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These days, the health of our planet is one of the most pressing issues on many people’s minds. There’s climate change and rising sea levels. There’s groundwater pollution from overflowing landfills. Huge volumes of waste are being transported to developing nations every day because we have no idea what to do with it. If you’re concerned about the environment, you’re definitely not alone.

Not all people have room in their budgets, though, to make some changes that could have a positive impact on the environment. Buying an electric car or installing solar panels, for instance, just might not be realistic for you right now. 

There are quite a few things that you can do, though, to reduce your impact on the environment without spending a dime. In fact, many of these changes will actually reduce your expenses and put extra money in your pocket each month – so there’s really no excuse not to do them. Making the planet and your wallet a little healthier at the same time? That sounds like a great idea to us. Make these 4 changes right now to reduce your environmental impact the easy way.

Stop Drinking Bottled Water

Did you know that the United States uses over 1.5 million barrels of oil each year just to make the bottles for bottled water? That’s enough oil to make 63 million gallons of gasoline, and that’s only the beginning. After the water is bottled, it still needs to be trucked around the country so it can be put on store shelves, wasting even more fuel. Leaving aside the complete lack of logic in trucking something across the country when the same thing is available right at home, the environmental impact of bottled water gets even worse when you consider the fact that the vast majority of empty bottles are thrown away rather than being recycled.

So, what’s the solution to the bottled water problem? It’s simple – just drink tap water! Tap water doesn’t taste good, you say? The solution for that is equally simple – you need to get a water filter. If you’ve tried using a water filter and didn’t like the taste, it means that you weren’t using a good filter. Try a reverse-osmosis filter instead. Inexpensive reverse-osmosis filters typically start at around $200 – and considering the cost of bottled water, the filter should pay for itself after just a few months. After that, it’s all profit aside from occasional filter replacements. A filter typically lasts at least a year. The best part is that the end product will taste almost exactly the same as what you’re currently buying. Most bottled water is actually just tap water that’s been put through a reverse-osmosis filter – exactly what you could be making yourself at a much lower cost.

Quit Smoking

Speaking of the environmental impact of our trash, smoking is another huge one – even in today’s age of declining smoking rates. It’s been estimated that about 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are thrown away each year. Cigarette butts are absolutely packed with toxic chemicals ranging from tar and nicotine to herbicides and pesticides. It’s bad enough when those chemicals are added to landfills, but the truth is that many people don’t even bother to throw their cigarette butts in the trash – they just toss them wherever they happen to be at the moment. Cigarette butts are more common than any other form of litter.

If you can’t or won’t quit using nicotine but want to reduce your impact on the environment, the easiest way to do so is by switching to vaping. The latest vapes last thousands of puffs. They also cost dramatically less than cigarettes – so much less, in fact, that switching to vaping can easily help you save thousands of dollars per year. Just remember, though, that vaping devices contain lithium-ion batteries and can also have a negative impact on the environment if you discard them with your regular trash. Always take your vapes to a hazardous waste collection center for recycling when you’re done with them.

Eat Less Meat

Did you know that the meat industry is responsible for 37 percent of all methane emissions and 9 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions around the world? That’s a huge percentage of our planet’s greenhouse gas emissions, meaning that intensive meat production is definitely responsible for at least a portion of the climate change crisis. To make matters worse, it’s also incredibly wasteful of land and water resources. We grow an enormous quantity of plants to feed our livestock, but there’s a huge disparity between the input and the output. An estimate from Iowa State University suggests that it takes about 56 pounds of corn to produce 6.7 pounds of beef. Clearly, the resource utilization would be far more efficient if we simply used the corn to feed people instead.

Every time you skip the meat and eat a plant-based meal, you’re making a choice that’s good for your health and for the environment. You’ll probably lose weight and feel better, and you’ll definitely be doing your part to reduce the enormous environmental load of livestock production. Try substituting at least one serving of meat each week with a plant-based entrée and see how it works for you.

Walk or Ride a Bike More Often

This is another easy change that can have a huge positive impact both on the environment and on your own health: Try looking for opportunities to walk or ride a bike once in a while when you do your regular errands. You could do this, for example, if you’re going to the supermarket and only need to buy a few small items. 

The average American uses about 656 gallons of gasoline per year. Assuming that you use about the same amount every day, doing your errands on foot or on a bike for one day each week could conceivably reduce your gasoline usage by nearly two gallons weekly. You’ll probably also lose a bunch of weight as well, so that’s a double plus.