Migraines and Environmental consciousness.
Mar. 5th, 2007 12:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
logansrogueGod, my migraines and gut pains have been so bad today. I've been in bed ALL DAY, other than to get up to eat and take care of myself. I'm calling the neurologist on Tuesday, I got to get this shit sorted out.
I was watching Cool-Aid with my nephews tonight. I figure our family are doing pretty well. We don't use our drier unless it's an emergency situation and ONLY in the winter (not that it reliably works, anyway). Our fridge has a good energy rating (from memory, the sticker's gone). We have seven large trees in the garden (used to be more but we were forced to cut some down) and a few smaller ones that will grow into bigger ones, we don't have a lawn so we're saving water, and we don't have the TV on during the day. Only a few hours at night. There's one car in the family. The rest of the time we use public transport. I've only taken to using the car because of my illness. Before that I walked and trained everywhere I could.
I think our main sins of energy are with the computers. Mum has a laptop, Dad has a laptop, Scotty has two iMacs, I have a PC and a laptop. The laptop is off most of the day until I get to bed, but sometimes I leave it on. I might set it to turn itself off after an hour. My light consumption is pretty good cause I have migraines all the time. I have a tiny lamp I use. The top light in my room is rarely used.
The lights we use the most - kitchen and sitting area - are power-saving lights. We'll probably get more of them as time goes on cause Mum and Dad really need to save money on electricity.
We cook with gas and our heating is also gas. So we only really use up the energy in the summer when we use air conditioners and floor fans. We try to make the most of the cool breezes in the early morning by leaving open windows. The trees and the veranda really do help with the temperatures. If you walk to my property on a hot day, you'll notice the drop in temperature when parking under the huge gumtrees. It's really nice.
We are chronic recyclers, have been for years now. I was SO pleased when Claremont council started enforcing it with bins and so forth cause I'd learnt about it at school and I wanted to help out the environment. I'm so anal about it, I'll carry a bottle or can home rather than dump it in the trash, just so I can recycle it. They should make recycling bins more available in public, I think.
There's more I can do, I'm sure of it. I'm going to read up on it, see if I can help more. I'm really passionate about the environment but I know I don't do enough for it. I've gone on rallies, signed petitions, written letters to the government to protest old growth logging.
See, the problem is that there's a lot of people asking for money to help these causes and I just don't have any. And I'm not of the disposition to help with animals cause if something happens to an animal, I'll be mentally fucked up for a week. Psychologically, this shit gets me down. But I know there has to be SOMETHING I can do and it's been bugging me for months.
I suppose being poor kinda helps. I don't HAVE many things, I don't consume all that much so my carbon footprint is really quite low in comparison to other people. When all you have is yourself and your cats, all you buy is recycled clothing and cheap trinkets, and you're so sick that you don't go anywhere, you can't really have too much of an effect on the environment.
Still, I try to vote the best way I can and try not to waste things. Maybe I can switch Lenny from plastic disposable plates to the metal cups in trays like Rogie has. Easy to clean and not making plastics that rot in the ground.
It's the little things that help, apparently.
I was watching Cool-Aid with my nephews tonight. I figure our family are doing pretty well. We don't use our drier unless it's an emergency situation and ONLY in the winter (not that it reliably works, anyway). Our fridge has a good energy rating (from memory, the sticker's gone). We have seven large trees in the garden (used to be more but we were forced to cut some down) and a few smaller ones that will grow into bigger ones, we don't have a lawn so we're saving water, and we don't have the TV on during the day. Only a few hours at night. There's one car in the family. The rest of the time we use public transport. I've only taken to using the car because of my illness. Before that I walked and trained everywhere I could.
I think our main sins of energy are with the computers. Mum has a laptop, Dad has a laptop, Scotty has two iMacs, I have a PC and a laptop. The laptop is off most of the day until I get to bed, but sometimes I leave it on. I might set it to turn itself off after an hour. My light consumption is pretty good cause I have migraines all the time. I have a tiny lamp I use. The top light in my room is rarely used.
