This article is Lighter Footstep's contribution to Blog Action Day, a remarkable cooperative event in which some 15,000 blogs and websites will address the topic of the Environment.

The combined readership of the committed sites -- as measured by their RSS feed counts -- totals about 12 million. Most of the bloggers involved do not regularly address green issues. Of course, that's not the case with Lighter Footstep and its sister publication, ecoTumble. We talk about environmentally related themes all the time, which makes picking a topic for Blog Action Day a bit more problematic.

We face a bewildering series of challenges over the next few decades. In Atlanta this morning, officials will meet to discuss a previously unthinkable crisis: the city is approximately 120 days from exhausting its supply of fresh water. This same issue, the result of climate change and outdated management policies, will soon be faced by other major metropolitan areas, such as Mexico City and Beijing.

Water isn't the only thing in short supply: so is petroleum, the energy which powers virtually every aspect of our industrial society. The oceans are becoming vast whirlpools of plastic waste. By the time you finish reading this article, 430 acres of old-growth forest will have disappeared forever. The calculus of human survival is becoming increasingly complex.

But there's one thing -- a very simple thing, really -- that can turn it all around. And I've decided to share this secret with you for Blog Action Day. Click through to find out more.

It was a quiet week here at the site as we got underway with a project we're calling Lighter Footstep 2.0. You'll see the results before the end of the year: a top-to-bottom overhaul that will make Lighter Footstep faster, prettier, and more useful than ever.

In the meantime, we'll be back at full strength tomorrow, just in time for Blog Action Day. Fourteen thousand blogs -- reaching at least twelve million RSS subscribers -- have committed to posting about the environment. Google, Reddit, and the United Nations have also signed-on as participants. We'll be participating, as will our sister site ecoTumble. Be sure to browse around tomorrow and show your support for this unique event.

We'll offer our Weekend Reader as a starting point. Click through to the article for a bunch of great green links -- and make every day Blog Action Day!.

Boiling water? No need to use an appliance that's big for the job. If it's a small amount, your microwave is the quickest and most efficient way togo, not the stovetop. For bigger batches, consider an electric kettle. It will put more heat into your water and less into the surrounding room.

Most ovens are big enough to cook a four-course meal. That's overkill for warming a few bagels or baking a batch of tater tots. Try a toaster oven. They're inexpensive and will cook or brown small portions of pretty much anything you'd normally do in the oven.

For light mixing jobs or simple smoothies, handheld blenders hold their own with high-wattage, full-sized cousins.

Can you think of other examples? Downsize your kitchen tools -- and the monthly power bill!

Not just any letter: the dead tree kind. Email is a great tool for brief personal and business communication. But when it comes to influencing opinion leaders, there's no substitute for a well-considered, old school paper letter.

Whether your interest is global warming, recycling, or getting your neighborhood store to stock more locally grown produce, a traditional letter is the best way to get your words on someone's desk. And there are three kinds of letters you can write today that can really make a difference. So warm up your favorite word processor or get out a nice box of stationery, and click through to the rest of the article to get started.