Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Si cambiamos pequeños hábitos, como reciclar y elegir productos orgánicos, nuestra huella de carbono baja. - If we change small habits, like recycling and choosing organic products, our carbon footprint goes down.

Si + present indicative for real or likely situations and general truths.
- Si cambiamos pequeños hábitos, … = If we change small habits (whenever we do this), …
Si + imperfect subjunctive + conditional for unreal or unlikely situations.
- Si cambiáramos pequeños hábitos, nuestra huella de carbono bajaría.
  = If we changed small habits (but we don’t / it’s unlikely), our carbon footprint would go down.

Using si cambiemos is ungrammatical in standard Spanish. The present subjunctive does not follow si in this kind of conditional clause.

Why is the second verb baja (present) instead of bajará or bajaría?

Spanish often uses the present indicative to state general truths, cause–effect relationships, and habitual results:

Si cambiamos pequeños hábitos, nuestra huella de carbono baja.
= If we change small habits, our carbon footprint goes down (as a general rule).

You could say:

… bajará → more like will go down (a specific future result).
… bajaría → part of an unreal/less likely scenario (and would normally go with si cambiáramos).

Here, baja matches the idea of a general, predictable outcome.

Could we also say Si cambiamos pequeños hábitos, nuestra huella de carbono bajará? What is the difference?

Yes, that is correct Spanish, but the nuance changes:

Si cambiamos pequeños hábitos, nuestra huella de carbono baja.
General statement: whenever we do this, this is what happens.
Si cambiamos pequeños hábitos, nuestra huella de carbono bajará.
More focused on a future consequence of a specific change (e.g. a plan or decision we’re thinking about now).

Both are grammatical; the original is more like a general principle.

Why is there no subject pronoun nosotros in the sentence?

Spanish is a “pro‑drop” language: subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending already shows the subject.

cambiamos = we change
baja (with nuestra huella) makes it clear the footprint belongs to us.

You could say:

Si nosotros cambiamos pequeños hábitos, …

but nosotros would add emphasis or contrast (e.g. if *we change them, as opposed to others*). It isn’t needed for basic clarity.

Why is the adjective before the noun: pequeños hábitos instead of hábitos pequeños?

In Spanish, adjectives can go before or after the noun, but the position can slightly change the feel:

hábitos pequeños (adjective after) → more neutral, descriptive (habits that are small).
pequeños hábitos (adjective before) → often a bit more expressive or subjective, focusing on the “smallness” as an idea (almost little habits).

Many common adjectives (bueno, malo, grande, pequeño, nuevo, viejo, etc.) are frequently placed before the noun, especially in more natural, flowing speech.

Both orders are grammatically correct here; pequeños hábitos simply sounds very natural and slightly more idiomatic.

What does como mean here? Is it “as”, “like”, or “for example”? And why is there a comma before it?

Here como means “such as / like / for example”:

pequeños hábitos, como reciclar y elegir productos orgánicos
≈ small habits, such as recycling and choosing organic products

About the comma:

With the comma (hábitos, como reciclar…) the phrase como reciclar y elegir productos orgánicos is read as a parenthetical example → habits, for example recycling and choosing organic products.
Without the comma (hábitos como reciclar…) it sounds slightly more restrictive, like habits such as recycling and choosing organic products (as opposed to other kinds).

Both are possible; the comma makes it clear that we’re just giving examples.

Why are reciclar and elegir in the infinitive and not reciclamos and elegimos?

Spanish uses the infinitive to talk about actions in a general, abstract way, similar to English “recycling, choosing” (your -ing nouns):

hábitos, como reciclar y elegir productos orgánicos
= habits, such as recycling and choosing organic products

If you said como reciclamos y elegimos, it would sound like we specifically are in the habit of doing those things, describing our current routine, not possible examples of habits in general. The infinitive keeps it impersonal and generic.

Why is there no article before productos orgánicos? Why not elegir los productos orgánicos?

When talking about plural, non‑specific things in general, Spanish often omits the article:

elegir productos orgánicos
= to choose organic products (in general, some/any organic products)

Using los productos orgánicos would usually imply:

a specific set of organic products (maybe previously mentioned or known), or
all organic products as a defined group.

In this context we just mean choosing organic products instead of non‑organic ones, in general, so no article is more natural.

Does elegir work like “to choose” or “to elect”? Is it irregular?

Elegir covers both ideas:

to choose/select:
- elegir productos orgánicos = to choose organic products
to elect (in politics / positions):
- elegir a un presidente = to elect a president

It is irregular in the present tense:

Stem change e → i
- yo elijo
- tú eliges
- él/ella elige
- ellos eligen
And the g → j spelling change in yo elijo to keep the soft “g” sound.

In the sentence you only see the infinitive, elegir, which is the base form.

Why is it nuestra huella and not nuestro huella?

In Spanish, possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su, nuestro/a, vuestro/a) agree in gender and number with the noun, not with the owner.

huella is feminine singular → nuestra huella
If it were masculine singular (e.g. impacto), you’d say nuestro impacto.
Plural feminine: nuestras huellas; plural masculine: nuestros hábitos.

So nuestra huella de carbono is grammatically required because huella is feminine.

What does huella de carbono literally mean, and is it a common expression?

Literally:

huella = footprint, trace, mark
de carbono = of carbon

So huella de carbono is exactly carbon footprint. It’s a very common fixed phrase in environmental discussions in Spanish, just like in English.

It’s always feminine because huella is feminine:
- mi huella de carbono, tu huella de carbono, nuestra huella de carbono.

What exactly does baja mean here? Is it “goes down”, “is lower”, or “decreases”?

Baja is the 3rd person singular of bajar, which here means “to go down / to decrease”.

In this context, all of these are close equivalents:

our carbon footprint goes down
our carbon footprint decreases
our carbon footprint is reduced (roughly)

It does not mean “is lower” in a static sense; it suggests a change: it moves from a higher level to a lower one.

More formal synonyms in Spanish would be disminuye, se reduce.

Could you say disminuye instead of baja? Would that sound more formal?

Yes:

… nuestra huella de carbono disminuye.
… nuestra huella de carbono se reduce.

Both are correct and more formal/technical than baja.

baja → everyday, colloquial/neutral.
disminuye / se reduce → a bit more formal/scientific, common in reports, articles, etc.

Can you change the word order to Baja nuestra huella de carbono? Is that still correct?

Yes, both are correct:

Nuestra huella de carbono baja. (neutral)
Baja nuestra huella de carbono. (slightly more emphasis on the verb/result)

Spanish allows relatively flexible word order. Starting with baja can:

sound a bit more dramatic or stylistic, or
focus the listener first on the change (the fact that it goes down) and then on what goes down.

Grammatically, both versions are fine in this sentence.

In Spain, is productos orgánicos the most usual term, or do people say productos ecológicos?

In Spain (Peninsular Spanish), you will very often see and hear:

productos ecológicos

on packaging, in supermarkets, and in everyday speech.

Productos orgánicos is also understood and used, but:

ecológico/a is more common in Spain, especially in marketing and legal labels.
orgánico/a is frequent in some technical contexts and in many Latin American countries.

So a very natural, “Spain-sounding” version would be:

… como reciclar y elegir productos ecológicos, …