Yesterday in the supermarket I ran into some old friends, and we had one of those mega-catch-ups there in the aisle. I mentioned my green blogs and was surprised to find they were interested. Global warming was very much on their minds.
I found out their grandchildren ranged in age from 11 years up to college age, and that they felt global warming posed a considerable threat to their grandchildren's future well-being.
Everywhere I go, I find more and more people understanding the difficult situation our civilization is in and who are not at all reassured by the fact their generation will escape most of it. They want to become part of the solution and gain peace of mind that they have done what they could do for their loved ones.
Many People Are Taking Comprehensive Action
In my first post "Welcome to Going Green" a number of you left excellent comments. Some of you were old hands at being green while others were new converts. Both groups had achieved or were attempting to attain a comprehensive approach to reducing consumption and thereby reducing energy needs for everyday living.
I got to thinking that most going-green advice is still a collection of unconnected suggestions. It is nice to know that if we all change a light bulb to CFL, then a large amount of energy is saved among everyone, but we all know change has to be on a much greater scale than that.
In this post I want to talk in terms of "going green scenarios" that affect entire families over time. They are fictionalized but are based on people and families I know. The examples might give you another way of approaching the goal of creating a sustainable lifestyle and becoming part of the solution.
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Scenario One.
Mike and Ellen are in their early fifties with no children. When they remodeled their vintage cottage, they installed solar panels on the roof that offset a good portion of their electricity. Their meter runs backwards oftentimes. In their new gormet kitchen they cook mainly vegetarian, indulging in fine local wines. They eat the fruit off the trees in their yard and give away the bounty. Mike and Ellen love to travel, but at least one of those trips was to volunteer to work on homes for Habitat for Humanity. Habitat homes are conserving of resources and built well to better withstand extreme weather conditions such as hurricane force winds.
Scenario Two.
Jane and Roger are raising two elementary school children. They have gone out of their way to buy a home in an area where the children can walk to school, Jane can walk to work, and Roger can take public transportation. They own a high mpg automobile that is used occasionally. They also pursue a largely vegetarian diet both for health and to reduce energy and water consumption and methane production. Roger's dad is the vegetable gardener for the whole family, raising the fruits and vegetables that form a large portion of the family's diet. Jane and Roger take the children camping at least once a year, teaching them to enjoy and value nature.
Scenario Three
Myra is a widow who has stayed in her own home. During her husband's long battle with emphysema, their electric bills were high due to the oxygen generating machine. They also had to install central air conditioning and new windows throughout the house as a means of keeping down the dust that interfered with his breathing. Now, the windows conserve energy for Myra. During a recent heat wave in her state, she knew that there were people like her husband, dependent upon electricity for their lives, and so she made do with a fan as much as possible and did not operate any appliances until night. The state avoided rolling blackouts. Myra recently traded in her old gas-guzzler for a small, inexpensive (not a hybrid) high mph model car. She and her friends enjoy giving one another just-for-fun birthday gift "finds" from thrift stores.
Scenario Four
The Taylor family consists of grandparents, a son and his wife, and four grandchildren. They pool resources to help make ends meet, sharing a home and vehicles. Lots of family recreation takes place in the big backyard, and meals are often shared with the cooking done by several of the adults. Two years ago the Taylors upgraded their furnace and air conditioner to energy efficient models and this year they replaced windows with energy efficient ones. Those items needed replacement anyway, so they felt it was a wise investment in their home. They also own the most fuel efficient vehicles that they can afford.
The Taylors would like to enjoy more vacations but they believe a priority is to put their extra cash into making their lives more energy efficient for the longer term. The home is a bit snug for that many people and a larger home with a larger mortgage might be affordable. However, the Taylors want to keep their debt, taxes, and utility expenses low so that they can afford that special vacation some day even if energy costs keep going up. Last year they planted a family garden plot in a section of the yard, but it did not produce very much the first year.
Scenario Five
Carol and Dan are mid-sixties retirees who want to spend winters in a distant state. They hate the use of gasoline to cross the country twice a year, so they tried to offset that energy by buying a hybrid vehicle, riding bicycles for errands near home, and curtailing other travel.
When they leave for the winter, they empty and turn off the refrigerator, put extra insulation over expanses of windows and turn the thermostat far down (but not so far that water pipes could freeze--some pipes are more vulnerable than others). They are thinking that perhaps they could drain pipes and shut off the main water valve, to lower the heat still further or even shut it off when they are away.
Carol's mother Nancy, a widow and partially disabled, did not want to remain in her own home, not only because she needed a lot of help, but also because she wanted to be with others her own age and have easier access to social activities. The utlilty costs of operating her own home were quite high, along with the cost of the personal assistance beyond that which Carol could provide. Plus, maintaining Nancy's home along with his own was a burden to Dan and an ongoing expense.
Nancy sold her home and moved into a small unit in an assisted living complex. She discovered she could afford supper in the communal dining room and could go places on the bus provided by the complex. Soon she decided to sell her car. Nancy made many friends at her complex and did not miss Carol and Dan when they were out of town. They kept in touch via telephone.
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In each of these families, green options are chosen based on goals shared by the entire family, and on what is affordable and possible in each family's circumstances. While they all have a start on going green, there is still much more that each of them can do.
I know many of you have good ideas on how these families (or other families you know) can build on their good start and become greener. How about sharing your thoughts and examples of how entire families figure out how to go greener together?
