(There is always something you can do)
"Be the change you want to see. Let the change begin with me" Mahatma Gandhi
I became convinced of the truth of global warming after reading "The Weathermakers" by the Australian scientist Tim Flannery. See my link to this in the list of 'Useful Books' under the 'Information-Links' button above.
I was inspired to become 'green activist' after watching Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth".
I decided to call myself 'Green Maven' after reading 'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell. See my link to this in the list of 'Useful Books' under the 'Information-Links' button above.
I realised that I had to act, rather than just talk about it with my friends.
I decided I should begin at the personal level and then progress to wider levels. See my blog posts under the theme (Five Levels)
We cannot presume to lecture to others unless we have first practised ourselves, and rather than lecture I will attempt to describe what I and others do. Everyone's circumstances are remarkably different and what is most achievable for an individual must remain their choice.
My journey...
I had already greatly reduced the amount of kilometres I was driving each week. I stopped driving across town 'because I was bored'. I stopped driving to the coast for pleasure. Some years I did not go at all. Then two years in a row, friends offered me a lift to a Faith Community Weekend Retreat. I decided that the journey had sufficient value to be justified. My friends were going to go anyway. Now I ask myself on every occasion, "Is your journey justified?" I have also begun to ask my friends the same question, with interesting results. More later...
I have to ask myself that question because every kilometre I drive is causing damage to the atmosphere and changing the existing climatic system. So the answer really should be "No journey by car is justifiable. So stop it altogether". But I am not a fanatic and I know that is not possible in the immediate future for all but a handful of people. However we can all begin to reduce our mileage driven.
Then I switched to a smaller car. This reduced my environmental impact, petrol consumption and running costs by 33%. I had been driving a Mazda 626 and I still have the Mazda 121.
Next I sold a house and bought an apartment closer to the centre of town. This saved me twenty kilometres every time I drove into the city centre and back, and left me with an extra $20,000 in the bank. I still have some left !!
I then bought a bicycle, and made a serious effort to completely give up using a car. This is hard where I live. Public transport is poor in most people's opinion. But I am down to an average daily use of about four kilometres. I am very interested in electric cars but I doubt that I will ever own one. I am more likely to give up driving altogether.
I have greatly reduced the amount of electricity I consume at home. Electricity is the only type of energy I have access to. I began to buy '100% Green Power' after checking out the supplier carefully. I had thought it might be a gimmick or a scam.
I chose to buy an apartment with most of its windows facing the winter sun. This uses the principle of 'Solar Passive Energy' for heating. In summer the sun passes overhead and only shines obliquely into the apartment for an hour or two after it rises. It still gives me too much heat at that time. I do not heat or cool my dwelling at any time of the year. More later...
"I am only one, but still I am one; I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do."
Helen Keller
(born deaf and blind, she taught herself to communicate)
More later...
