year. Sport a reusable stainless steel bottle when out and about.

3.Pack up the packaging. Do you really need your pears in a plastic clamshell? Buy produce loose, choose bulk items over individually wrapped ones, and cut down on processed food purchases.
4.Pick Pyrex over plastic. For food storage, choose long-lasting glass over flimsy disposable plastic. Bonus: No worries about toxic plastic additives like BPA leaching into your food. 5.Tote a (reusable) tote. Nearly 100 billion single-use plastic bags are used each year in the US, to the tune of 12 million barrels of oil. Use canvas bags for grocery shopping, and clip a mini expandable tote to your keychain for errands.

6.Reusable trash bags may not yet exist, but you can still buy a brand made from recycled plastic.

7.Careful with cosmetics. Surprise! Refineries churning out gas for your car are also making moisturizers for your lip balm. And your body wash. And your night cream. Cosmetics free of petroleum byproducts are now readily available.

8.Pass on the Palmolive. How ironic that the very Dawn dishwashing liquid being used to clean oil-soaked animals is itself -- along with most conventional dish soaps -- made from petro (read: oil) chemicals. Choose a plant-derived cleaner instead.

9.Say no to nylon. And polyester; both fabrics are petroleum-based. Instead, choose natural textiles like organic cotton, wool, and hemp.

10.Weatherize next winter.Insulate your home. For every million homes weatherized, 3 million barrels of oil are saved.