What Haven’t You Tried Yet?
Green Thursday
Hello and Happy Green Thursday! I’ve been having a ball watching birds in my backyard today, hanging out at and getting a drink at our bubbling water feature. At one point, there must have been about 30 of them on the ground, on the water feature and on the phone line that hangs above. It’s so much fun to have my office where I have a view of nature.
Today, I’m sharing about my hubby Hugh and I FINALLY doing something we should have done a long time ago – getting an energy audit to find out how we can make our home more energy efficient. But first, like usual, we need to upload some Inspiration!
Today’s Inspiration: We have a round-up of inspiring stories of people doing good in our world. The link takes you to a short summary and offers the option to read the entire story.
Rare Pink Dolphins Saved By Fishermen In Bolivia's Amazon Jungle (karunavirus.org)
Support Dog Provides Comfort To Capitol Riot Police (karunavirus.org)
Today’s Probing Question: What haven’t you tried yet to reduce your carbon footprint?
I have a confession to make. For years we’ve talked about getting an energy audit done at our house, but felt it wasn’t worth it. The oldest part of our house was built in 1932. Some of the walls are plaster and lathe – there is NO insulation and the walls are a couple inches thick, max. In our living room, in the winter the walls are COLD, which means the heat is getting sucked right out.
Some of the windows are the original casement windows, with spectacular wavy glass that makes beautiful patterns on the walls when the sun comes through at just the right angle. These spectacular windows also let heat, cold, dirt and occasionally water, in. Having said that, these windows are a big part of why I bought this house.
We have a funny garage, known to our neighbors as “the batcave”, which is right in our basement. When we open this garage door, it floods the basement with hot or cold air, depending on the season.
Because of a recent addition, we have two furnaces and two air conditioners. From a prior addition, we have several rooms that are inexplicably cold during the winter. We have ductwork where the insulation and tape is coming undone.
With all of these new-and-old-house quirks, we kind of figured our house was a lost cause when it comes to energy efficiency. We thought, “Why bother?”
Not anymore. We just had a company come and complete an energy audit of our house and are waiting for the report that will tell us the myriad of ways in which we can make our home more energy efficient. The good news is that there will be no shortage of ways. The bad news is that some of them will be expensive, some will be disruptive, and some will change the character of the house. Back to the good news: we get to choose which to implement and which to delay or skip. I’ll keep you posted…The windows will be the hardest decision we need to make.
Deciding to take this on was a significant step forward for us. It’s us doing OUR part to start to mitigate our carbon footprint and be part of a greener future. This is us realizing that as long as we sit back and think, “Someone really needs to deal with the causes of climate change,” we’re copping out. So, we’re taking it on, or at least getting started. Wish us luck!
Take Action:
Check out 50 Tips To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint | GlobalGiving or Climate change: Top 10 tips to reduce carbon footprint revealed - BBC News and look for ideas your haven’t tried yet for reducing your carbon footprint.
Pick one new way to engage and Just Do It!
I’d love to hear your comments about what you haven’t tried yet and are going to start. It’s never too soon to start trying to keep our planet habitable for us humans!
With support from Big Fish Virtual Administration.
Original Art Banner by Ves Huerta. See Ves’ Etsy Shop HERE.