Next Step Energy

I am saving money every month on my energy bill so can you. The next stride towards taking care of our environment is monitoring energy usage. Water conservation ties in with energy, as energy (charges on your sdge bill) is used to heat your water for the shower or washer. Everything we do for our planet is interconnected and we need to reduce, reuse, and recycle in many areas of our living.

To begin, I interrogated my local gas and electric company's website, San Diego Gas and Electric, sdge, and found out how I could reduce my energy usage/lower my bill. They have tons of rebates and other ways to get discounts on your bill. I ordered a free kit that we can install on our shower to reduce water usage. This is just a small fraction of the many kits or options you have when looking at your bill and conserving energy.

There is also many energy saving tips form the government. A few simple and easy changes I made were: made sure I didn't have any incandescent light bulbs. I found a couple and switched them out to CFLs. These energy efficient lightbulbs are better for the environment and last ten times longer! So why not switch? Next item on the list, I don't always shut down my computer at night so now I am more aware and I unplug other unused items. There are tons of ways to save energy and money. Just pick a few changes one or two at a time, and be conscious of your surroundings.

Water is Limited

What if when you went to get a drink of water, do laundry, or take a shower there was no water? Dry tap, none left! This is the harsh reality we will all face if we don't take necessary precautions.

San Diego is a desert and we do not have a little lake in our backyard to continually drink out of. We get our water from different sources, one being the Colorado River. This river supplies many areas and fluctuates in water capacity, during drought it runs at only 59% capacity. We are at its mercy for our water. If we do not come up with other plans of sustainable water plans the message will hit close to home. So we need, on a large scale, to push for sustainable water plans.

I am pretty sure everyone can agree that water is a valuable resource that shouldn't be wasted. Yet, we in America waste more water than any other country (we also have the biggest carbon footprint). We need to find a sustainable water plan as a whole, but individually we can still conserve. We shouldn't be the biggest wasters in the world so everyone, including myself needs to be held accountable. That is why I have been consciously monitoring my water usage. Everyone should be following the mandated San Diego water conservation requirements. It is the law so don't mess around! I have been watching my showers, laundry, dishwashers and everything else that takes water, to make sure I don't waste. Which means Aiden, my son, can't take long showers even though he wants to (so he can use his pretend shaver.. ha ha!). When I explained to him why we have to take short showers he was more than happy to oblige.

As always, we need to be aware. Just talking about it, puts it on your mind and on the forefront to action. Monitor, conserve, and spread the word. We don't want to wake up and have no more water coming out of our tap. The time is now while we have options, and not later when it is all dried up...


Helpful Links


10 Easy Tips to conserve
http://greenlifestylemagazine.net/issue-3/10-easy-ways-to-save-water.php

100 tips/ways to conserve water:
http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/index.php

San Diego Water department:
http://www.sandiego.gov/water/

Rethinking Recycling

Recycling is vital but should not be treated as one dimensional. After all, it is a Reduce-Reuse-Recycle triangle. Not everything can be recycled indefinitely, and recycling still uses energy and resources. So lets focus on another important aspect of the recycling triangle, the Reduce aspect, or in other words BUYING LESS. This topic is something we should all remember and keep in the front of our minds. For one, it helps the environment and two it helps your bank account. Not to mention it describes what almost every American needs to be doing... Buying Less..


Whenever we buy something, resources are extracted and used to create a product. All of this has an impact on the environment, including depleting the resources we have left for the future. Every product has a journey and you can find some of those stories on the website, The Story of Stuff. Our current shopping habits and rampant consumerism aren’t sustainable - one day the resources will run out. When we buy something new, waste is created and our landfills already have limited space. We do not need most of the stuff we buy so why waste money and hurt the environment. We need to change our habits and the way we live. 


So let us try and be conscious consumers, aware of what we are buying and why we are buying it. Let us buy less, after all we do not need that many pairs of shoes (you know who you are!). I am not talking about going off the grid with no cell phone and rags as clothes, that is a little extreme. We have had a growing trend to buy more and that more is better, but now that needs to shift the other way. We need to buy less, because less is cool! Also, buy or sell used stuff: craigslist, freecycle, or thrift stores.