When it comes to reducing your carbon footprint, there is no smarter way to begin than in your own yard. This Summer and Fall, when you're outside working on your lawn or garden, there are a few easy ways to reduce your contribution to global warming and climate change by simply making the right choices when it comes to garden tools and lawncare equipment.

Gas Lawn Mowers -- When Push Comes To Shove

The first step you can take, and probably the biggest, would be to replace your gas-powered or electric mower with a zero-emission push mower. Now push powers might sound like a lot of work, especially if you have a lot of lawn to mow, but with engineering innovations and modern design, those push mowers aren't the enormous machines that required giant muscles to operate. Many new manual "human powered" push mowers are easy to operate, and if you have a small amount of turf to cover, they're very easy to use.

Trim Back On Your Hedge Tools

Trimming your hedges and bushes doesn't necessarily require that you spend $500 on a top-of-the-line gas trimmer or hedge cutter. Simple pruning tools can do the same job without creating any additional carbon. With a good set of garden gloves, and some sharp pruning tools such as hedge clippers, you can trim and shape your greenery without adding any extra tons of carbon to the atmosphere.

Sweep Away Your Blowing Equipment

Not only are leaf blowers noisy, they are serious offenders when it comes to carbon emissions. These gas-powered monsters are annoying to listen to, they generate heat, and they burn fossil fuels, not to mention the fact that all they do is blow debris from one person's property to another's. If you're really serious about eliminating your carbon footprint, get rid of your leaf blower in favour of a rake and a couple of brooms. With some eco-friendly trash bags, you can get rid of your leaves, branches, and other crud that lands on your driveway--without making in your neighbour's problem.

Take The Pressure Off Your Garden Hoses

Using a power washer to wash your vehicle is a nice luxury, but seriously, you really don't need to use power to get your truck clean. A garden hose and a couple of sponges are still the cheapest, cleanest way to wash away the grime. Power washers use up electricity, and unless you have a really tough cleaning job ahead of you, it shouldn't be necessary to power wash everything in your driveway.

Separately, these eco-friendly ideas don't seem to contribute that much to global damage, but if you add up the millions of lawn-mowers that are bein fired up every day in North America, the carbon emissions are astronomical, equivalent to a million cars running each day. If everyone were to make even the smallest changes to how they handle their lawn and garden care, the ecological savings can be tremendous.