I just read a funny facebook post from my closest neighbour.
copy and paste: Stay warm folks! It was - 40°C today but it's getting warmer already, at -30°C. It's tropical
I think we crazies here all love that joke. It is always so true, after a cold spell, which did not last very long this time, when you poke your nose out of the door unaware that the temperature has rocketed up, I am like; wow, I can go out in a t-shirt. which then when trying that out is not true, but that is how it feels.
So yes Canada ( i don't know the rest of the world?) i think still has lots of cold places, but not here. My brother in Southren Alberta has quite a spell of what i used to call Yukon weather; bright sunny, still days, stark blue skies. hmmmm not so much here this winter. I am not complaining though. And this last cold spell lasting so short, i do find that unusual, often in my experience the cold would stick around a bit longer then the weather people predict.
So yes lets look after this wonderful planet we have. You might know i do not like the term climate change. I always feel there should be a term like; it is about time we start living wihtin our means!
I believe there is a sweet spot, where all is more balanced, that we live well, but without destroying the earth. So before i started typing here i turned of several lights in the house. I just need one, and so does my husband. so two lights are on, the computer (obviously), the fridge and the electric hot water tank. I feel that already indicates I have more luxery then i truely need.
I try to always be doing well with less. But still i find it needs constant vigilance, and for me, this trying, maybe i do not perse get joy from it, but it certainly prides me, and this kind of pride energizes me.
Lately I had a little setback in using fossil fuels. As Don is aging a support worker comes out once a week, driving around 150 km round trip to get to us. We are extremely grateful for their help. But i count it up on our footprint. Now because my husabnd used to like driving, we do less of that. But it turns out i still feel a need to be out and about most days, and walking everyday just doesn't quite cut it for me, so i go swimming, yes that cold plunge, which now after the cold spell, open water is going to be some 40 km from here.
I could do the snow dive ( right outside here) but that doesn't quite take me away from the house enough.
Any suggestions are welcome.
What do you do? And maybe first; do you have that need to be away from the house, that transport you faster then your own feet can?
4 comments:
My feet do not take me anywhere I want to go in a safe, timely way. It can feel overwhelming trying to save the planet, so I try to figure out what I can do easily. It may be combining trips, reusing instead of disposing, or keeping the thermostat a little lower. But if I worried about keeping every light turned out, I would go crazy. While every little bit helps, with LED light bulbs the effect is minimal. A few years ago, I got a device that measured the amount of watts different things in my house were using. And the numbers were surprisingly low. I don't know about where you live, but you can check those out from our local library. And while I want to save the planet for the future, I try to remember that's okay to live decently today.
I used be really concerned about my carbon footprint until I found out that British Petroleum, the second largest non-state owned oil company in the world, had hired public relations professionals to promote the idea of carbon footprint calculators. as early as 2004, putting the responsibility on individuals and their normal daily life – going to work, buying food, and traveling, telling us that this is supposedly responsible for heating the globe. Which is not the case, we only contribute marginally, even if we need to drive a petrol car to work. Our individual private actions to alleviate climate change are minimal, unless you fly a lot and buy a bigger car every year and heat the house with all windows open etc.
Yes, individual choices do add up, we can influence each other with what we do, but it's the "climate footprint" of the small percentage of super rich people, fossil-fuel corporations, the beef industry, the power companies, the airlines, plastics, and so much more, that are responsible and to combat that, we need changes based on putting pressure on politics to implement change.
I am sorry if I sound like a preacher here.
I cycle and walk, I use the car only for emergencies and we are lucky that we live in a place where all this is easy. We are probably going to give up the car and join one of the neighbourhood e-care share clubs. We got rid off the oil fired central heating and installed a wood pellet one because we can source good local factory waste wood pellets. We have PV solar panels on the roof and a solar energy storage system in the basement for surplus electricity. If there isn't enough sunlight, we buy electricity from a small local renewable supplier. It's taken a couple of years to get here and we were lucky to have received government funding for all of it. I stopped eating meat years ago.
My biggest carbon expenditure however, is when we meet our family, who live across the planet. I try to compensate for the flights by living the way I do.
I still feel like a hypocrite and all these carbon footprint calculators did their job, still make me feeling guilty.
Thank you both so much. yes yes it is ok to live decently, and yes about the cost of a light bulb is minimal, i do get that, but it seems both of you try to thread lightly, yes? And i do feel by doing that we do make a huge difference, and Sabine if nobody ate meat like you there would be no beef industry. What sparked my resolve (again) was an interview on the radio, with the energy company in our town the interviewer kept asking, how can we save energy, but the Yukon energy person kept dodging the question, it was sadly funny, how to me obviously he wanted us to use the power his company provides. And yes putting pressure on politics i find that still very hard, like how. I have written my MLA twice.... but i feel really all i can do is changing my behavior, and here talking about it. So thank you so much for your great responses.
I tend to be a home body, so, rarely feel the need to leave the house. Often, just stepping into the garden is enough. Especially when it is cold! And my "cold" is probably like summer to you! :D
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