Eco-guilt

[Jazzman]

Personally, I can't decide whether to consider the Green Movement/Global Warming to be the eugenics of the 21st century, or religion for atheists. Both are so accurate.

I have not a lick of eco-guilt, as I believe that global warming is B.S. I used to subscribe to it all, worry about the ozone layer, all that crap. Then I read State of Fear and looked up most of the documents in the bibliography and realized that the whole environmental movement is so far off base that it's like George Bush calling for sensible economic policy. I get into arguments all the time with hippies (gotta love Portland) who get their info from Newsweek and Al Gore and can't grasp that Earth's climate is an extremely complex system that is far greater in scope than anything mankind could ever largely influence and that almost all Global Warming evidence is anecdotal at best and completely ignores any findings contrary to what the alarmists and doom sayers preach. Case in point, the arctic ice sheet. The big news over the summer was that the arctic ice was going to completely disappear, but then, guess what. Nothing. Less ice loss than 2007. Oops. But, of course, they're right about everything else! Right!?! Riiigghht!?!?!

Anyhow, I should stop before I get really started. As far as Earth-saving measures, we recycle everything; glass, plastic, paper, cardboard. I may not be concerned about Global Warming, but limiting the size of landfills is a cause I can get behind. We don't use CFLs (may as well use candles, as far as I'm concerned) but we do use the cool Trader Joe's reusable shopping bags most of the time. We drive pretty fuel efficient little cars (though I should admit that eventually I plan to buy the biggest, most obnoxious, non-Hummer [cause they're friggin ugly] SUV I can find and drive it back and forth as often as possible with a sticker that says "Suck it, Hippy!") But that's pretty much it. Once we buy a house, I'd like to install solar panels, but that's more out of a desire to give the PUD as little as possible. All in all, I feel about as much eco-guilt as a Haliburton exec.

[JWBear]

We've been replacing our incandescant bulbs with CFLs (at least, the ones we can). I can't understand the objection to CFLs, as you can now buy ones that are color adjusted to mimic incandescant.

Another thing you can do is eliminate redundant lighting and/or reduce the wattage. So many people think they need to light-up their homes like operating rooms. One of our bathrooms has a fixture that uses six 60 watt bulbs... that's 360 watts! We took four of them out, and it's plenty bright. Homes are so much more cozy and inviting when the lighting is moderate.

[Kevy Baby]

I have to confess that we are terrible on the lighting issue because of the reptiles. We have four large dragon enclosures which all have a 100 watt basking (heat) lamp AND a 25 watt UV lamp (UV for their health and the basking lamp because they like temperatures between 95-105 degrees). These run on average 12-14 hours a day every day (except when they brumate, which is coming up real soon).

This energy consumption is then compounded in the summer months in that all the heat generated by the basking lamps makes the house hot and forces more AC running.

We also have a 60 watt basking lamp and UV light on the chameleon and a 15 watt UV lamp for the gecko.

The cats don't require much electrical energy, but they are draining in other ways.

[Ghoulish Delight]

The rabbits have definitely upped our home climate control use. They can neither be too warm or too cold. I recently replaced our old thermostat with a decent digitally programmable one so at the very least we try to run the a/c and heat intelligently.

[CoasterMatt]

The 1100 watt power supply in the Atomic Cookie Blast Furnace kind of undoes the ccfls throughout the house.

[Chernabog]

Why did I read this thread as "Eco-Quilt"? I thought we were gonna knit something fun, instead it's all about saving the stinky old polar bears.

[Morrigoon]

Who wants to explain to Cherny the difference between quilting and knitting? Anyone? Anyone?

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

Who wants to explain to Cherny the difference between quilting and knitting? Anyone? Anyone?

Quilting is what old ladies do in groups.

Knitting is what old ladies do by themselves once they've been abandoned by family into poorly run nursing home.

Crocheting is what old ladies do when they realize that no extra roll of toilet paper should ever be left without the protection of a doll outfitted in an antebellum dress including large hoop skirt.

Macrame is what quilters, knitters, and crocheters make fun of.

Or so I've learned from my family experience.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by Alex

Crocheting is what old ladies do when they realize that no extra roll of toilet paper should ever be left without the protection of a doll outfitted in an antebellum dress including large hoop skirt.

My grandmother's toilet paper protection doll wore a lovely crochet of white and pink.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Eliza Hodgkins 1812

My grandmother's toilet paper protection doll wore a lovely crochet of white and pink.

My great-grandmother's were generally red. She made them throughout the year (among other crocheted treats) and then toured the Christmas craft shows. How I hated the Christmas craft shows. Though the crocheted pot holders were actually pretty useful and durable.