Burn Less
Impacts: Health, Home, Work, Money, Community
“Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.” Henry David Thoreau
“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” – Henry David Thoreau
By burning less I mean everything from cars to lawn movers to cigarettes to fireplaces, yep anything on fire. Every time you choose to burn less you reduce your carbon footprint which immediately makes positive improvements to the environment and indirectly to your health.
We often don’t think about the stuff we burn. In fact most of us probably don’t realize how much is burned for us to bring us the things we want. Coal is now generating about half the electricity in America. Our cars and homes burn up the majority of the fuel we use. But it goes far beyond these things. Lets take the banana you ate at breakfast this morning. It was probably imported and traveled thousands of miles on a ship that burned fuel the whole way to America. Once it arrived more fuel was burned up in the truck that brought it to the brightly lit air-conditioned store where you bought it. Your choice of paper or plastic is such a minimal issue compared to the rest it always makes me laugh when they ask me. I usually ask myself why am I buying this fruit from across the globe.
I’m not trying to get all crazy here; I’m just pointing out a simple truth that we don’t often think about when we answer the bag question. Everything in our modern world requires energy that usually comes from burning a fossil fuel. I bet once we run out of gas our carbon impact will be reduced for us and all the problems of global warming and pollution will be solved. We’ll have a few bigger problems.
Until that happens the benefits of burning less are cleaner air and water and an immediate reduced dependence on combustible fuels. Switching to renewable clean energy sources and reducing your consumption of energy all together reduces a burden that impedes your freedom everyday. Burning less means you spend less too. Fossil fuels are still a relatively inexpensive source of energy but every time you choose to burn less you save more, which will always give you more freedom.
Take Action
- Drive less, carpool, take mass transit.
- Bike and walk more.
- Shop in small local stores that sell locally made products and food.
- Only in-season produce from farmers’ markets.
- Use less electricity and heating fuels in you home.
- Insulate you home.
- Add passive solar features to your home.
- Move to a more temperate climate.
- Move closer to work.
- Consider careers that permit working from home.
- Travel less.
- Vacation closer to home.
