A Nice Reward July 12, 2008

It’s been a year since we signed up for having the same monthly payment on our electric bill. They base it on how much energy you spent the year before and take the guesswork out of the bill by paying the same amount every month.
So this is our 12th month and we have seen the results.

Since last year, we’ve changed most of our lights to energy efficient lights, turned up the AC of our house about 2 degrees, unplugging electronics not in use, and made sure we didn’t have any lights on rooms we weren’t using.

Here are the results. Our bill for electricity this month is at $0.00! And our next months bill will be credited about a fifth of the amount we usually pay!! This is awesome!!! This makes me very excited. To see these results make me know that I AM making a difference. Extremely rewarding.
Also if you consider the fact that we got a 5 gallon fish tank with filter, air bubbling thing, and heater for it that runs 24/7 , which I feel extremely guilty about, and is connected to a power strip. (Purchased for the 3 gold fish my daughter won at a Japanese festival, that have since all been replaced with 3 tropical fish within a year…)
We’ve done extremely well this year! Good job me.

There are small things that make a difference and I think everyone can start by turning their AC to 1 degree higher than what they usually have it set at. Trust me, your body will get used to it after a while and you’ll feel great about the difference you are making. It’s summer, it’s supposed to be hot, naturally your body is not made to go from 86 degrees outside to 75 degrees inside. I challenge you. Try 78 or 79 this year. Turn the air off at night and circulate the air in your home with a fan facing out. We have our AC set at 80 when my husbands home, and 81 when he’s not. 82 for the pets when we all leave the house.

Maybe next year we’ll be up to 82! I don’t think John can handle that, he does not like the humidity… but a little humidity is great for the skin. Less wrinkles.

So lets all try to get healthier and pretty, and save our environment all at the same time.

Earth Hour March 28, 2008

This is a very important event, coming up this Saturday.
I am just a messenger…

“On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.

Earth Hour was created by WWF in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and in one year has grown from an event in one city to a global movement. In 2008, millions of people, businesses, governments and civic organizations in nearly 200 cities around the globe will turn out for Earth Hour. More than 100 cities across North America will participate, including the US flagships–Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco and Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

We invite everyone throughout North America and around the world to turn off the lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. (your own local time)–whether at home or at work, with friends and family or solo, in a big city or a small town.

What will you do when the lights are off? We have lots of ideas.

Join people all around the world in showing that you care about our planet and want to play a part in helping to fight climate change. Don’t forget to sign up and let us know you want to join Earth Hour.

One hour, America. Earth Hour. Turn out for Earth Hour!”

There is also an event that has been going on called GAIA Summit.

http://www.do-summit.jp/en/

People in Japan will be turning off their lights for 2 hours from 6pm for the next 100 days starting this Sunday, March 30th, counting down to the Hokkaidou GAIA Summit. I found out about this event just in time, we will be participating in this event from Sunday. I guess we can combine the 2 events and start together Saturday! Start buying those candles!!

“The Group of Eight (G8) Summit is an annual meeting attended by the leaders of eight countries-Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America-and by the President of the European Commission. A “summit” in the strict sense is a meeting of heads of state, but it often refers also to meetings of foreign ministers and finance ministers prior to meetings by heads of state. In these years, non-G8 countries are also participating in the G8 Summit. For instance, the so-called emerging countries such as Republic of South Africa, Brazil, China, Mexico and India have participated in the 2007 Heiligendamm Summit held in Germany as well as many African nations and international organizations.”

Please join me with millions of people around the world for this wonderful event!