MiCasaLoca

Sweating like a Pig

I wrote to "Mr. Green" at the Sierra Club.  He has an "Advice Column" and in Jan. wrote a piece encouraging us readers to curb our usage of air conditioning.  Below is a letter that I sent to him last night: 

I had wanted to write a response to your Jan issue about our AC addiction, but decided to let my anger subside before attempting to do so.  While huge corporate buildings cool their numerous floors with A.C. I'm going to be sitting at home sweating it out?  While we know that the more green vegetation there is, the cooler the city can be, our skyscraper rooftops are only lined with black lining, thus making our cities even hotter.  And yet, as a suggestion, I should use AC as little as possible?  I feel like we're attacking an ant hill one ant at a time.  Let us encourage to turn our lights out, close off vents in rooms that aren't being used, and turn the AC off when we are out, but please don't make us don sack clothes while our corporate friends wear silk!

It was nice that Mr. Green was trying to come up with ways to help us conserve energy.  Really, I do feel this way.  Living near Washington D.C. I drive by huge homes and usually the very first thought I have is,

"I wonder what was there before."  Because, it might have been a farm house with open fields.  Or it could have been a forest before a developer came in and tore the 70 year old trees down and chased off the wildlife.  My second thought is,

"Gosh, I wonder how much it costs to cool/heat that thing."  The houses are huge!  (My third thought is that I would need a road map to go through the house or I would get lost! And how lonely it must be).  So Mr. Green was talking to big home owners.  Or maybe small home owners.  I know that there are big home owners that belong to the Sierra Club as well as the small.  But wouldn't most of the readers who are reading Sierra know already that conservation is very important?  Shouldn't Mr. Green be writing to Good Housekeeping and Maxiam instead to catch the rest of the world?  Of course, there are two types of members in the Sierra club. 

Ok, so there's probably more than two, but I'm going to start with the most obvious. 

Type 1:  Wow!  This looks like a neat club and I'm interested in helping the earth, so I'll join and meet others who care and together we can help make a difference, one recycled can at a time.

That's me.  We're interested in tips on conserving and helping the earth.  John calls me a "granola girl" but really, I'm an insult to those people as I am far from being a Tree hugger...though I'm slowly improving.

Type 2:  Wow!!  This looks like a neat club that will make me look cool 'cuz then everyone will think that I'm hip.

This type could care less about doing anything for the earth unless someone is watching.  I know someone like this type. X is a "Is anybody watching?? Then I'll clean the creek" kind of person.  I am very disappointed in X.  As long as X will get attention, X will do clean-up projects, drive "environmentally correct" cars, and strut about in clothes that are 100% safe for the earth.  But when I suggested that X recycles, X didn't want to bother because it would be a tedious task. 

Translation:  Will anybody know? No, so don't bother.  X reads this blog so I won't name any names, but I'm truly sadden that X doesn't want to take the extra step.  The first time I got upset the day that I learned that X really didn't care about the earth, but cared about X's image...John reminded me that at least X is doing stuff to help, even if it is only when in the spotlight.  But then X goes around shooting X's mouth off about how environmentally conscious X is and starts picking on other people, like people who drive SUVs.

Gee, I drive an SUV.  I would listen to X "complain" (I would use the 'b' word but this is a clean blog) about SUV drivers and I knew that X knew I drove an SUV.  With my SUV, I can drive to Montgomery Recycling center and turn in oil, old paint, brush, used metal, cardboard boxes and pick up free mulch for my garden.  With my SUV, I can haul more stuff from the grocery and hardware store rather than having to make more trips.  And with my SUV, I can go on a camping trip packing everything but the kitchen sink and hide in the wilderness for a week.  Oh yeah, and when it's snowing, John can get to work before the streets are plowed.  And finally, at Christmastime I can go pick a locally grown Christmas tree, cut it down, only spend gas (and yummy snacks!) on the trip, and support a local Maryland Farm such as Butler's Orchard rather than buy a dry tree that came from 3 states away on a huge gas hog tractor trailer.  But did X think about?      

So here's X moaning about SUV drivers ruining the world, then tosses X's aluminum can into the trash. The trash.  X can't carry the soda can into X's car to take home to put in the recycling bin.  X checks X's mail and dumps the junk mail into the trash.  The trash!  That's good paper that can be recycled.  But as X climbs into X's less-gas consumption vehicle, X only thinks about what other people are thinking about X.

And I believe that's my point for Mr. Green and his idea that we should use as little AC as possible.  Let's talk how we can make a difference in our homes, but let's not stop there.  If we are going to sweat it out in the summer heat, so should the corporate offices!  Another 20 story building is built without trees on the rooftop or solar energy.  Conservation measures  aren't put in place to ensure that the companies within are doing their best to take care of our earth.  And every room in the building is heated all winter and cooled all summer 24 hours a day.  I'd like to know the stats on how many houses would need to go without AC for how many days before it would be equivalent to the amount of Energy one skyscraper uses in one day.  Now that's a math problem!  When the Discovery Communications building was built in 2004 in downtown D.C. I had hoped to hear of its' conscious dedication to be "green."  I guess I haven't been listening because I haven't heard anything yet.  I would think that since the Discovery Channel is all about "...real-life nonfiction entertainment covering nature, science and technology, history, and world exploration..." the building would be awesomely green, meaning being highly cognitive of how they approached their site and made sure to utilize every energy-saving measure possible.  If they did, then maybe other corporations and developers will follow in their footsteps, caring more about the environment.

