Some earthy greens for a day where I had a lot of green thoughts.

Divine Intervention, Palmetto, Blast, Loden

I finally took one of those “what is your carbon footprint” tests online… where it gives you a basic idea of just how much you’re contributing to climactic change, global warming, carbon emissions… whatever name you want to call it! And I feel like I’ve got a big foot right now.

A few months ago I was so concerned with researching hybrid cars, I thought that driving and travel was the biggest problem. Well, all of the hybrid cars were too tiny for my family and use needs, or they were giant SUV’s. What’s the deal with that? Boy, was I wrong that my car was the main problem!!! My previous car was far more efficient than ANY hybrid SUV, and my “new” car gets the same mileage and has a low smog index- .39 ( the average car is .58 ) (I recently replaced it with a 3 year old “previously enjoyed” (i.e. recycled) station wagon which I am loving- you should see how much cardboard and recyclables we can fit in the back for our twice weekly trips to the town dump!!! Yes, no recycling program here. You want to recycle? You do it yourself.) The carbon footprint of my car, with the very low mileage I drive each year was nothing compared to the carbon footprint of my home!!!

I never suspected the amount of carbon emissions that we all are adding to the atmosphere just by everyday energy use in our homes! It has been a huge wakeup call for our household, and we’ve gotten out several year’s of electric bills to chart our kilowatt usage, see which months are historically the worst, and visited our electrical coop’s website for ideas on how to reduce our electrical usage and be more efficient.

We have big goals for our household. For me, it’s not even so much the monthly cost of electricity, but rather our kilowatt usage and the impact that it is having on the environment. The psychological factor of knowing that you’re making a difference, albeit a small one- is impactful.

Check your electric bill and see if your electrical company has a website. Check it out and see if you can find tips on how to be more efficient, more green, and reduce your electrical useage!

While I was at my electrical co-op’s website, Palmetto Electric Co-op, I found out a few cool things. Our co-op has an initiative to get all households to switch over to CFL bulbs and is sending two bulbs to every household. We also have a Green power plant that is run by methane gases collected from landfills (here in South Carolina)! Co-op members can sign up online to purchase $3, $6 or $9 blocks of Green Power. Of course, I just signed up. Purchasing 2 blocks per month has the same environmental impact as recycling 320 pounds of aluminum. I signed up for 3 blocks. That’s a lot of cans!!!

I’ve been listening for months to the Democratic debates and reading all of the daily political news about what each candidate is going to do for the environment, and green-collar jobs, and renewable resources… It was kind of nice to see it in action at home here in South Carolina, and be able to be a small part of it- even if I do have to pay in to it to use it.

Maybe someday power from renewable sources will be commonplace. It has to be!

Does your electric company have something similar!? Go check it out! Sign up!

Those ladies, are my green thoughts for the day…

xoxo,

Miss K