The Smallest Ripple can make a Wave

We are at a crossroads.

This has gone past the point of saving the polar bears… we need to save ourselves.

The things scientists look at to judge a healthy eco-system is starting to look worrisome.

The bees. The frogs. They’re all dying.

So what can we do? What can we really do… the save the whole planet?

Surprisingly, there is more to do than you might think.

Let’s start small, at home, something that literally everyone can afford to do.

The first step is remembering to turn off lights in rooms that you’re not in. Simple right?

At this point, nearly everyone uses the energy saver light bulbs and while they do make a difference, that difference is affected by carelessly leaving a light on that you don’t need.

As I walk thru my home, if I leave the lights on the kitchen, living room and hallway as I’m leaving to take the dog for a walk, that’s not just three rooms of wasted electricity, that’s seven individual light bulbs that are running for no one’s benefit. Even with the 60-watt energy saver bulbs that use only 13 watts per hour each, having seven light bulbs on is still roughly 91 watts per hour.

That might not sound like much, but it adds up. According to www.eia.gov, basic lighting consumed 2% of all the electricity used in America. 2%... on just the light bulbs alone.

To save electricity, you need to remember to turn the unneeded lights off. The only exception might be lights that are needed to help provide for security. Never cut back on safety.

Additionally, Air Conditioners and Heaters alone use 12% of all the electricity in the United States as of 2018 and is up to 50% of the energy used by individual homes. So… when you’re not at home, set the thermostat higher than you would normally be comfortable with in the summer and colder than you would like in the winter. If you like your house to stay 70 or so, then set it to 80 in the summer or to 60 in the winter while you’re gone. The house may be hotter or colder than you like when you get home, but it’ll adjust quickly enough once you return it to your preferred setting.

In the meantime it won’t get too hot or cold in the house and you won’t be wasting electricity cooling or heating an empty house. You will save money on your climate control costs, extend the life of your A/C and heater from not over-working it, and help the environment by saving electricity.

This is, of course, not meant for people with pets in the home that need to regulate to a certain temperature.

Perhaps that doesn’t work for you, or you have pets. Well. The next logical step is to plant a tree in your yard. You might be asking yourself… why a tree? There are several benefits to planting a tree on your own property.

Trees and plants of all kinds convert carbon monoxide into oxygen. In fact, a mature tree absorbs roughly 48 pounds or 21 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year and provides up to 260 pounds or 118 kilograms of Oxygen per year. Two trees can offset the emissions of a family of four!

Additionally, trees tend to add to property value and a shade tree can help further reduce the cooling costs of your home by providing shade from the sun, which further reduces electricity use.

If you want to take it a step further, you can plant a fruit tree. It’s easy to do a google search to find out what types of fruit trees work well in the climate that you live in. Pick the type of fruit that your family likes that also works in your local climate and plant that type of tree. It may take a few years, but the fruit of your labor could be in the form of fresh fruit.

If you recognize that not everyone can afford to plant a tree, then commit to planting one tree for every member of your family and maybe one shrub or bush for every pet you own. Most bushes are low maintenance and if you can find one that flowers, that nectar could also help your local bee population. That’s a cheap win/win.

It is important to plant the trees and bushes on your property because you can control what happens to it. I know that there are organizations that you can donate to that plant trees but there is no guarantee that those trees might not be cut down at some point for a highway expansion or a new pathway in a park. For a meaningful improvement to the climate, the trees and bushes need to reach full maturity.

That covers your family, your pets, and possibly your neighbor as well.

I recognize that planting a tree or two isn’t easy work or maybe you’re renting an apartment and the landlord doesn’t want more trees on the property (you can still ask if it’s okay to plant one) the next step would be by trying to save gasoline with public transportation or carpooling.

Life is about making connections. Maybe you have a co-worker or a classmate that lives close enough to you or along your route with a similar enough schedule that carpooling is an option.

If that isn’t an option, there is a phone app called ‘Waze’ that is a good navigation app that also lets you register as a driver or passenger for carpooling purposes!

Cutting the amount of gasoline being used not only helps save the environment but would also lowers the cost of fuel for everyone else. The recent hacking of the Colonial Pipeline that stopped all production for a mere 5 days has shown how fragile the economy is and how reliant we still are on gasoline. Instead of gas hoarding and stations running out of fuel completely, it would have been nice to have other options. Carpooling is a nice option.

Maybe you don’t think that carpooling is safe. Maybe it isn’t safe in some places. If your local city doesn’t have a good metro bus mass transit system, or light rail, it’s time for the activists to march and write letters and send emails. We all pay taxes in some form or another. And low-emission mass transit is rapidly becoming a right because all people need transportation to and from work and we all deserve clean air to breath.

Everyone benefits from cheap transportation in the form of buses or light rail. It saves fuel, cuts traffic, reduces emissions and helps clean up the cities.

