"I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense . . ." -Thomas Paine
Paine wrote Common Sense in 1776 as a pamphlet to stir the hearts of Americans to the cause of revolution. He was actually born in England and moved to America later in his life.
Today is a new age. We are now faced with the problems of overpopulation, pollution, and the enigmatic threat of global warming. The solution is the same as it always has been when it comes to overthrowing the mainstream mindset in favor of a more practical way of doing things or thinking: revolution. This will be known as the Green Revolution, in which we decide the fate of our own planet by either passive igornance or active prevention.
Like Paine, I too was born on the wrong side of the issue. When gas was routinely right around $1.00 a gallon, my family drove with no thought of miles per gallon, pollution, or anything. My dad drove a Ford pickup and my mom drove an Explorer, both of which I'm sure were gas hogs by today's standards. No one really cared back then. It was the early 90's and people just didn't have to worry about it. Gas was plentiful and prices were stable.
Also like Paine, I've tried to turn from my ways. However, for me it's not the same as moving from one place to another and preaching about change; I have to live it each day. I've always been conscientious of waste. Ironically given what I just said of my parents, it was probably my mom that influenced me the most to not waste. Here in Indiana, the summers do get hot. My mom would almost always wait until either the humidity in the house was unbearable or the inside temperature rose above 85 before she would close windows and turn on the air conditioner.
I was watching the David Letterman Show a couple nights ago, and the actress who played Elaine on Seinfeld was on talking about being green. She had some really good ideas, but I think she was giving Americans options that are too easy in hopes of not scaring them away.
I'm not worried about scaring you away, I feel strongly about this and I want you to realize what effects you have on the environment.
She talked about turning your thermostat down two degrees in the winter and up two degrees in the summer in hopes of conserving energy. Two degrees?? Are you telling me that you're only willing to give two degrees off your comfort level to not only help save the environment but also save money? What she said actually took a moment to sink in for me when she said it. You see, I grew up in a house where the internal temperature completely depended on the season. There was no such thing as a set temperature. It would vary day to day, season to season. When the furnace was on, it would never get above 70 degrees. When the A/C was on, it would never drop below 80 degrees. Of course it was hot sometimes! Of course it was hard to sleep sometimes! But we saved hundreds of dollars on our electric bill by not being completely comfortable. Step outside your comfort zones and encourage others to do the same.
Another issue isn't really one that we can directly effect, and that is one of public transportation. I live in Indianapolis right now, one of the most car-dependent places I've ever been (another that comes to mind is Detroit for obvious reasons). Indiana is a state which has definite centers of interest scattered throughout the countryside: Fort Wayne, South Bend, Evansville, Muncie, Terra Haute, Indianapolis. People like to travel between these spots, and many people travel between several of them quite frequently. Wouldn't this all be easier if we had a train route? I mean seriously, Indiana was one of the first states to work on good transportation. It began with canals in the 19th century (though a couple of those were never actually finished; i.e. Broadripple canal). It continued with trains, where we originally got our state's motto: "Crossroads of America." It's in our heritage to be on the forefront of good transportation.
Imagine, if you had 20 people on a bus going from South Bend to Indianapolis, you would be saving 20 cars-worth of gas. 140 miles, 20 people, one bus. Let's say the bus gets 20 mpg and each person's car would have averaged 25 mpg. Each person would end up using 5.6 gallons of gas, and for all 20 people, that means that 112 gallons of gas would be used to transport them to Indianapolis. By all of them using the bus, only 6 gallons of gas is used. Imagine the possibilities if instead of a bus, it was a train, which gets even better mileage! Write to your Senators, Representatives, Governors, and even Federal officials if you are adamant about this.
It's an issue of personal freedom, and ultimately it comes down to whether Americans would really choose to be green and leave behind what they're comfortable with in a real effort to do what's right.
A few of you seemed to be more knowledgeable than I about the windows down vs. A/C argument. It makes perfect sense that, given the insane amount of emphasis carmakers put on aerodynamics that windows down would be illogical. In fact it is, but only at speeds above 50 miles per hour (keep in mind that these figures are also variable on the vehicle being driven). Below that, which I believe constitutes the typical daily driving situation of almost all Americans, windows down makes more sense. So those of you who get in your car to drive to work across town and turn on the A/C, shame on you. Unless it's ridiculously hot, roll the windows down and take the heat. You'll save money and gas.
In conclusion, I urge you all to go out there and research on your own for more ways to become "green" and help our environment. All of these things I've mentioned would also help ease our dependence on foreign energy, a critical issue affecting the price of gas. Work toward it. It will take some time to adjust, but don't give up. Don't be passive, it's too late for that. It's time for action.
Troy
Comments (171)
Some other things you can do:
Buy recyclable cloth shopping bags. Most grocery stores sell them for 99 cents or if you sew or know someone who sews you could ask them to make some. I know from experience that plastic bags are a waste because my pantry is filled with them.
Instead of buying a bottle of water everytime you want one you could save one bottle and refill it. If you don't like tap water buy the refillable jugs, or you could boil the water yourself. That's something my mom does.
Also if you have to print out a lot of pages for school or something print on both sides. Also if you don't have to print it out read it on the computer, I know Word has an option so you can highlight text.
If you want to get really extreme I had some friends (they're vegan) this is an important point because they didn't have to freeze meat. They unplugged their fridge in the winter and put their refridgerated items in a cooler in their car and only drove when they absolutly had to.
Instead of putting you computer on stand by shut it down. Unplug appliances, and unused electronics. (this is a habit I need to get into.) Unplug phone and battery chargers that aren't being used.
Those are some of the tips that I've heard most of them aren't that inconvenient.
