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Oil is an import. Most of it is anyway.<\/p>\nOil is an import. Most of it is anyway.<\/p>\n
And as the dollar is devalued, as the dollar is worth fewer Euros, Canadian dollars and Yen, the things we buy from these countries cost more dollars. These things aren’t worth more. They just cost more dollars.<\/p>\n
The US dollar is worth less than it has before. <\/p>\n
No big deal.<\/p>\n
It just means that things made in the US will cost less than things made somewhere else than they did before.<\/p>\n
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I recently bought some Hanes socks made in the USA. I bought them because my daughter, a girl scout, needed some things for a basket to give to the homeless. Since I figured that one of the reasons why we have the homeless is that there are fewer jobs here, supporting some manufacturing jobs still here was worth it. Maybe I can save someone from becoming homeless.<\/p>\n
Having just moved from a home of ten years to a small apartment, I realize that there are many things each of us need. For example, I made soup the other night and realized I didn’t have a ladle. I had to figure out other ways to move the soup from the pot to my bowl. Pouring and spooning figured heavily in my solution.<\/p>\n
We have to figure out other ways to live.<\/p>\n
We have to live using less energy. <\/p>\n
There are two sides to the equation: Create energy from alternative sources AND use less energy. Implementing only one is not enough.<\/p>\n
My brother just confessed to me that his energy bill has dropped to $17. He replaced all of his incandescent light bulbs to fluorescent. And in doing that he thought, “Hey! Why am I doing this? To save energy. Maybe I should turn these off, too, when I don’t need them.”<\/p>\n
It is too easy for us to use fluorescent bulbs and then leave them on all of the time, thus negating any savings. My brother turns his lights off more and saves even more money, uses less energy, has a smaller footprint. We can all do that. <\/p>\n
I also started working in the real world again: IT project management. Probably as far from the real world one can get. But I see lights on all the time in the office. All weekend lights are left on. Sure they are all fluorescent. But they are still left on all the time. Little meeting rooms with no one in them. Large cubicle farms empty with two printers and who knows how many monitors left on in sleep mode.<\/p>\n
I want to graffiti “Turn it off” everywhere. We don’t need so many lights on. And of course, lighting is 24% of the energy we use<\/a>. We can control lights. And of course, if we spend less, we have more dollars to spend. Each one saved then has more value. Don’t ask me how that works: I only took Economics 101.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nRelated Posts:<\/h3>