a lightbulb went on, now off.

several days ago, we committed to ourselves and to the earth, even if in beginner level, to do our part to save energy. meanwhile, we still drive a gas guzzling land rover discovery, i drive to work instead of walking 2 blocks, and i keep certain lights on in the house just because i like the mood.

several months ago, we watched al gore's "inconvenient truth". in my opinion, it is a very fact-based documentary that explains to us why the earth's glaciers are melting, how the polar bears are screwed, and why there is an increase in the heat records every year. again, in my opinion, the information is real and not a farce for political agenda. i felt severely effected by the data the night that we watched it, stayed up that night thinking about it, and then the next day, carried on with ridiculous, selfish consumption. 3 months later, still i (we) have done nothing.

so finally last week, the lightbulb went on (now we'll turn it off) - that we owe it to the earth to slow down the abuse.
again know that our household's list of efforts are just so tiny, but we decided to start little by little to make our habits stick....then hopefully soon someday, we'll go for a complete overhaul of our lifestyle.

our list for the short-term:
1. our recycle bin is full again from the past week's plastic and glass. our sweet little town offers a trouble-free pickup. why, for the past 6 months, did we stop using it? because we are selfish and lazy and often, unrightfully feel "untouchable". i think?

2. we unplugged our phone chargers. matt saw (we think from a reliable news source) that by unplugging 1 phone charger from the wall, we can save $200 per year. that would be $400 for our household, and that less energy consumed from the earth. other plug-ins with no "off/on" mechanism? we are looking into what else should be unplugged.

3. the lighbulbs. we had light bulbs on our grocery list. we took the plunge and bought energy-saving bulbs for just 3 dollars more for the 3 pack. BIG DEAL. they last 5 years! matt saw (again, from what we think is a reliable news source), that replacing 5 old energy guzzling 60watts with 5 new energy saving 13watt bulbs, decreases energy equivalant to taking 8 million cars of the road in a year's span. that sounds impossible. we are verifying the factoid, but regardless of the more or less 8 million cars, SWITCH THE LIGHTBULBS.
as for lighting strength: the 13watt is ALITTLE bit dimmer than a traditional 60 watt. i love that...but if you prefer brighter light, go up to the next wattage. www.environmentaldefense.org nicely identifies proper bulbs for proper lighting... dimmable, candelabra, three-way, yada yada.

4. recycled paper towels. we can't buy it at our new super wal-mart ofcourse. we will look at the health food stores this week, but most likely will buy online. SEVENTH GENERATION paper towels look good and seem to be reasonable, @ www.gaiam.com.

the end. (i mean, beginning.)
c