All great ideas. Way to be. :)
This reminds me of "The Green Green Manifesto"...but anyway I wanted to point out that everyone is writing about Thomas Paine today. yay.
Interesting points, and a good challenge. I am probably bad on this since my utility bills are payed by the U.S. Army. Of course, I'm conservative as possible on gas, I have to pay for that!
thanks for the info about you blog post, and yeah I am nerviouse about the camera I should be getting in the mail soon... I am excited too I just want it to get here and start playing with it. But yeah its a real investment almost 2000 dollars totally but the camera is coming with a lens, filters, and a tripod (as my old one is broke)... I am excited about the lens too. Its a Marco lens, with a Marco lens flash as well that attaches to the front of the lens... I have three Canon lens so far the basics really... and they are inter-changable with this new camera, but this new lens I can continue to take my close up pictures of leaves, flowers, bugs etc. :) . its pretty exciting!
~Amy
Dear Troy,
I just gave this entry the best accolade I can think of, and recommended it to my subscribers and friends. The first Earth Day was in 1970, when I was a junior in high school. We were an active class in our school, and although the biggest thing our class accomplished was to break the school dress code (from the 50s) we also had a committed called the "Eco Action Committee." I was one of the founders of this group, started for Earth Day and continuing through the next year at least. There weren't many of us in the group. About 20. But we talked about global warming BACK THEN and nobody listened.
I drove a VW bug, and I was a motorcyclist for a long time. My Eclipse gets about 28-32 mpg. I took public transportation for about 5 years when I lost my license. I'd take the train today to work (if we had one) And talk about cities where you need a car to get around. I think Los Angeles would be the first on the list. The city was designed around the automobile.
I'm almost finished replacing all my light bulbs with the "green" ones and I'd be driving a hybrid if they made a convertible. (I need an open car) I've wondered why with all the scooters around these days, they aren't electric. GM killed their EV (electric vehicle) about 4 years ago. (which was popular in California for a while. )
I just hope it's not "too late" for the world. The ice caps and glaciers which have been around for thousands of years are melting. I pray the world can hold together with help.
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
This is excellent and incredibly true. I hope EVERYONE in Xanga reads it. I rec'd.
OY!!!
I'm going to have to print this out in order to read it. Sorry!!!
I'll try to get back to comment, later.
@baldmike2004 - Wow, thanks! You don't recommend much, so that's really quite the honor. I also had no idea that the global warming theory even existed in the 70's. I really wish I could afford a hybrid too. As much as I like my car, a hybrid would make me feel a lot better about driving. The EVs never caught on here in Indiana. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen one. Thanks again for the recommend!
@nidan - Not exactly the "green" thing to do, but I hope you enjoy this entry anyway!
i never willingly watch late nite television. none of them are all that funny. i don't even think conan is anything special, despite all my stoner friends.
ambrose
These "issues" are so overblown. I hate pollution, too, but I don't feel a moral obligation to turn up or down my AC. It's all politics.
Bring tha Paine! Awwwww yeaaaaah!
You're right. We all should be willing to be less than 100% comfortable now and then for the greater good.
My favorite: walk to your errands on nice days. Doesn't matter if it takes 5x as long. Walking is time well spent.
Trains Run On Electricity! YAY... Wait... We're Not Burning Fossil Fuels To Generate Electricity Right?
RIGHT?!
@TheNegativeGoat - You forgot to end your italics. Lol
@Amarisa - Well, whatever you say. I think it's just lazy not to adjust your heating or cooling depending on the season. 67 is tolerable in the winter. In the summer, I like to come home and have it be cooler than outside, but not so I feel like I have to throw on a sweatshirt! 75-80 are good summer inside temperatures. Cooler feels cold and hotter is usually pretty uncomfortable.
I pretty much never have my A/C on in my car, with or without the windows down depending on the weather.
Good post!
Thank you for writing this.
Global warming seriously scares me.
Okay, so I'm on the Xanga home page getting ready to sign in, and look! There's Troy at the very top of Featured weblogs! Congrats!
I live in Bloomington, and I agree about the train idea across Indiana. I admit I've never been fond of the buses here, but a train system, at least to and about Indy, would be incredible.
I'm trying to avoid A/C as long as possible. So far I haven't used it at all. Way to be.
I came to this thru bald mike....excellent post! I wish more people thought like this.
I drive a scion xA 1.5L motor, gets about 32-37mpg =)
I'm surprised you don't mention recycling. Long before the earth goes kaput from overheating, we'll run out of landfill space. Your local grocery store probably has a bin for taking back the plastic bags. Plastics, cans and newspapers are the easiest to recycle, and they're also some of the biggest offenders.
I made a customer angry yesterday when I asked her to be reasonable about gas prices, considering how much Europe pays for gas. Plus nobody wants to hear the ranting.
I've done the plastic bottle thing for as long as I can remember, although drinking out of bottles marked as five and below on the recycle symbol isn't very healthy, especially once the plastic bottle's been heated because it releases petroleum compounds into the water. Those plastic bottles are meant to be a one-time deal. I've thinking about using Kombucha bottles (made out of glass) instead of plastic but I'm wondering about the aftertaste/smell.
Also, I know a lot of stores give the customers five cents back for every cloth bag they bring with them to the grocery store. If you bring two, that's ten cents back. Eventually they pay for themselves. I do wish I had a dime for every time I heard "I forgot my bag in my car". I would probably have enough for a Fender now.
If people want to go out and be "green" on their own, good for them but I do not think it should be mandated by government. I do want the government to trying to run our lives. They have already passed legislation outlawing the use of incandescent light bulbs. It will not be long before the government tries to force us to be green.