Ya’ll know me, so I have to be honest and say right up front that I don’t buy into this gloom and doom, we’re gonna cook ourselves to death global warming stuff. I do however think that when we were told to take dominion over the earth and subdue it, that also carried a responsibility to use the resources we’ve been given wisely. There’s no need to waste the gifts we’ve been given.
So, yes, I do sometimes read some stuff about global warming, because I find that there are some good common sense things we can do to leave a smaller footprint on the earth, and I am all for that. Today, I read this list of 20 ways to lower your carbon footprint.
I was glad to see that we are already doing quite a few of these things. For instance, the number one item on the list is setting your hot water heater to 120 degrees. We do that, and have done it anytime we have control of the hot water heater because of the children. It’s a safety issue for us, because water hotter than that can result in severe burns before you can jerk your hand out of the water stream.
We also planted trees recently, which is number 6 on the list. Now, I freely admit the world environment was not at the fore-front of my mind when I did that. I was thinking about my own inside environment, and my cooling bill. See, I strategically planted those trees so that they would shade the side of my house that gets abominably HOT every afternoon in the summer.
There are several other things on the list that we are doing as well, because they either fit my pocketbook NOW, or promise to help it LATER. It’s apparent that my reasons for doing things the way I do are pretty self-serving, isn’t it? But if you want to give me credit for helping the environment, I’ll take it.
Regardless of the final impact on the environment (from a doom and gloom perspective) I think it is self serving to take care of the environment. I do not think there is anything wrong in being self serving in this manner nor in protecting your pocket book either!
I have done almost of all of them.
Some other things I have done that I believe has even more impact is to:
1. Get rid of my car and use public transport instead.
2. Spend my vacations sailing instead of flying away to some sunny place.
Thanks Brett. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who thinks this way.
I agree getting rid of the car is a good option IF one has public transportation available. that’s not the case in much of the US, including the area I live in.
🙂
I got rid of my car a year ago. I still have a small motorcycle which gets 60mpg.
For our family my wife has a van for hauling all of us around (2 adults and 3 kids).
I live 27 miles outside of Atlanta, which is about 10 miles past the effective public transportation. So if I want to use the trains, I have to drive 10 miles (40 minute drive) to catch the train and go the other 15.
You’ll find the situation worse once you get to NC. That’s one thing I really miss about Europe. They have incredible public transportation systems. Cheap, efficient, fast, easy to get to.