I wouldn't consider myself an environmentalist. But I wouldn't call me a Republican in that respect, either. I believe in D&C 104:17, but also believe in the next verse. The Earth is full and there is plenty to spare, but if we're not wise stewards, we most certainly will lose it.I took some environmental geography classes in college and really enjoyed them. It opened my eyes to both sides of the story: the practical "hey, I've got a life to live" perspective versus the "let's preserve the earth and environment for future generations." I think a fun part of life so far has been trying to find a balance between the two thoughts.
A few weeks ago, a group really pushed what's called Earth Hour. They were trying to get as many people / businesses as possible to turn off all their lights for one hour one evening. Salt Lake City officially "participated" in this during 2007, but not during 2008. We participated this year. In fact, it was kind of fun and my girls loved it. We lit candles and used that light to read our scriptures, brush our teeth, and get into bed. Since then, Abby has asked a number of times if we can turn off our lights for an hour.
Lights off for one hour isn't much, but there are other ways we can both preserve our environment and save money. For example, I xeriscaped my side yard last Fall to get rid of grass we don't ever use. This will help us save water and money.
One final thing I want to try is to harvest some of my rain water. I don't want to capture my rain water to use in the house, or even to water much of my grass, but rather to water the dozen plants I planted in my side yard. I am considering getting one 50-gallon barrel and hooking it up to my gutter downspout. I've been doing some research on this ever since I saw a "Ask This Old House" episode where they set this up.
This won't save me much money, but it's partly the idea that I enjoy so much. So much of our society's rainwater is lost due to impervious surfaces that it's a nice thought to be able to save some of it.
Now I just wish I could afford to put some solar panels on my roof to heat my water. That would be sweet! I'm just afraid the more I get into this, the more weird Jen thinks I'm becoming.
6 comments:
Don't let the Teichert side of your family find out about your enviromenatlism, because to them it is synonomous with tree hugger. Seth's always like, "recycle, what's that?"
Is that pic of your yard a recent pictures? Is it that warm where you are that you have green and leaves?
Comon, I'd think after 30 years of Seth living on the land, he'd appreciate it a bit more!
No, we don't have green yet. This was a picture from last fall. We've only had about a dozen days where the weather was good enough to golf.
I think you are smart to do the xeroscape - Jim kind of started to do that on the south side of our lawn by planting a small garden but it wasn't complete and didn't look great. We will re-do it a bit this year. It took a lot less water for that side of the yard without grass.
To Natalie's comments -- we had snow on our yard this morning when we woke up - just a skiff, but it was there. The benches in SLC got at least 3" yesterday.
Mom
We would recycle if we could find somewhere to take our stuff to. Well, maybe not. Mike's parents have a recycle day. Everyone on their block was given a basket and once a week (usually the day after garbage day) they come and pick it up. I would recycle if it were that easy.
I got a bunch of gardening books and they have some cool things to do for getting rid of bugs and stuff that don't require a sray. I might try that this year. But I have to admit, I did feel kind of silly thinking, "I'm going to be so environmentally friendly."
I'm not to the point where I avoid use of pest/herbicides. I'm still a practical person, but am having some fun finding a few ways to cut costs and save energy.
I think you had better pray for rain, or at least get that barrel in place before May comes. I may be a while before you get any water. Maybe you could check with your weatherman freind and see if he could help fill the barrel.
Smart alick, Dad Clark
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