Anyway, the show had a link to this game you can play to find out how many Earths there would need to be if everyone lived the way you do. I've done games like this before but, for some reason, this time it really hit home. I scored very low compared to most people: There would only need to be 2 Earths for me. But that's with not owning a second car and riding the bus instead. I got out our energy usage bill to see what our average payment is. On our bill is how much "Green Power" energy we use. We only signed up for a couple of blocks originally. With the electric bill comes a little "newsletter". The lead article is about Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) making rate changes ahead. It says "Of the $1 billion in capital spending for a new generation, $317 million is budgeted to begin construction of a second reactor unit at TVA's Watts Bar Nuclear Plant." I can't support that and I won't support it with my money. I just made the switch to full Green Power, even though it will cost us almost $40 more each month (and the nuclear reactor will be built anyway).
In the newsletter, there are several articles about how to save energy and about having energy audits done and buying energy efficient appliances and then there's an article on the annual "Christmas Lights" competition. Save energy by turning off your lights but be sure to plug your yard in for the month of December!
1 comment:
We also switched to all green power, but the increase was less than $10 a month (I live in Oregon). The bummer is wind power. While it is safe to say wind power is clean, the jury is out on the environmental impact overall. The wind towers are 400 feet high, and they erect about 40 at a time per wind farm (notice it's not called a wind factory, which is too scary sounding). The birds, bats, & insects are surely affected, but to what extent will only be known in the years to come. There is a huge argument going on (out where I live) about erecting a massive wind farm in a National Scenic Area. The turbines would be so close to people's homes, it is terrible. Can you imagine looking at those all day and night when your property used to overlook the beautiful Columbia River Gorge? ARGH!
Soooo, even though green power is good overall, we humans need to figure out how to manage our power needs without excessive environmental impact. Solar is the answer, I am sure. Why the government does not start regulate home building towards solar escapes me.
Oh yeah, we are talking about the government helping people, aren't we?
thanks for the good blog,
Laurie K
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