Global warming sucks. It's the middle of May in the San Francisco bay area, which normally means that we have another month or two of decent weather, followed by a week of insanely hot weather, and then back to decent. I've always loved the climate here in California. It's not too hot, not too cold. It's just right. My family in the mid west and south would call and let me know their temps were over a 100 and I would say, "man, sucks for you... yeah, it's about 80 here..." Well, guess what? Now it sucks for us, too.
I never used to be much for "go green" types of mentality. I would recycle if there was a recycle bin handy, but I didn't really go out of my way. I'm still not as great as I should be, but I'm making the effort to make changes here and there. I'm running my washer and dryer after the sun goes down. I'm relying more on air circulation and only using AC if I really need to. I drive my smaller car if I can. I walk when I can. And I definitely save the recycle stuff for a recycle bin, even if there isn't one handy. And I'm really, really working on turning off the water while we brush our teeth. I know this isn't enough. I know there is so much more I can do, but it's a start.
Oh I almost forgot! I also just dropped $1700 on a new energy efficient washer and dryer! They are a little more high maintenance as far as, well, maintenance. But the few extra seconds it takes me to clean it after every load will go a long way. I got a $200 rebate from PG&E just for buying the darn things.
It's so cliche but what changed me was having children. I see the world completely differently now that I have them to take care of. I don't want to leave them a yucky smelly world with no ozone layer. My kids and their kids deserve so much better than that. And so do everyone else's kids.
So I thought I was doing OK with all the greener thinking and such and then my friend went to church and came back telling me all about how we do have it hard here in California. We are overwhelmed with gas prices and money troubles, work, kids, jobs, the next event. Yeah, granted, there are people in other countries and even in our country watching their kids starve to death... but man our gas prices are high. OK, ok... there are people who can't afford to wear shoes or clothes and have no shelter to keep their babies warm... but I'm having less and less play money after paying the bills lately. There are families living with war and poverty and so much worse, but I was bummed out because my kids had to wait a few paychecks to get that wagon I had been wanting for them.
I guess my point is... we have it good. Even when we have it bad, our bad is so much better than most peoples great. I wish it wasn't that way. And I want to try to do more for the world. I don't know exactly what yet but I need to do something. I think I'll definitely start local. Maybe try to work some free clinics or something? Give immunizations to underprivileged children? I don't know yet.
And the biggest thing I want to focus on is being grateful for what I have. My children are awesome and aside from some snotty noses they are very healthy and able bodied! I'm really going to try to focus on the positive in every situation. My kids are coughing and have runny noses right now, but they live with me and they are well taken care of. And my husband is an active dad. Dinner will be on the table tonight and they both have warm beds to sleep in. They (at least the oldest) is polite and cares about people. I have an awesome family and wonderful friends. I even have a job I don't mind going to. I'm OK.
It's so hot I'm sweating just writing this blog. But you know what? Life is GOOD :-)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment