My wife's email to family after I dragged her to see Gore's movie...

last night. She's not political at all.

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Hi you guys,

I saw that movie last night on global warming (and not very willingly at that), and although it did not tell me anything that I did not already know, I came away with the thought that if everyone just did 5 things-even little things-to help the environment, the world would be a much better place for us now and for the little ones to come (and no, that's not me saying I'm having kids). So, I am asking each of us to do 5 things and make these 5 things apart of our respective lifestyles. We have come up with three of our personal 5 so far: recycling, reclaiming/reusing water for my plants, and conserving energy with our thermostat. We have two more to go for us, but the point is to pick things that will fit into your everyday-because let's face it, I'm not going to turn into a hippie and stop bathing and flushing the toilet. But that's the beauty of the challenge. . .there's not a single person on the planet that couldn't come up with 5 things that they could do differently, regardless of their political beliefs. And you know me, I'm anti-political---but I'm pro staying on the planet with the ones I love. So pick your 5 and do them!
Love you bunches,

I haven't had the privilege of watching the movie, but hope it will be available before too long. It must be very moving, as it is getting great reactions from the viewers.

Give your wife a hug for her email. If everyone contacted their family members, we could slow down a lot of damage and turn this eco-world around.

in emails also. Thanks!!

and has decided to do something about global warming. But on the behalf of hippies everywhere, i take exception with this remark. "I'm not going to turn into a hippie and stop bathing and flushing the toilet"

As a well washed hippie who flushes and closes the lid, where do you think the awareness of our globe came from? I've personally been talking about this subject since 1966, just thought you should know.

Peace!

:)

I actually had to do a google search to find out what a Neo-Hippie was, it appears that we have many definitions of what a Neo-Hippie is. What's your definition?

Most people who repeat those don't know any better.

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Sounded more like a light-hearted, semi-serious defense of hippiedom. I don't think "asshole" was necessary either.

BTW, your wife's e-mail is cool.

But was also offended by the stereotypical unwashed hippie comment.
I also consider myself a hippie & I bath regularly. I get tired of hearing the stereotypes no matter who it comes from

It comes in different flavors now.

is do not poison to kill outside. if we gotta kill a nasty weed, boiling water works fine and instant. i don't reclaim water as i live next to lake Mich, i say i am diluting the crap. (wait you use the cat bowl water to water 4 plants) my plants get rain water.
and i am a recycling nut. down to estate sales. the ultimate recycling.

I've never heard about using boiling water to kill weeds. It sounds a lot better than my method... yank near the bottom of the plant but still leave a big hunk o'roots because I've never gotten the hang of pulling them up too.

I hang out my wash, living in Fl. weather is a bonus. Have gas dryer, so I save on that plus electric. We are very conservative on energy, as much as we can. recycle everything we can! Yes the movie was an eye opener for many. I'm one of those old hippie types, I have always cared about environment and will continue to do my part. We also have solar panels to heat our water. We built an energy efficient house, that really does cut down on heating and cooling. Large wrap around porch that shades the house and radiant barriers in roof.If builders did more of this is would really help.We took a month long seminar on solar energy before we built and had house plans available to us to choose from several designs. That was very cost effective for us also. Doing some research can be a great help!

And see how often you can replace a car drive with a bike ride. People just accept how cheap gasoline is today (even at $3 a gallon) compared to the ENERGY it produces. It is so cheap people just do NOT understand it contribution to Global warming and the rest of using gasoline has on the environment. Basically you can NOT release all the energy in a gallon of gasoline WITHOUT causing some serious harm to the environment.

On the other hand you can NOT survive in today's society without a Car (Yes I know some people can, but the vast majority can not). While you still need a car, buying a bike and a trailer you can do a lot of local (within 1-2 miles and maybe up to five miles away) trips and thus conserve energy.

The biggest concern for most people who want to bike but don't is Safety. They feel unsafe traveling on the same roads as cars. Many would prefer to travel on slower roads but have none to go on. In my experience that is a mistake. I have found it is easier to travel by bike on a four lane highway than a two lane highway. The main reason is most two lane roads have small (if any) berm, while the four lane highways either have a wide berm, or cars to your rear can get in the other lane. Thus it is safer to travel on four lane highways than two lane roads (I exclude limited excess highways for while they have wide berms and two or more lanes, they are design for high speeds, what I mean by four lane highway is a typical highway with Traffic lights and thus limited speed).

Now it will take some adjustment to get use to riding a bike in place of your car, both physically and mentally. Physically is accepting that you MUST give yourself extra time, mentally to accept the slower pace of traveling by bicycle. It can be rough but look at the trips you can do first before you say "I can't do that".

One last comment, if you do decide to try to bike, try to get yourself a good bike frame. That is more important than the components on the bike. If you stay with biking you can upgrade the components later (Go to the bike forum to see some of the upgrades you can do once you have biked for a few months).

Here is my setup:


Since I took the Picture I stop using the box on top of the rear Panniers so I can move the front fork of the trailer down ward so it is level. The rear box did not hold that much item and more of a nuisance than a help given it did not have a good way to attach to the rear rack (unlike the rear panniers that attach rigidly to the rack.

husband keeps turning it back down to 75 or less. In the winter, I turn it down to 65 at night and 68 during the day and my husband turns it up to 75... :shrug:

I'm in the northeast and we get pretty cold winters. We set our heat to 55 overnight on the thermostat and 62 during the day. We try to never use the AC in the summer but sometimes, it's just so miserable. We also converted empty basement space to a hot day hangout where we read and use the computer. Our own little version of geothermal.

I wish I could say we do it to save the planet, but we do it because we can't afford 150.00 a month electricity bills and 200 a month gas bills. I'd like to think that even if I couldn't afford it, I'd do it.

I'm going to start hanging my wash to dry, walking whenever I can, unplugging unused appliances from the sockets (if they're plugged in, they're draining power,) sleeping during dark hours. My schedule is very flexible so I can do that. Though it is tough this time of year. Sunset is almost nine and sunrise is around 4:30

Best time for that routine is spring and fall, then it gets tougher to do in the winter because dark sets in about 4:30 in the afternoon and it doesn't get light until after seven.

but if you can, syncing your sleeping hours with darkness saves A LOT of energy.

efficient flourescent bulbs - you'll be AMAZED by the savings! It made a noticable difference in our electric bill, so much so that we're going to put them in EVERY light socket, just to see how much more we can save. Try it - it WORKS!

the flourescent bulbs for the whole house. Initially, they are more expensive, but they last four or five time longer than incandescent bulbs and they use one third the energy.

that people have to STOP being anti-political.

our community and governmental leadership.

The mega wealthy have created/taken over the Political parties as a means to keep Americans divided and so that these mega wealthy individuals may maintain their power, over everyone else.

I think Americans need to stop investing in political parties and begin investing in each other more.

:hi:

the one without the pillar in the middle of the tank. It uses no more than 2 inches of water and assesses the water level constantly. It also filters the water it uses. It costs about $15 a year to run the dryer and $35 a year for the washer. It may cost a bit when you buy it but it will save a lot of money over the long haul.