To celebrate the Nobel win, a month-long effort to redouble our efforts to fight global warming.

[crispini]

Many of us have already done the obvious things to reduce our carbon footprints, such as swapping out light bulbs, turning down/up the thermostat, and reducing driving. For me personally, I think it's time to see if I can dig a little deeper, and now is a good time, in order to celebrate Mr. Gore's Nobel win.

Below are a few things I want to do:

1) Take my recyclable bags to stores like Target and Albertson's, not just to the organic store where it's not so "weird" to use your own bags.
2) Plant a fall garden .... to grow more of my own food locally... and actually follow up on it with proper applications of organic pesticide so that the bugs don't eat it like they usually do1
3) Get into the habit of actually UNPLUGGING things that I am not using (they use electricity too!)
4) Get into the habit of turning off the computer monitor when I walk away for more than a few minutes.

So -- who's ready to join me in my effort to step it up!? How about more ideas to take it to another level?

[malaise]

1. Use the bath water to water said vegetables

Doesn't it cost more to be turning the monitor on and off?

[crispini]

2. I don't bathe.....

I shower...... :D How would you rig that up? I think a plumber would have to be involved in that. But, it's actually not out of the question entirely, as the shower is very close to a primary vegetable bed. Would bugs crawl back up the drain?

I don't know about turning the monitor on and off, but I just had a thought -- I get all of my electricity from a renewable source (wind) so do I need to worry about electricity quite so much? Hmm.....

[malaise]

6. You're way ahead of the pack

Decades ago my mum had the plumber connect the laundry room to her vegetable patch. She used her own compost and what was remarkable was her vegetables never had any bugs.

We don't use the bathe often either but when we do, we use the water can and water the plants and vegetables on the patio rather than waste the water.

[TornadoTN]

10. We do that too!

My son particularly enjoys bathtime now, since he knows that once he's done, he'll get to water the plants around the house with his bathwater. It's kind of a win/win for everyone involved and it saves water/money too!

[malaise]

11. Yep

Every little thing adds up.

[crispini]

14. Watering can, of course, always a good idea.

The laundry room wastewater is a great idea too! I will have to look into plumbers. :D

[greenman3610]

3. its important to do something concrete

like changing lightbulbs, replacing windows, insulating,
upgrading a furnace, buying a newer more efficient appliance,
or even a more efficient car.
In some areas people can ride mass transit more often,
or reconsider that short haul plane trip.

But it is equally, if not more, important, to write to your
local newspapers about your concerns with climate, write to
your legislators, and get involved in local issues.
All around the country, a wave of new coal plants is
being planned, find out about the one nearest you,
and make some noise.

[crispini]

4. Yes, thank you!

I just wrote one today. I think there is a campaign going on at StepItUp that I need to do some things for!

[TornadoTN]

5. We just did some major upgrading

We added a new water heater that heats as it's needed rather than all the time, plus we had an electrician hook its electricity source up to a solar panel. We are now having him run some wiring that we can run a lot of our electricity off of the panel (it may require another panel at this point if we are to run all of our major appliances off of it).

We've replaced all of our lights in and out of our house with either Compact Fluorescent or LED bulbs. Gave our 6 year old fridge to my parents who were in need of a replacement and bought a much better rated one with lower energy consumption. Bought a new programmable thermostat for our heat pump so that we can program it to make gradual changes to the temperature when we aren't home so that it's not heating/cooling an empty house but at the same time isn't let it get out of hand where it will run all night when we get home. Our friends have one and they have seen some substantial cost benefit on their electric bill.

Next up will be our vehicles, but we're kind of waiting to see what Toyota is coming out with over the next year. Rumors have it that they are going to be releasing hybrid versions of most of their line and the others will have new options to increase their fuel efficiency.

[crispini]

7. Congrats!

Did you buy the solar panels? How easy were they to install? I am interested in solar, but unsure about where to start.

[TornadoTN]

9. We went through a local (progressive) electrician

Met him during '04 when I was working on the regional Kerry/Edwards campaign, got to talking about it and we finally got the cash to do it right. He pretty much did all of the legwork on it, he just consulted me on the options, setup, and benefit/drawback to each component, so forgive me if I'm not entirely up to speed on it all. Hopefully, tomorrow we can start taking more of our house off the grid so to speak.

My best advice to you is to research consumer-lever solar energy on the net. www.solarhome.org has some excellent products if you want to start small (things like outdoor lights, motion lights,etc.). Then find a local electrician that is familiar with the intricacies of installing it and compartmentalizing your house into sections so that you can gradually take your house off the grid. I know of a few other people that tried to do it all at once and were disappointed with the results - their stuff didn't work because they didn't accurately gage their energy usage and ended up having to redesign a good portion of the system.

My goal is to get everything off of the grid aside from the heat/ac system. Once that's done, we want to get it completely off and should have enough money saved to do so. If you have any questions once you get into it, let me know! I'll be glad to answer any questions or get the answers for you!

[crispini]

12. Great, thanks!

I'll keep my eye out for someone like that who can sort of be my guide!

[RestoreGore]

8. Pushing legislatures and holding companies accountable

Besides what you do in your personal life, it is now imperative in my view that it be taken to the next level and that means telling legislatures and corporations that they will suffer the consequences for not doing the moral thing. I had an account in a bank that is known to loan money to build coal fired plants. I just closed the account last week and told them that was the reason why I wished to close it. They didn't seem to appreciate it much, but frankly, screw them. We need to now hit them in their wallets until they get the message. And yes by all means write letters to your local papers, place up flyers with facts, hand out flyers, and talk to people. Information is power.

[crispini]

13. I agree.

Living in Texas as I do, I'm keenly aware of the Big Evil TXU. I have already switched to a better electric provider, but hopefully there will be more we can do to pressure them via the Lege to get their coal fired stuff offline. Of course, being a R controlled state doesn't help a lot. I like the idea about the bank. I think I will have to check into that more.

[Lisa]

15. public transit -- support its expansion in your community -- lobby governments

Challenge yourself and others, to do without a car one day a week.