THIS year, you should be mostly low-carbing. No, this isn't a reference to the Atkins diet or some variation of, but instead how you can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas responsible for global warming and climate change. Twelve months ago, few of us had heard of our 'carbon footprint', the measurement of how much carbon dioxide we produce in our everyday lives. Now, it's the prevailing buzzword phrase and decidedly trendy. The hottest handbag this year is not a Chloe number but Anya Hindmarch's �5 canvas tote called 'I'm Not a Plastic Bag', created to encourage shoppers to ditch the ones in shops.

Fashion editors meanwhile are salivating over designer Katherine Hamnett's organic fair trade 'Save the Future' cotton tanks. Tesco says it plans to assign a carbon rating to all its wares while Marks and Spencers aim to be carbon neutral by 2010.

But the problem with identifying something as a global issue is that it can stop being a personal one. Nobody likes to think of themselves as an environmental terrorist. Blame the oil companies. Blame the airline industry. Blame that woman rattling around in an SUV with 07 plates.

But the truth is that we, as individuals, can actually do our bit about the global warming problem. "Every little thing that we do makes a difference, " says Oisin Coghlan, director of Friends of the Earth Ireland.

"Every time we walk to the shops instead of taking the car, we burn less fossil fuels and therefore we contribute less to climate change. We need to do what we can." Here are 51 easy and immediate ways in which you can reduce that carbon footprint. Save the earth, feel good about yourself and get an Anya Hindmarch bag for less than a tenner?

Well you would, wouldn't you?

1Fill the kettle with only as much water as you need. Ideally, invest in a kettle where you can actually see the level of water.

2Eat less meat. Farming animals produces 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from the methane they produce. Lovely.

3Go au naturel on the hair front. Hair dryers are the demons of energy consumption. So too are tumble dryers so get the clothes horse going instead.

4Eat local, seasonal and organic and in that order of priorities. Local means no airmiles; if it's Irish but it's still out of season, it means it's been forced, which is not environmentally friendly; organic is great but not if it's been flown from Peru.

5Turn down the central heating. Even 1 - 2� will make a difference and you'll save money.

6Holiday in Ireland. It cuts down on air miles - and airport madness.

7Fill your dishwasher and your washing machine to the max.

8Walk to work.

9Cycle to work. Buy a wetsuit for rainy days.

10 Take public transport to work.

11Car pool. A round trip a month saves 5% and one a week saves 20%.

12 Avoid 'Standby'. Plug out that mobile phone charger. It uses a shocking 20% of energy when not being used.

13 Use rechargeable batteries.

14 Join a library. Think about it. How many of the books you buy do you reread anyway?

15Stop buying so many newspapers. Get the Sunday Tribune and read the rest of them online.

16Turn off the lights when you're leaving a room.

17 Go easy on the printing. If you don't really need to print something out in work, then don't. Print on both sides of the paper where possible.

18 Complain. Supermarkets respond well to consumer complaint, as their introduction of more fair-trade goods shows, so make a stance about over-packaging 19 Stop buying bottled water. Yes, it's good for your skin and whatever else but filtered tap water does the trick just as well. Do a Ray D'Arcy and ask for tap water in restaurants, especially in establishments who only offer still or sparkling.

20Change your bulbs. Replace incandescent versions with longer-lasting, low-energy compact fluorescent (CFLs) ones.

21 Mend/Fix things. We live in a time of disposability and inbuilt obsolescence but it's time to reclaim the lost arts of darning socks and gluing china.

22 Do one weekly grocery shop instead of going on a daily basis and make a list beforehand so that you only buy what you need.

23 Ask if you can work from home one day a week.

24 Make and don't buy presents and cards for people. Newspaper pages make for excellent and rather cool wrapping paper.

25Cancel your gym membership. Go for a run instead.

26 Embrace the vintage. Second hand is chic, cheaper and, obviously, more carbon-friendly. Likewise, send any old clothes you don't want to Oxfam or similar.

27Try not to use electricity between the hours of 5pm and 7pm. You'll reduce the national emission of outputs.

28 Do a massive 'turn-off ' check before you leave the office. Computers, printers, photocopiers and lights do not need to be left on, and it's not the cleaner's responsibility to turn them off.

29 Use washable nappies. Might require origami-type skills but much more preferable to the plastic varieties 30 Compost. It's excellent fertiliser for your garden and reduces the amount of waste you're sending to landfills. If you don't have the space, investigate vermiculture, which is composting with worms, needs little space and creates no bad smells.

31 Wash your clothes in cold water. If this isn't an option, washing at 30� saves 40% of the energy used to wash at high temperatures.

32 Turn off the tap. You don't need to have it running while you brush your teeth.

33 Get online and calculate your carbon footprint. www. carbonfootprint. com.

34 It's an obvious one but reduce, reuse, recycle.

35 Insulate your home. Make draft excluders chic again and knit your own. Looking at the bigger picture, invest in proper insulation and double-glazing if you're renovating/moving.

36 Don't buy cut flowers. Lovely as they are, they're usually imported from the Netherlands. Grow your own or do your best to find some locally grown ones instead.

37 Shower, don't bathe.

38 Embrace natural light. Throw open the curtains and blinds whenever you can.

39 Bring your lunch to work/school/college. You're cutting down on packaging.

40Make your own cleaning products. It may sound daunting but it's actually not at all difficult. You'll find that baking soda, vinegar and other such ingredients work just as well and are also reassuringly non-toxic. Log on to www. pioneerthinking. com/homecleaning1. html for much more information.

41 Be smart about driving. Don't accelerate, don't break too hard, don't carry excess weight, check your tyre pressure regularly and don't use air conditioning if you don't have to.

42 A all the way. The EU energy label schemes rate products from A (most efficient in energy use) to G so look for this label the next time you buy an electric appliance.

43Lobby. Is your workplace recyling paper and other waste? If not, have a word in management's ear.

44 Always keep an eye on your fridge.

Defrost the freezer regularly; let hot food cool down before you put it in the fridge and never leave the door open for any period of time. Plus, if you place it in a cool environment, you save up to 150g of carbon dioxide a year.

45 Get a ceiling fan. It will push warm air to the floor in winter and circulates cool air in summer 46 Never have a drive-thru meal. If you must, park the car and and go inside instead.

47 Go for green energy. Maybe not one for right this minute but consider this as homework. Investigate what renewable energy options exist for your home.

Visit Sustainable Energy Ireland at www. sei. ie 48 Remember: one man's rubbish is another man's treasure. You might hate that Tipperary Crystal punch bowl you got as a wedding present but rest assured that there are plenty of people at www. dublinwaste. ie who would love it.

49 Heading to a hotel anytime soon? Don't have lots of baths just because you can; don't leave the air-con on nor the lights and ask if your towels can be washed every other day as opposed to daily.

50 Re-evaluate your leisure time: health centres, pubs, restaurants should all push up those evil CO2 emissions.

51 Hire instead of buying. At the Hire Hub website, you can hire out practically anything (marquees, hats for weddings, French chateaus) from fellow members.

www. thehirehub. co. uk Check out:

www. friendsoftheearth. ie www. sustain. ie www. powerofone. ie