The hopeful thing is there's something
we can do!
A few months ago Kid Two brought home An Inconvenient
Truth, the movie that won Al Gore an Academy Award.
As we watched it, two things hit me like a ton of bricks. The first:
why am I truly just taking the enormity of this issue to my heart now?
Why has it taken so long? The second: why did this man not become president
of the United States. Take the money spent on war in Iraq and global
warming would
be solved!
The best part of that film is its hopeful ending. There is something
each of us can do.
Sunday and Monday nights, my first husband and I watched the Attenborough
film on global warming. It too had a hopeful conclusion. Empowering,
even.
When the issue is worldwide and so big, when China is poised to live
like the western world, with our consumptive habits, can we really halt
the change we have wrought?
No longer will I listen to people who laugh this issue away as fearmongering.
I believe.
So, as a family that's been composting since 1972, what else can we
do? Well, we can become absolutely vehement about the organic program,
that's for sure. And we can purchase food that comes with no packaging
at all... and get out of the middle aisles in the grocery store. In
fact, we can buy locally produced food as much as possible. We can turn
off the tap as we brush our teeth, quicken our showers, and switch the
washing machine to cold wash, cold rinse. Done. We haven't used our
dishwasher since the kids left, so that's a good feeling.
We can make a goal to reduce our car use by 20% this next half year.
And how do we do that? We carpool a little more, and we schedule our
workdays so there are whole days where we do deskwork and don't even
turn the key in the ignition. Change the schedule, help reduce carbon
emissions.
The Attenborough film suggested we should all move to vehicles that
get at least 60 miles to the gallon. Well, we've done that! No gas guzzlers
for us.
Even if you've lived a consumer life that's aware, there's still so
much to do. Natural cake soap instead of liquid soap in yet another
plastic container. Minimal or no packaging. Recycle old clothes into
rags, drop off serviceable goods to second hand locations. Turn off
stereos, televisions, computers, printers if they're not being used.
Better still, restrict their use to one hour or less a day. Well, the
television, anyway. But, it might not hurt to cut back on computer time,
too.
Cook in a toaster oven instead of a stove oven. Take a long look at
the chemical content of whata's washing our dishes, our bodies, our
clothes, our floors and dusting our furniture. Get the most natural
formulations possible, not just for the cottage but all year long.
Stop driving through drive-throughs. Park. Get out. Walk inside. Say
hello to the person behind the counter. Get your stuff. Walk back out.
Get back in vehicle. There now! Feel a little healthier? Sure, you do!
Take cloth bags to not only the grocery store, but to the clothing
store, the electronics store, the office supply store. Turn down plastic
bags whenever possible. Ask for paper bags at the grocery store and
then use them in our organic bin. Makes sense.
Put environmental lightbulbs in every single socket inside and outside
our house. Every single one. Watch the hydro bill drop.
Consider wind energy. Consider calling Dommel Valley Green Power and
see what alternative power really looks like. Consider solar. Call Chris
Colthius as Solar Wind Electric and get the goods and a quote on alternatives.
Look at just-in-time hot water systems. Look at the cost of a high-efficiency
furnace.
Don't throw out water... grade its use.
As we listened to both shows, we decided we could step up our efforts
to live more responsibly on this earth. We looked out on the deck at
the Christmas presents that are waiting for winter to leave... environmentally
friendly kayaks and human powered movement systems (paddles) and we
long for
the warmer weather that will let us take recreation in a meaningful
way.
There is much we can do. I guess it starts with awareness. And both
of those films are excellent stimuli for change. A great family activity
to watch and develop a game plan.
In fact, I'm interested in changes you and your families are making,
at work, at home, at play. Let me know and I'll share them.
And,
Al? Thanks!
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