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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Wednesday, January 07, 2009 Ethical dilemmas The irony of my current position is not lost on me: here I am preaching sustainable living and conservation of resources, while staying in a job that puts 70,000 miles a year on my car. It's something that has weighed on my mind for a while. My solutions may be viewed as mere justifications, but I hope they'll be useful to anyone else whose commute takes more energy than they're comfortable with.1 - It's the only job I have, and there is no great surplus of them nowadays, especially for someone my age. But I have cut way back on the geographical area I'm working in. I turned over roughly a third of it to someone else at the beginning of 2008, and if the prime contractor wins the bidding process again this year, I'll cut back again at the end of 2009. If she doesn't get the contract again, I won't be doing much driving at all, of course.2 - I have a very gas-efficient car. Not a hybrid, but a Toyota Yaris that gets 45mpg in flat terrain and around 42mpg in the mountains. In the past, I wouldn't ever have suggested that someone go into debt for a new car just to get better mileage, but right now, with manufacturers and dealers fighting for sales, it might actually be a good idea if it fits your budget. Plus, I've always gotten good mileage in whatever vehicle I drove, because I start up slowly and let off on the gas as soon as I see any reason to slow down (yellow traffic light ahead, for example).3 - I do my level best to include personal driving with the business driving. For example, grocery shopping normally occurs at the end of a business trip, last thing before I get home. I have to drive right past the grocery store anyway, so it takes no extra gas to stop and pick up whatever we need. And I've nearly always managed to schedule an inspection in the vicinity of where I get milk each week, so that personal trip gets combined with another trip I'd have to make anyway.4 - Because I have limited control over the amount of business driving I have to do, I've worked extra hard to conserve energy at home. Task lighting rather than overall room lighting, keeping the thermostat turned way down (55 deg. F), a timer and insulating jacket on the hot water heater (when we had a hot water heater), lights off wherever they aren't needed, elimination of phantom loads. I wrote about this in more detail in February 2007, Ten Ways to Conserve Energy and Ten Ways to Stay Warm.5 - I didn't replace the hot water heater when it quit. I heat water on the stove as I need it, and as a result, not only am I using far less energy for hot water, but I can tell that I'm using less water overall. 6 - All our meat and eggs come from the same farm where I get the milk, and most of the vegetables and fruit we consume come either from my own garden or from other local sources. That doesn't include the canned foods I've bought for our food storage, but it does include nearly everything that we eat from day to day.7 - Clothing gets repaired, not tossed, when a worn place develops or a tear occurs or a button pops off. As much as possible of our clothing is made at home, not just because I can't afford to buy the quality of clothing that I'd like to wear, but also because well-constructed clothing lasts longer than imported junk. In three years, my total clothing purchase has been one pair of slacks, and I've bought nothing new for Clarence at all except the skein of yarn I needed to make his one-thumb mittens last year. Our subsidy of cheap imports with high transportation costs has been very nearly nil. I've bought some fabric, but wherever possible, I've used fabric and notions that I already had.8 - Our only outdoor lighting consists of exterior lights on the front and back porches (that are turned on only as needed and turned off afterward) and a motion-activated area light that comes on when we drive up to the house after dark, and stays on only as long as there is some activity outside. By comparison, many of the homes in my neighborhood have pole-mounted security lights that stay on all night.9 - I make minimal use of electric appliances. No dishwasher, no electric dryer, only one load a week in the electric washing machine--the rest is done by hand, which saves both electricty and water. The only reason I indulge myself in that one load is that Clarence's laundry is always badly soiled, and I haven't quite come to the point of being willing to wash it by hand. I know I have to figure out a way to do this that is both sanitary and doesn't make me gag. I'm working on it.10 - We live as low on the embedded-energy scale as I can possibly manage. I wrote about this a couple of years ago in the post Living Simply, and since then I've descended another rung or two (more of our foodstuffs made here, rather than being purchased). So am I just making excuses for myself? Perhaps. I'm doing what is possible to do at the moment, and every time I come across another way to save energy, or think of one myself, I adopt it. I honestly don't know whether my energy saving at home exceeds my energy usage on the road. But I do know my total energy usage is far lower overall than if I wasn't making such an effort at home, and that's all I can do right now. posted by Liz @ 8:28 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
