My father was an English teacher so these errors often times makes him cringe when he reads my writing. Additionally, when the paper posts my articles they do go through the editing process so they are up to par, but I am sure they also cringe at some of what I write. However, they and many other people still do value my perspective and the manner and tone of how I share it. I do not profess to be a writer and I’m sorry if you felt that these errors were of such distraction to my writing that it overshadowed the content and its intent, it’s certainly an area where I could use improvement.

Jason

The Cent-o-meter and the Kill-a-watt are both great items but very different. The Kill-a-watt identifies the loads being pulled through an appliance or electronic item, while the Cent-o-Meter identifies all energy being consumer at one time during the day. This would include lights that are left on, ceiling fans etc. that don’t have outlets.

I also want to compliment you for taking some great actions to reduce your over-all consumption.

Jason

Seriously, can I have the last few minutes of my life back for reading this stuff which was uninformative and wasteful of the electricity of many computers and ALOT MORE OF MY TIME THAN IT WAS WORTH. Seriously, go get another deposit from your trust fund because your life as a true contributor to society is over.

A friend of mine in San Franciso took out his huge old refrigerator and replaced it with a smaller “college style” one that he put under the kitchen counter.

It didn’t really impact his life in terms of not being able to store things (who has a stuffed-full fridge and needs everything in it?), and it reduced his energy bill by about 20%.

There are a lot of other things we do, but I’ll keep it to two:

1. Reusable water bottles: It seems even though this kind of plastic is recyclable, the majority of these plastic bottles are ending up in the landfills (and maybe there is a finite use for all that plastic?). I prefer a stainless steel bottle and use a water purifier. We basically take our water bottle everywhere, and we also don’t drink pop (soda) which also helps our bottom line and the planet. Recent news has reported that tap water is safe, so it’s a personal choice. I had one or two water emergencies (forgot my bottle) where I “had” to purchase an individual water bottle - about twice in the last year. A stainless steel water bottle can cost from about $12 - $20; at a movie theater, a water will cost from $2 - $3. A definite savings in the long run. Remember, the “big two” pop companies also produce those expensive bottles of water - do you really want to make these people rich?

Of course, all the news has been around how our landfills are overflowing with plastic water bottles - but remember: those pop and juice bottles count too!! I won’t get started on all the health reasons not to drink all that pop, but think about the plastic bottle next time.

2. Compost: We have a very small yard and manage to compost. There are also community gardens and other “city sponsored” public sites at which to take compost. On a typical week, we have one garbage bag for the trash collector, maybe two. This is kind of like a third thing, but it’s also thanks in part to using flushable/compostable diapers - “gDiapers.” Granted, we pay a flat fee for garbage pickup, so there isn’t an immediate savings here (I hope in the future they may charge by the pound), but the nutrients from the compost can add to soil health, even if you don’t garden.

I challenge everyone to do what they can, and think about not only immediate “wallet reduction” but also societal and other costs that are less tangible.

We just found out that Minneapolis is burning a lot of the plastics they say they recycle because the bottom has fallen out of the recycled plastics market. So we’re setting up a place in our basement to store our plastics until the markets improve.

Yeah, we’re losing storage space. But we’re betting on the earth and my niece’s grandchildren.