Sometimes I wonder if they think we have cotton between our ears

I love Reader's Digest. I am not a subscriber but my father in law is and I get all of his editions once he has read them. Yippee for me. I love most of it's regular articles..the word power, laughter, best medicine and the likes. Like any magazine it has it's monthly focus, April's focus was titled " It's a Wonderful World, how you can make it even better" Well needless to say it did peek my curiosity. What they have done in this edition is taken folks from around the world and demonstrated what they have done to conserve energy or save the planet.

There was a lot of informative information but the one that really caught my attention was the one from the US titled "Conserve Your Energy" an armchair environmentalist approach to saving the planet. The author John Tierney highlights his points on saving the planet.

His first tip was one on "Skip a trip"...well no problem there...I don't have the bucks to take a trip..haven't had any for about 3 years now...so there you go..according to him I could have saved the planet all this carbon dioxide from the flights I would have taken .....then of course he goes on about how to save energy by sealing your house...you know put the stripping around the doors or windows blah blah blah....or better yet drive fuel efficient cars, use cruise control, monitor your water-heating bills,use your dishwasher, use your laptop and let it nap. The one the really caught my attention was "Stay Married" Dang ...where was he when I was getting divorced......gosh according to him I would have been more energy efficient if I had stayed married apparently getting a divorce I now use twice the amount of energy......well dah....there are two households...but I gather that is his point.... but according to him I gather he is saying I should save the planet before my sanity ......hmmmmmmmm. I don't think I needed a degree to figure that one out.

So I am wondering is he saying we shouldn't have vacation property either? Has anyone informed the rich and famous about this? I mean really how many actors and singers have homes all over the world, their summer homes, the winter get aways...oh the horrors of it all that they should have to consider closing down one of their vacation properties. So he thinks we can save the environment by not taking flights and maintaining vacation properties...ok then..fine. But if I go camping....don't I need a vehicle to get there? Don't I need some form of fuel to cook my meals? And well any camper is going to want their evening fire...wouldn't that contribute to the air borne gases? What is one to do?

If I understand Mr. Tireney correctly...I would be doing the planet a world of good(no pun intended) if I just lived my life in a bubble.....but wait...the bubble can't be made out of plastic..cause gosh that is so bad for the planet.....so some kind of dome constructed from man made products which of course were environmentally friendly and had the least amount of impact on the environment...I mean I wouldn't want to be destroying any endangered forest.....ok...that's it environment at all cost.....I think the Eskimos had the right idea....snow. I wish I was a good artist at this point...I have this vision of me living in this quasi igloo ....living only off of food that I had planted myself from seed of course.....and my form of transportation would be either by foot or dog sled. Yes in the ideal world.....

For heaven sakes....I am energy conscious.....I rarely use my dryer...my husband made me an indoor clothes line so I can hang my laundry.....if weather permits clothes are out on the line....I wash my clothes in cold water.....when I have to use the oven I often bake something in addition to the meal I am cooking.....the dishwasher gets turned on only when full.....showers are to a minimum.....yes I use wood to heat my house...but with having mostly glass windows...the house heats itself....I wear sweaters in cooler days......I recycle.....I reuse containers rather than buying new plastic containers for storage.....I buy in bulk decreasing my usage of plastics...I could go on. What I want to know is, what is our governments doing to decrease their impact on the environments? Great they put a carbon tax on us....hmmmmm not sure how that helps the environment...how does that stop the big corporations from exploiting the environment with it's toxic waste? No...it's just another money grabbing concept from the government to line the coffers of the already well to do.

If we are going to talk about environmental savings....let's talk about making things such as solar energy more affordable....give grants to the car industries to build more energy efficient vehicles and pass those saving on to the consumer and do away with the gas guzzlers.....there are many things the government could do...but they take the easy way out...and put it on the back of the working individuals.....and people like Mr. Tierney I think is living in a bubble and is oblivious to the daily workings of the every day working person who is trying to do their bit to save this planet.