Taking a long-term approach to reducing your environmental impact is the key to greening your lifestyle successfully.

Richard Daly and Todd Singer advise homebuilders, realtors, and homeowners on green construction, renovation and design in their Phoenix, Arizona design-build firm, REDesign-Green. In their experience, homeowners know that sustainability is good for their families and the environment, but they are often discouraged by previous false starts.

"People want to do the right thing," says Richard Daly, "but making changes haphazardly will cause frustration, guilt -- or worse -- apathy."

Daly and Singer recommend that people approach sustainability incrementally by planning and then adopting new habits. They offer these tips for going -- and staying -- green at home.

Canadian drivers will likely burn an extra 643 million litres of fuel in 2008 because one or more of their tires are under-inflated, according to data from Natural Resources Canada, which is working with the Rubber Association of Canada, to educate motorists about proper tire care. That is enough squandered fuel to fill 257 Olympic size swimming pools.

Unless drivers take action, this wasted fuel will release an additional one million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and cost drivers an estimated $772 million in unnecessary fuel bills.

With fuel prices climbing ever higher, it is easy to see why tire maintenance is so important. A tire that is substantially under-inflated does not roll as smoothly or as easily as it was intended. This diminishes fuel efficiency because increased rolling resistance causes the vehicle to burn more fuel, which increases both emissions and fuel costs.

David Bach, the eight-time consecutive national bestselling author, reached new heights on Tuesday as his groundbreaking book Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth, reached the #1 ranking as most downloaded book on Earth day on Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com's portable wireless reading device, and at the eBook Store from Sony.

In keeping with the runaway success of Bach's preceding books, Go Green, Live Rich has quickly become an instant bestseller on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal's bestseller lists since its debut on April 8th. Whether it's learning to save money by using a power strip or how to make money by investing in green companies, Bach offers readers 50 simple steps that put the ka-ching back in the green, showing people they can balance their financial and environmental motivations.

"This book is my passion in print. After having my own green revelation, I want to share with everyone that living green is important, attainable and definitely affordable," said David Bach. "The success of Go Green, Live Rich demonstrates that people care about the environment and are beginning to embrace the fact that going green is not a luxury people can't afford but a lifestyle that makes sense for their personal finances as well as the planet."

GreenEnergyChoice offers 5 tips on how you too can be green and contribute to the success of Earth Day:

• Minimize time spent in the car. An easy way to help reduce those harmful emissions is to leave the car at home for short trips. Also, consolidating errands into one big trip is more beneficial than making several smaller trips from home and back. Carpooling to and from work is another way to contribute to the environment as well.
• Unplug non-essential appliances. Many home appliances use low levels of energy even when they are turned off. Unplugging these appliances completely or plugging them into a power strip and turning the strip off are both ways to help reduce energy consumption.
• Scrape that dish! Instead of rinsing a dish before placing it in the dishwasher, scraping it is just as effective and doesn't waste any water.
• Go green on grocery bags. An innumerable amount of plastic grocery bags are disposed of every single day -- and the recycle rate is extremely low. Saving and re-using plastic grocery bags or getting a special cloth bag just for shopping are both great ways to be green.
• Renewable Energy Credits (RECs): When a consumer purchases an REC they ensure that somewhere on the grid, someone is receiving the benefits of green energy instead of fossil-fuel power. Doing so can help push renewable energy to the forefront of consumption, and helps reduce carbon emissions.