I am planning on walking to the store tonight - to fetch some locally made yogurt. Mr. and I have been doing this often. Small steps, small steps. Now gotta run to catch my bus… 
Bottled water imported from far away is especially wasteful, but bottled water generally is quite wasteful* if your tap water is safe to drink (which it is in most of the US, at least for now).
*Of your money as well as natural resources and environmental capacity.
And you can’t assume bottled water is even safe.
https://www.businessinsider.com/pfas-bottled-water-whole-foods-cvs-2019-7
Bottled water is a giant waste. Our company provides bottled drinks and tea/coffee. I refuse to touch the bottled stuff, but many indulge. Some folks tried to lobby the management to kill that, but the big boss loves his bottled and canned drinks.
https://www.consumerreports.org/bottled-water/should-we-break-our-bottled-water-habit/ notes that Americans spent $31 billion on bottled water in 2018, more than the $24 billion needed annually for maintenance of public tap water systems.
It also notes that poorer people are more likely to believe that bottled water is safer than tap water, and poorer people spend more on bottled water.
And for many poorer people (hello Flint and Newark) they are right to think bottled water is safer than tap water. 
Hate to say this but climate change is coming., period, no matter what a rich country like the US does, the rest of the world will be increasing their carbon footprint for the foreseeable future (the US is the only country that is currently reducing our carbon footprint). China’s output is going through the roof. The question will be how we will deal with it?
As individuals, we can stop buying junk made in China. Don’t buy a new ijunk every year, for example.
Thankfully, the US is NOT the only country reducing its carbon footprint.
One thing I learned from @doschicos’s quiz is that bamboo is a “carbon sink”. Many types of it can be quite invasive though so while we should plant more, we need to choose carefully.
Any woody plant that regenerates easily and grows fast is a carbon sink. Cellulose is C, H, O, and a small bit of other stuff.
Time to ditch that “premium” tea bag! Loose leaf tea all the way for me, or a paper baggie will do if nothing else is there.
what’s a “carbon sink” ?
Of course, it would help to use more of bamboo if lots of it is grown. Potential uses include food (bamboo shoots), eating and cooking utensils (chopsticks are the most common, but other utensils like forks, spoons, and knives are available), furniture, and construction.
Typically used to refer to something that removes CO2 from the atmosphere and locks in the carbon. Plant life is an obvious example.
And while China may not be doing enough for the climate - they are much further along as far as electric vehicles are concerned. The streets are full of quiet little scooters.
But didn’t they used to ride bicycles?
Economic progress/development might be good for people’s wellbeing in the short run but isn’t good for the environment. ex: move from bicycles to other means of transportation.
The world population has doubled since 1960 and is still increasing. We can’t go on living the way we have been.
China is actually at the forefront of a lot of eco-friendly innovation. Sadly, we’ve let China take the lead on this through our own poor national policy changes. It’s not only unfortunate from an environmental standpoint but also from a economic and job related perspective.
A “carbon sink” is a thing that absorbs more CO2 than it produces.
I’m involved with several nonprofits and political orgs. I’ve switched over all our meetings and events to reusable or biodegradable items including bamboo utensils. Goodbye plastic!
My 14 yod just did research on deforestation of jungles and was surprised by one of the major product contributors to jungle destruction…production of pet food bc most pet goods are made with this palm oil. (I can’t recall what type she said.)
(Jungles go back to that carbon sink.)
“China is actually at the forefront of a lot of eco-friendly innovation.”
I would not be so sure about that… I happen to know a little about and follow those innovations, but I definitely see an uptick.