With every new year comes renewed hope for what we’ll get done and what we won’t do–in a word, resolutions. We hope that along with the usual suspects, like getting organized and eating healthier, you’ll add some green endeavors to the list. To help narrow down simple and seriously beneficial steps check out our guide of 6 Simple Green Things to Do in ‘09. You can start small with just one or dive right in and aspire to accomplish several. And you can expect more than just the good feelings that come from getting greener; these tips also have concrete perks (like saving money!) for you.

If you’re looking for a bigger challenge or have already implemented those ideas in your life, consider a different resolution: Park your family’s second vehicle–in storage or the garage–for the year. The emissions from your vehicle and the toll taken by the gas you’d consume won’t be missed and you may even find that you don’t miss the car itself. As long as you have a first vehicle available, you can still accomplish those big grocery runs and carpool kids to the soccer game. Instead what will likely change is one individual’s work commute; a drive every day can be switched to a trip on public transit, which will give you a little extra time to accomplish things (or rest your eyes) on your way to work. When the weather’s warmed up a bit–or the snow melted, at the very least–consider biking or walking to work. Most people who try it for awhile find that the benefits of the exercise are inspiration enough to forgo the vehicle. Click here to read more

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Could it be true? Did American auto finally snap out of its long denial that bigger is not better? Sort of - and all it took was an unprecedented spike in oil prices. GM announced today that it is shutting down 4 light truck and SUV plants and will shift its focus to building more fuel-efficient vehicles. Additionally, GM announced it will possibly sell its Hummer division, which has become the international poster boy of gas guzzling SUVs. The struggling automaker has felt the hurt of enormous losses over the last several years as its investments in large SUVs have fallen short of international automakers such as Toyota and Honda’s releases of smaller, “sippier” cars such as the Prius and Accord.

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