With a thickness of 1,500 miles and a weight of 5.1 million billion tons spread over more than five trillion billion cubic yards, the atmosphere is arguably the largest place on earth. And in light of the climate crisis, it's also the most endangered.

Fortunately, there are many actions each of us can take to prevent climate change. With energy-related pollution responsible for the lion's share of our carbon dioxide emissions, stopping global warming is largely a matter of using energy wisely and limiting our carbon footprints. These tips will help:

In the Car

• Keep your tires properly inflated, and improve gas mileage by more than 3%.
• Consult your car's manual and use its recommended grade of motor oil to improve your gas mileage by 1–2%. Use brands with “Energy Conserving” on the API performance symbol, which contain friction-reducing additives that enhance engine performance.
• Keep your engine properly tuned. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, replacing a faulty oxygen sensor can improve gas mileage up to 40%.
• Check and replace air filters regularly. Replacing a dirty air filter can improve gas mileage by as much as 10%.
• When running errands, plan the shortest, most gas-saving itinerary. Avoid retracing your steps and combine errands. Several short trips taken from a cold engine start can use twice as much fuel as a longer multi-stop trip of similar distance.
• If you own more than one vehicle, drive the one that gets better gas mileage more often.
• Don't speed. Gas mileage declines rapidly above 60 mph. Each 5 mph increase above 60 is equal to paying an additional 20 cents to 25 cents per gallon.
• Mellow out. Aggressive driving wastes gas and can lower your mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and 5 percent in town. Replace jack-rabbit starts with slow acceleration from a dead stop.
• Avoid excessive idling, which gets 0 miles per gallon. The typical car uses less gas to start up than it does to idle for 60 seconds.
• If you have it, use cruise control on the highway to maintain a constant speed and save gas. But don't use cruise control on hilly secondary roads, it will make your engine work harder.
• If possible, stagger your work schedule to avoid peak rush hours. You'll spend less time sitting in traffic and consuming fuel. (And you'll enjoy less stress, too!)
• Avoid carrying items on your vehicle's roof. A loaded roof rack or carrier increases aerodynamic drag, which can cut mileage by up to 5 percent. Place items inside the trunk whenever possible.
• Travel light. Avoid carrying unneeded items, especially heavy ones. An extra 100 pounds in the trunk cuts a typical car's fuel economy 1-2 percent.
• Use the A/C. In today's aerodynamically designed vehicles, the drag created by open windows generally uses up more additional gasoline than the air conditioner.
• If you'll be renting a car, ask for a model that gets better fuel economy. Generally smaller is better when it comes to efficiency.
• If you're buying a new vehicle, think high gas mileage. Check out fueleconomy.gov and greenercars.com for information on fuel-efficient vehicles. Consider purchasing a hybrid car if you do a lot of start-and-stop driving.
• Drive less! Take public transportation, carpool, bike, or walk whenever you can. For every gallon of gasoline you save, you'll prevent about 20 pounds of CO2 from being released into the air.

Around the House

• Whenever you need a new appliance, search for the most energy efficient option. Use the EnergyStar guides on each showroom model to guide your decision-making.
• Use compact fluorescent light bulbs. Each one uses 66-75% less energy than an incandescent, lasts 10 times longer, and keeps some 1,500 lbs of CO2 out of the atmosphere.
• Paint your walls a light color. Lighter walls reflect more light so you can lower the wattage of the bulbs you use without lowering light levels.
• Ask your utility company or local energy conservation agency for a home energy audit. Fix the problems the audit identifies.
• Wrap your water heater in an insulating blanket.
• Install low-flow shower heads that use less hot water.
• Apply weather-stripping around doors and windows to plug air leaks, which help you use less energy and reduce your home's annual CO2 emissions by up to 1000 pounds.
• Use curtains and blinds. In winter, open them during the day to let passive solar heat in then close them at night to provide additional insulation. In the summer, reverse the pattern to increase natural cooling.
• Every degree you lower your thermostat in the winter knocks down your energy consumption by 2-3%. Every degree you raise your air conditioning in the summer saves around 5%.
• Clean or replace air conditioners filters as recommended. An air conditioner with a dirty filter can use 5% more energy.
• Use products made from and packaged in recycled materials. Recycled items require far less energy to manufacture and create much lower carbon dioxide emissions.
• Buy minimally packaged goods and choose reusable products instead of disposable ones. Recycle the things you use. If you can cut the trash you produce by 25% you'll prevent the emission of approximately 1000 pounds of CO2 a year.
• Recycle paper. Every pound you recycle keeps about 4 lbs. of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
• Buy minimally packaged goods and choose reusable products over disposable ones. Recycle those things you use. If you can cut the trash you produce by 25% you'll prevent the emission of approximately 1000 pounds of CO2 a year.

In the Laundry Room

• Wash your clothes in warm or cold water instead of hot. Some 90% of the energy used by a washing machine goes to heating the water, so doing even two loads a week at lower temperatures can save up to 500 pounds of CO2 emissions a year.
• Whenever possible, air dry your laundry.. If you do use a dryer, clean the lint filter and use the moisture sensor if your model has one. Dry full loads but be careful not to overload your dryer so air can circulate around damp clothes for maximum efficiency. Whenever possible dry loads back-to-back to take advantage of residual heat that's already in the machine.

In the Kitchen

• Cook more than one dish in the oven at a time. Conventional electric ovens direct only about 6% of their energy toward cooking and use the other 94% to heat up the 35 pounds of steel that makes up the average oven. Roast or bake large portions of food all at once and then re-heat them later using a more efficient microwave. Resist the temptation to open the oven to check your food, which lowers temperatures inside by 25°-50° each time. Turn the oven off a few minutes before the food is finished and let the residual heat complete the job. When it's time to get a new range, explore a gas stove, which is more efficient.
• Use a microwave oven instead of a conventional oven whenever possible. Cooking a typical casserole in an electric oven uses about 2 kWh of electricity while the same dish cooked in a microwave oven would use 0.36 kWh.
• Cover stove-top pots to stop heat from escaping. This can reduce cooking energy by up to 66%.
• Unplug your refrigerator and vacuum its condenser coils. Dirty coils can reduce a fridge's efficiency by up to 30%. Make sure there are a couple of inches of air space between the coils and the wall so air can carry heat away. Clean the rubber gaskets around all doors to make sure they seal tightly when closed. Replace any that are worn or ripped.
• Run your dishwasher only with a full load. Use the energy-saving setting to dry the dishes or let them air dry. Avoid the water-heating option if your dishwasher offers it.

Outside Your Home

• Try to avoid gasoline-powered lawn and garden tools. Most weed whackers, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc. lack pollution controls and emit many times more pollution than cars.
• Contribute to efforts to save the rainforests. Each hectare of rainforest (2.47 acres) absorbs a ton of carbon dioxide each year.
• Plant trees. They consume carbon dioxide and remove it from the atmosphere. Shade trees planted near buildings can reduce greenhouse gases further by lowering cooling needs.
• Paint your house. To conserve energy, choose a light color if you live in a warm climate or a dark color if you live in a colder region.