As long as your job can be performed relatively independently, negotiating to do the work from home - perhaps via the internet - can have a marked impact on the environment. The roads are less clogged, and you aren't burning fuel twice a day to get to a worksite or office.

I program firmware for a living. Inspired originally by the movie "The Net" with Sandra Bullock, I purposely sought positions where an employer was willing to let me telecommute. In my case, the first such job was games programming, which was purely software. The current job requires some electronic test equipment and company hardware but is manageable on a small desk.

There are a few prerequisites to finding such work. One is that the job has to need skills that are difficult to find elsewhere. This gives you the leverage to make a work-from-home arrangement. Another is that the employer must trust you to actually do the work, and to this end using an online management site like Unfuddle is valuable. Daily reports tell the boss exactly what you've achieved. Finally, tools like Skype can assist if, as in my case, your employer is remote. Mine is currently living in Sweden and we need to talk occasionally.

Finally, there are some tax deductions that can be claimed in such circumstances. I claim depreciation on my equipment and PC as well as a proportion of telephone, internet and lighting costs.

Call centre work and some government admin jobs can now be done from home too. Seek them out!