Today is Earth Day. The one day a year when people are supposed to think about the Earth and human's impact on it. However, people are more concerned about their wallets. In good times, people can afford to "go green," but people today don't feel that they can. There are small steps that people can take: first, use re-usable bags in place of plastic or paper bags. Each plastic bag takes decades to biodegrade in a landfill (as they are not easily recycled) and paper bags mean more trees gone. Reusable bags are not expensive either. This bag at Target is 99 cents and can be used over and over. Also, compact flourescent lights are a great way to reduce energy consumption by approximately 77% (a 100 watt light equivalent only uses 23 watts). While these are more expensive (about $4.17 per bulb as opposed to $0.51 per bulb), they do last about 10 times longer and the newer bulbs no longer have the flourescent light glare.
But, the best way to reduce energy usage is to not use the energy in the first place. When you leave a room - even for only a minute - turn off the lights. That is a 100% energy savings. Also, a lot of people keep their computers in "sleep mode" overnight. Shut it down. Sleep mode doesn't mean off. Energy in the United States is cheap. The national average cost of electricity in the U.S. is 9.64 cents per kilowatt hour (Source: Dept. of Energy). In Europe, the cheapest electricity is still more than the U.S. average (11.44 cents) and the most expensive is over four times more expensive at 41.34 cents. To keep our electricity cheap, we need to do what we can to use less of it. Or else face a wasteland as prophesized by Walter E.
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