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Doing my part to save the world

Here are Ten Things to Do to help stop global warming, with commentary by me!

1. Change a light -- Switch from regular to compact flourescent lightbulbs. Am planning to do this as soon as my stock of regular lightbulbs runs out.

2. Drive less. Would love to, seriously, but I have a daily 60-mile commute. I am being more conscious of driving less on the weekends. And our next car will be a hybrid!

3. Recycle more. We're lucky; we have curbside recycling and they take just about everything except plastic bags.

4. Check your tires -- to improve gas mileage. I never think of doing this.

5. Use less hot water. We have low-flow showerheads (which oddly enough give really good water pressure -- they're of European design) and I wash almost everything in cold. Except myself. Ha!

6. Avoid products with a lot of packaging. I have more to say about this later.

7. Adjust your thermostat -- 2 degrees up in summer and 2 degrees down in winter. Ours is 78 in summer and 66 (I think) in the winter. I'm giving myself credit for that one already.

8. Plant a tree. Whoops -- we just lost one tree to lightning and cut another one down because I hated it. (It was a crepe myrtle tree and was shedding buds all over the deck, which the dog and kids tracked in and the buds were everywhere! everywhere!) But, I just ordered some stuff from Eddie Bauer and made a $1 contribution to their plant-a-tree fund. So I get credit for that one too.)

9. Turn off electronic devices when not in use. I used to leave my work computer on; now I shut it down every night. Woohoo for me.

10. Spread the word! Well, Number 10 is apparently going to see, or buying the DVD of, Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth; I got this list from the film's website. I haven't seen the film but I am concerned about global warming, so here I am spreading the word. Good for me!

Here's the original list.

I would write more but I have a cold and haven't slept for the past two nights. Neither have my kids! Hurrah! Being sick while your kids are also sick is really hard. Little kids don't want to lay down and rest when they're sick, oh no, they still want to run around and play. Good for them for being such little troopers, but also, leave me alone so I can nap.

Comments

aimee said…
I had a cold last week, so I know how you feel.

Thanks for spreading the word. I do use better lightbulbs, I don't drive to much but have an SUV, we have curbside recycling too, don't check the tires, use lots of hot water, we are good on the thermostat business, I think we will have to plant a tree because our willow is dying, and I turn things off. So, I am doing okay. Could be better. Small steps. :)

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