The final fuel saving back-up plan might be a good old-fashioned bicycle. If there are bike lanes or sidewalks and you live close enough to your place of employment, maybe consider riding a bike to work. That doesn’t work everywhere but for the people that can make it work, maybe they should try.

If your city doesn’t have bike lanes or sidewalks, maybe it’s time for more activism. Once the bike lanes or sidewalks are built, it’s there. Call it a one-time tax for a city improvement that people can really take advantage of. The smallest of improvements is still an improvement.

There’s nothing wrong with a little extra exercise and bicycles are zero emission.

As far as the oceans go… reducing plastic waste is a big help. According to https://plastic-pollution.org, a full 10% of all the plastic produced in the world ends up in the oceans. It needs to stop. And it can’t stop quickly enough.

Regardless of if you use a water delivery service like Culligan or Sparkletts or if you refill 5-gallon bottles of purified water at Walmart, every little bit helps. Everything from using a Brita water filter to cut down on buying plastic bottles of packaged water to recycling plastic, glass, and aluminum cans.

In my own home, we recently stopped buying plastic water bottles and switched to a Brita. It is a little pricy, but I suspect that it’s cheaper in the long run to buying pack after pack of bottled water and I have the piece of mind of knowing that I’m not adding plastic to landfills or the ocean.

According to https://chariotenergy.com, it can take between 20 to 500 years for plastic to decompose… because it’s made with petroleum products. Some of the modern plastics are damned near indestructible. Good for water storage, bad for the environment. That will be a huge problem sooner or later.

Recycling can be a pain, but it not only helps the environment but can be financially rewarding too. The amount of money offered per pound varies based on supply and demand but can be worth it in the long run.

According to www.scrapmonster.com, Aluminum can range from 5 cents a pound to 2.00 dollars per pound. As of May 7th, 2021, the average price per pound nationwide is 59 cents a pound.

Plastic can be recycled but not all recycling places will take it. And it must be sorted: clear plastic from colored or cloudy plastic. Clear plastic is worth roughly 1.20 per pound and the colored or cloudy plastic is worth 50 cents a pound.

Glass is recyclable too, but only 26% to 33% of glass is ever recycled in America. America has a much lower rate of glass recycling than other countries. Part of the reason for that is the price. Glass is only worth 10 cents per pound and must be sorted clear from colored. To some people, it’s not worth the effort. But. If we are to save the Earth, every little bit counts.

It doesn’t matter if your beer comes in a bottle or a can… you should make the extra effort to recycle it. After a while, you could trade it in your slash for your next case of your beverage of choice.

Those are the small things. Now… for the bigger ticket items.

The biggest thing to consider would be Solar Panels. A solar panel costs around 200 to 250 dollars each if you’re doing a small DIY project. The average cost for a whole house system for an average sized home ranges from 11,000 to 15,000 dollars. Smaller homes may cost as little as 5,000 dollars and larger homes could cost up to 40,000 dollars. I will admit that it’s expensive.

Is it worth it? Yes. It really is. Most states offer federal and state incentives to install them on private property because it does reduce the overall draw on the public electric grid. I’ve seen a lot of people install them recently near me. www.consumeraffairs.com has more information on solar panel costs per state if you do a search.

As of 2019, the average annual electricity consumption per house was 10,649 kilowatt-hours which averages to 877 kilowatt-hours per month. America has 330 million people at an average family size of 3. So that’s upwards to 110 million homes. At 10,649 kilowatt-hours each. Every house that has solar panels reduces the odds of a brownout or blackout during emergencies and reduces emissions the rest of the time.

I know that if you live in a condo or an apartment, there’s not much you can do, other than petition the owner to install them on the buildings that they own. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try to convince them. It would be easy to remind them that offering free electricity from solar panels as part of the rent would make their apartments more marketable. In a tightening rent market, apartment owners need an advantage and an advantage that helps the environment is a win/win.

Maybe there is nothing you can do directly, or you are already doing all you can on your end. The next step is to spread the word.

There is an old saying… those who cannot do… teach.

Maybe there are people that you know that can do some or all of these things, but they haven’t been told that they need to, or they don’t believe the science.

I live in Texas… all things are oil and gas. Everything that seems to threaten the oil status quo is bad. I, myself, have worked for oil companies. I was in denial for a long time… but even I recognize the need for change. I’m not saying that everyone should get an electric car (but please do so if you can afford it) but we all need to do something to reverse this.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t think that you’re making a difference. There are 7 billion people on this planet. If a mere 500 million people did something, anything really, it would make a massive difference on a global scale.

I want my daughter to grow up in a better, heathier world than I did. And I want my eventual grandchildren to have a world to be born into.

Please… the smallest ripple can make a wave.