You may or have not noticed, but I’m a green freak. This, however, is not solely connect to lime green as my favorite color; nay- I am a strong proponent of living green. And here’s why you should be too..
Economics-
Believe it or not, in many ways, it’s cheaper to buy green! Buying EnergyStar appliances will save you hundreds on annual electricity and gas bills (what did you think the water heater and refrigerator ran off of?). Being stingier with your water use will save you substantial amounts of money too- you’d honestly be surprised. Now am I suggesting you shower less often (well to a certain extent yes, to those of you who do it more than once a day) but mostly this means simply turning off the water while you brush your teeth (however TERRIBLY inconvenient it is!) or taking showers instead of baths.
Ecologically-
It’s simple. Even if you don’t believe in Global Warming (though you’d have to have had your head in the sand for a couple of decades now not to believe it by now) there is no denying that we are doing terrible things to our atmosphere. Skin cancer is on the rise (www.skincancer.org) and that’s only a small part of our problems. Smog is causing millions of people upper respiratory problems and forcing some out of their cities.
Now you are armed with a few of the basic facts, go champion your own reasons for being green. I have my own, and honestly, they’re less ecologically minded than economically minded.
I believe in sustainability.
Sustainability is idea that you remove yourself from the grid. You no long rely on the city to provide you your water, electricity, gas, you name it. In fact- any excess energy you generate, you can sell back to the city and make a little money! But back to sustainability- The Earthships Biotecture program has a creative solution to the sustainability problem (www.earthship.net) . They incorporate my favorite recycling technique into building their houses- Repurposing/Reusing. I <3 Repurposing.
Back to sustainability- I believe less in the ecological standpoint that it’ll “save the planet- yadda yadda”. The planet is on its way down. People are taking notice. Will people do anything about it? No. Not unless it’s convenient for them. That’s where I stand. I see the ecologic strong points to sustainability and think- “that’s nice.. but will it cost me less in the long run?” And the answer is (when used properly) yes. Solar Panels are a favorite of mine. They’re becoming cheaper and cheaper every month and reaching new efficiency levels everyday. Another fascinating alternative are wind turbines. These fickle energy producers are quite reliable actually and produce a surprising amount of energy just from the wind.
You might still wonder why you should go green. Here- let me spell out what I’ve been avoiding. O-I-L. It’s big, it’s dirty, and above all- it’s running out. No, no, I’m no dooms-day theorist, I’m merely pointing out that all of the oil pumps are working at full stomp and yet we’re not putting anymore oil into the ground- something’s got to give. If the world continues this love affair with hydrocarbons we will soon find ourselves paying through the nose for those last few drops in a few years. Why not forgo the ordeal altogether? If we transition (slowly) we can put money into the renewable energy market and help invest in more efficient technology in that field a few years earlier. You’ll see..
So what should you take away from this post for the week?
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
Honestly- they should consider adding “Repurpose.” to that list- it’s not enough fun without it!
Have a great green week!
- Jonathan
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