1. Turn off your heat when you are not there. Well at least turn it down. We live in a place where we do not need much heat so I just turned off our heat. Otherwise turn it down to a level good enough to keep the pipes from freezing (50-55F)
2. Unplug appliances. I ran around the house before we left making sure everything was unplugged. Phantom power - when appliances are turned off they still take energy (coal/oil)!
3. Make your own! I will be making lasagna for the day before Thanksgiving and I have not bought a box of pasta in over a year (if not more). If you make your own noodles it is easy and tastes 10 times better than those random hard noodles you buy in the store. Home made actually soak up the tastes of whatever you make. Next time you buy pasta in the store, read the ingredients. The ingredients should be flour, eggs and water. See what you find! Lots of items that should not be in there.
4. Pack a cooler. Yes we are driving 16 hours for the Holiday. Yes we are taking David's gas guzzler but much comfier and more roomy truck. So I do what I can and packed a cooler so we would not eat fast food. I packed us some drinks to so we wouldn't have to stop and buy styrofoam gas station cups. I will recycle the cans of Hansen's Natural Soda (total hipster).
So do what you can this Thanksgiving and make a commitment to do something! Think about your actions and make some different choices. A little bit does add up.
Which reminds me:
I recently listened to a guest speaker who talked about climate change. I found myself perplexed by some of what he was saying. Most of his presentation was urging and demonstrating that climate change is real. My opinion: Of course it is real, lets move on and talk about what we can do about it!
At times during his presentation I felt like he was being persuaded somehow by the oil companies. He stated that we can not live in a world without oil and argued that the Toyota Prius is more environmentally degrading than the Hummer. Interesting point that I have heard before. He stated that the hybrid battery used in the prius is made of nickel which is an extremely environmentally degrading process to harvest. Click here to read a good article explaining the argument. The nickel battery is shipped across the oceans to Japan and back before being used but guess what so are regular lead batteries. Another part of this argument is that the Hummer lasts three times as long as a hybrid. From the research I did that is not necessarily true. Also - just like a lot of this gentleman's presentation this Prius vs Hummer argument is old. The article I linked to is from 2007. Technology is fast moving. Some car companies have started a loan process for the batteries so that they can recycle and continue to use the same batteries instead of harvesting new materials. Climate change is a dynamic changing force with much going on day to day. If you are so inclined to speak about it, you better have the most up to date info. Many times during the presentation he mentioned that he needed to update his slides.
The other big problem I had with his talk is basically his debunking of my job and my viewpoint. I truly believe that if we all do a little bit to help out the environment it will add up. Just like if you save 25 cents per day it adds up, or if you work out a little bit every day your health gets better, or if you add trash to the trash can every day it adds up. Well if you do something small to help the environment every day it will help. It may not make a huge difference if just you do it, but there are 7 billion people in the world. Together, even just 1/4 of that population can make a difference. A huge difference.
I think what happened is the speaker was a bit deflated about his work. He needs some posititvity brought back into his life that we can make a difference. I didn't get a chance to speak with him after but I wish I did. Smile buddy and go out and make a difference yourself. You have the opportunity to speak to thousands of people. Prep your slides, get back involved and make a difference.
"Be the change you want to see in the world." Ghandi.
You can make a difference. Start small and dream big!
Tidbits add up!
Great post, Naima! Your positive attitude is one of those awesome things that will keep forcing people to make changes for the better. Hope you're still getting to influence tons of kids positively (and adults in turn). Great blogging!
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