25 Ways to Green the World #10-11

#10: Stop Dirty Energy

Besides signing online petitions, calling Congress etc. about coal, we haven't yet done very much. One idea in the Green American "25 Ways" article I'm using for this list is to shift our energy use to the evening hours to reduce peak demand. From now on, we'll do our laundry and run the dishwasher in the evening or early in the morning. (In the summer, I have to do the laundry in the morning in order to hang the clothes outdoors.)

#11: Rethink Your Transportation

We've always used our cars less than average since we're basically home bodies. We've always grouped errands, since it saves times as well as gas. Beyond that, though, we've made a conscious effort to reduce our car use. For the last few years before retirement, John bicycled to work even in the winter unless it was below 25 degrees or actively snowing; in those cases, he took the bus. In the winter, when it was too dark to ride a bike home, he used the handy bike carrier on the front of the bus.

Lately, instead of doing our exercise walking around the neighborhood, we've discovered we can walk to Wegmans, each with a backpack, in the same amount of time. So instead of frequent trips in a car (since the grocery store was one trip I never could seem to cut back on) we get small amounts of groceries about 4-5 times a week. We've done the same with the library in the other direction (complete with some challenging hills to climb).

And when we do drive, we use our Prius.