The lights we use the most - kitchen and sitting area - are power-saving lights. We'll probably get more of them as time goes on cause Mum and Dad really need to save money on electricity.
We cook with gas and our heating is also gas. So we only really use up the energy in the summer when we use air conditioners and floor fans. We try to make the most of the cool breezes in the early morning by leaving open windows. The trees and the veranda really do help with the temperatures. If you walk to my property on a hot day, you'll notice the drop in temperature when parking under the huge gumtrees. It's really nice.
We are chronic recyclers, have been for years now. I was SO pleased when Claremont council started enforcing it with bins and so forth cause I'd learnt about it at school and I wanted to help out the environment. I'm so anal about it, I'll carry a bottle or can home rather than dump it in the trash, just so I can recycle it. They should make recycling bins more available in public, I think.
There's more I can do, I'm sure of it. I'm going to read up on it, see if I can help more. I'm really passionate about the environment but I know I don't do enough for it. I've gone on rallies, signed petitions, written letters to the government to protest old growth logging.
See, the problem is that there's a lot of people asking for money to help these causes and I just don't have any. And I'm not of the disposition to help with animals cause if something happens to an animal, I'll be mentally fucked up for a week. Psychologically, this shit gets me down. But I know there has to be SOMETHING I can do and it's been bugging me for months.
I suppose being poor kinda helps. I don't HAVE many things, I don't consume all that much so my carbon footprint is really quite low in comparison to other people. When all you have is yourself and your cats, all you buy is recycled clothing and cheap trinkets, and you're so sick that you don't go anywhere, you can't really have too much of an effect on the environment.
Still, I try to vote the best way I can and try not to waste things. Maybe I can switch Lenny from plastic disposable plates to the metal cups in trays like Rogie has. Easy to clean and not making plastics that rot in the ground.
It's the little things that help, apparently.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-04 06:19 pm (UTC)Im often glad Im poor and thoughtful, that I have time to consider what goes on in our world and what I can do to help, I know I leave much less impact than most consumers.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-04 06:30 pm (UTC)Ten years, man, that's all we've got. I went to the stopglobalwarming.com site and do you know how many people had signed up for newsletters and to join the virtual stand?
600000 or so. That's it. Of ALL the millions of people in this world using the internet, 600000. I felt nauseous reading that (more than normal).
I'm going to write about it in my journal again, and I'm going to talk about the efforts that I make to improve the carbon footprint of our house. I just asked Dad if we could get more energy efficient light-bulbs. He said yeah, which is great. I'll smoosh the old ones. I'm going to do what I can.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-04 07:47 pm (UTC)And don't assume that I'm a bitter poor person. I mean, I am, but... I present the sad story of the Rosedale subway station. Located in one of the richest areas of Canada and full of people who need to commute, and yet it's one of the least used stations on the system. It makes me want to cry.
Public transit and the lack of usage in the Toronto area drives me NUTS because the system is there. We have trains, buses, subways. And yet, we still let people build new homes out on farmland, land that could be used to grow food for local people and provide jobs. Not to mention land that is far away from transit and work, so people are forced to commute long distances.
/wank
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-04 07:54 pm (UTC)There are more poor people than rich people though, so I guess we'll have to muddle along and do what we can to keep emmissions down. And I can only imagine that pressure to become Carbon Neutral will get worse as years go on, not just from an environmental standpoint but a financial standpoint - these people stand to lose their precious luxurious lives if they don't change. That really does need to be pummelled through their dense skulls.
I'm glad I'm not the only person that cares, though. Big things start from small beginnings, as long as one keeps the ball rolling. I'd like to think that we're helping someone else keep a very important ball rolling.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-05 08:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-05 08:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-05 03:10 pm (UTC)Two iMacs? WOHA! Anyways, lots of computers at your home, woman.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-05 10:55 pm (UTC)And yeah. Our clothes are falling apart, we have awful shoes and no cool gadgets like iPods and shit, but we have our functioning computers. They're a priority. LOL!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-06 02:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-06 05:04 am (UTC)