Thanks to WALL-E, and other highly influential figures in our society, we know how important protecting and preserving our planet really is. We all have a role to play, and you can do your part by taking small steps to ensure your car, whether hybrid or not, is up-to-scratch environmentally.

Here are some quick, easy green-driving tips for before, during and after you put the car in drive:

• Avoid flooring the gas pedal. Did you know that one second of high-powered driving could produce nearly the same volume of carbon monoxide emissions as a half hour of normal driving?
• Anticipate stops. Let your car coast to a stop instead of slamming your foot on the breaks.
• Keep to the speed limit! Driving just 10 mph over the limit will lower your fuel economy by 10 percent!
• Avoid rush hour. When you sit in stop-and-go traffic, not only do you burn gas, but you also increase smog-causing pollutants into the air.
• Don’t use your trunk as an extension to your closet. Carrying around an extra 100 lbs in your car reduces your fuel economy by about one percent.
• Keep your tires properly inflated. For every three pounds below recommended pressure, fuel economy goes down by about one percent.
• Park in the shade in summer to keep your car cool and minimize the evaporation of fuel. If you have to park outdoors, windshield shades can cut down on summer heat and help keep the frost off in the winter.

You may also want to check your own car’s fuel economy. Fueleconomy.gov has a really useful tool to determine just how efficient your car is. You can customize your annual mileage to get personalized estimates and compare the fuel efficiency of your car against other models.

Go check it out for yourself! Its pretty eye opening!

For a woman who only in recent years purchased a cell phone, it seems that the only times it rings and she answers is when she’s driving.

This is half the reason I hesitate to call my mother on weekends — for fear that she will see it’s me and answer the phone while she’s driving. I can just see my mom behind the wheel, uttering a few, well chosen four-letter words because she can’t reach the phone located in her purse that she has flung, unceremoniously into the backseat.

But I am not alone (which is always good to know), my friends! The Pew Research Center recently released a study that found three in four, or 75 percent, of cell-owning adults say they have talked on a cell phone while driving. “Among all adults, that translates into 61 percent who have talked on a cell phone while driving. That compares to 43 percent of teens that said they had talked on their phones while driving,” as reported in a 2009 Pew Research survey.

Also, nearly half, or 47 percent, “of all texting adults say they have sent or read a text message while driving.” That compares to one in three, or 34 percent, of texting teens that said they had “texted while driving” in the 2009 survey.

You can read the full report here, if you like.

Now, I know what you are thinking: “Well then, why do adults think they can tell me not to text and drive or talk on my cell phone when they do it themselves?!”

While understandable, that’s the wrong attitude to have. To me, this survey gives teens the ability to empower themselves and take their safety, and the safety of their families into their own hands.

My advice? Print out the key findings and randomly place them throughout your home for your parents to find. Let’s think of some fun and strategic places to put them:

• In your mom or dad’s wallets
• Place them in the cup holders, or somewhere in the car where your parents usually place their cell phones
• On their pillows
• In lieu of placemats, print them out on large pieces of paper and use them to set the table
• Tape a sheet to the fridge
• Place individual stats in your parent’s shoes
• Tape them to the milk carton
• Stick them in cereal boxes
• Wrap them around the eggs in the egg carton

I think you get the idea – be annoyingly informed, and revel in the fact that you have scientific data to back you up when your dad finds Pew Research in his omelet.

I know I will when mom finds, “Beyond driving, one in six (17%) cell-owning adults say they have physically bumped into another person or an object because they were distracted by talking or texting on their phone” swimming in her Sunday bowl of pasta!