The irony of my current position is not lost on me: here I am preaching sustainable living and conservation of resources, while staying in a job that puts 70,000 miles a year on my car. It's something that has weighed on my mind for a while. My solutions may be viewed as mere justifications, but I hope they'll be useful to anyone else whose commute takes more energy than they're comfortable with.1 - It's the only job I have, and there is no great surplus of them nowadays, especially for someone my age. But I have cut way back on the geographical area I'm working in. I turned over roughly a third of it to someone else at the beginning of 2008, and if the prime contractor wins the bidding process again this year, I'll cut back again at the end of 2009. If she doesn't get the contract again, I won't be doing much driving at all, of course.2 - I have a very gas-efficient car. Not a hybrid, but a Toyota Yaris that gets 45mpg in flat terrain and around 42mpg in the mountains. In the past, I wouldn't ever have suggested that someone go into debt for a new car just to get better mileage, but right now, with manufacturers and dealers fighting for sales, it might actually be a good idea if it fits your budget. Plus, I've always gotten good mileage in whatever vehicle I drove, because I start up slowly and let off on the gas as soon as I see any reason to slow down (yellow traffic light ahead, for example).3 - I do my level best to include personal driving with the business driving. For example, grocery shopping normally occurs at the end of a business trip, last thing before I get home. I have to drive right past the grocery store anyway, so it takes no extra gas to stop and pick up whatever we need. And I've nearly always managed to schedule an inspection in the vicinity of where I get milk each week, so that personal trip gets combined with another trip I'd have to make anyway.4 - Because I have limited control over the amount of business driving I have to do, I've worked extra hard to conserve energy at home. Task lighting rather than overall room lighting, keeping the thermostat turned way down (55 deg. F), a timer and insulating jacket on the hot water heater (when we had a hot water heater), lights off wherever they aren't needed, elimination of phantom loads. I wrote about this in more detail in February 2007, Ten Ways to Conserve Energy and Ten Ways to Stay Warm.5 - I didn't replace the hot water heater when it quit. I heat water on the stove as I need it, and as a result, not only am I using far less energy for hot water, but I can tell that I'm using less water overall. 6 - All our meat and eggs come from the same farm where I get the milk, and most of the vegetables and fruit we consume come either from my own garden or from other local sources. That doesn't include the canned foods I've bought for our food storage, but it does include nearly everything that we eat from day to day.7 - Clothing gets repaired, not tossed, when a worn place develops or a tear occurs or a button pops off. As much as possible of our clothing is made at home, not just because I can't afford to buy the quality of clothing that I'd like to wear, but also because well-constructed clothing lasts longer than imported junk. In three years, my total clothing purchase has been one pair of slacks, and I've bought nothing new for Clarence at all except the skein of yarn I needed to make his one-thumb mittens last year. Our subsidy of cheap imports with high transportation costs has been very nearly nil. I've bought some fabric, but wherever possible, I've used fabric and notions that I already had.8 - Our only outdoor lighting consists of exterior lights on the front and back porches (that are turned on only as needed and turned off afterward) and a motion-activated area light that comes on when we drive up to the house after dark, and stays on only as long as there is some activity outside. By comparison, many of the homes in my neighborhood have pole-mounted security lights that stay on all night.9 - I make minimal use of electric appliances. No dishwasher, no electric dryer, only one load a week in the electric washing machine--the rest is done by hand, which saves both electricty and water. The only reason I indulge myself in that one load is that Clarence's laundry is always badly soiled, and I haven't quite come to the point of being willing to wash it by hand. I know I have to figure out a way to do this that is both sanitary and doesn't make me gag. I'm working on it.10 - We live as low on the embedded-energy scale as I can possibly manage. I wrote about this a couple of years ago in the post Living Simply, and since then I've descended another rung or two (more of our foodstuffs made here, rather than being purchased). So am I just making excuses for myself? Perhaps. I'm doing what is possible to do at the moment, and every time I come across another way to save energy, or think of one myself, I adopt it. I honestly don't know whether my energy saving at home exceeds my energy usage on the road. But I do know my total energy usage is far lower overall than if I wasn't making such an effort at home, and that's all I can do right now.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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