And as for me, I will continue to live comfortably in the Maryland summers, circulating the air with fans as I keep the temperature cooler than hot and hotter than cold. 

I mean, we humans struggled since the beginning of time to beat the heat.  Now that we have the technology, I don't want to give it up.  Rather than suggest that we give it up as Mr. Green states, I would suggest that we MAKE IT BETTER. 

After all, we're the ones who invented AC in the first place. 

One reader did respond with a nice letter that Mr. Green deemed worth posting on the website.  I copied it and pasted it as I'm sure it will eventually disappear from the Sierra website.

The guy's name is David and he can be my friend anytime because he's a REALISTIC Tree Hugger.  I especially like the part about the "skinny young" person who goes about the house nude.  We have lots of windows that people can look in from the street and I don't think that Kevin our postman wants to see me nude. 

Hey Mr. Green,

I've found that if you ask for something that even motivated people balk at doing, you get virtually no behavior change. [Keeping the air conditioning] at 78 degrees in a hot or humid climate is likely only to work for skinny young people who like to be nude or not wear very much.

Here's a set of alternatives that produce both comfort and savings:

1. Create a cooling breeze at higher thermostat settings with electric fans--or, better yet, ceiling fans.
2. You don't need to cool what didn't get hot to begin with. Homeowners should:
   
   1. Be sure they have good ceiling insulation--generally R-19 or better, depending on the area in which they live. [Editor's note: The R-value of insulation indicates its resistance to heat flow. To find the best insulation rating for your region, see the Department of Energy's insulation fact sheet.] If needed, also install two-way reflective heat barriers.
   2. Install good-quality double-pane windows with low-E glazing. Do the same to any glass doors. [Editor's note: Low-emittance (or low-E) coating is a thin, transparent, metal or metallic oxide layer that minimizes heat loss through the glass. For more information, visit energystar.gov or efficientwindows.org.
3. Get photovoltaic panels installed. They produce peak electricity at the time of day when air conditioning is most heavily used.
4. If your house is well insulated, you can get free cooling in many climates by opening your windows at night after the sun sets and closing them again first thing in the morning.

In much hotter places, you can set the air conditioning to 64 in the early morning, when demand and the outside temperature are both relatively low. Then reset to 75 or 78 during the day. If your house is well insulated, your system may not even come back on except for the hottest days, and you'll save a lot of money and electricity.

In short, there are ways to be comfortable in hot places and save electricity. --David

We should probably write to the Sierra Club and remind them that there are many public schools in Maryland...and other states...that still do not have air conditioning which makes it miserable for children to learn those last few months of school after winter ends...and thus, maybe in a domino affect, those children learn less=more built up frustration in higher grades=more dropouts.

Or maybe I'm stretching it a bit, but if we took away AC from our homes, our schools, and our businesses, it would definately change life the way we know it.  I think the real answer would be to change how we fuel our AC units...if it's fossil fuels that is creating the electricity at the power plant, then maybe it really is the time to find an alternative and renewable energy source.  That seems more pratical to me than sitting in a puddle of sweat.

John Gabriel at 12:40 in the morning

For the last month there has been a stack of guide books on Florida sitting next to my computer chair.  Most nights, after Mari and John go to bed, I look at those books while I walk around the house to lure John Gabriel to sleep. 

My proposal:  After he falls to sleep, I'll do research.  I'll also check on my emails and do some other writings.

Then I nurse.  And he falls to sleep.  And then wakes to nurse.  But never can I put him in the bassinet.  Well, never is a harsh word.  There has been a few times (like, maybe 5 times).  He's taking Zantac now to help with his reflux but I'm beginning to think that his refusal of the downstairs bassinet is the simple fact that he doesn't want to miss any of the action.  He will, on more occasions, start off in the bassinet upstairs...unless I want to sneak down and write on the computer.

The scary thing about all of this is, what if I did go back to work?  How would I manage if I wasn't able to get to sleep?  Ok, I might get sleep, but I would never be able to get on the computer.  I still can't put him down during the day except for very short (and blessed) moments.  It has gotten a bit better...instead of him screaming after 45 seconds of being in the bassinet, he can now go up to 60 minutes for the week.  What a relief!

He's now 12 weeks old.

I remind myself that he's not going to be doing this forever.

For example, I can't imagine him being 9 years old and not wanting to sleep anywhere but in my arms.  It's actually sweet to think about how selective he is...it makes me think of how Madeline is trying to wean her 22 month old.  I think it's sweet that he searches for his mama...and she's probably just tired of it and wants a rest.

Well, I've already informed John that on Friday night I want 1 hour of "free-time".  I know he loves holding the baby, but he has been going to bed early to catch the metro.  Thus, during the week he doesn't have as much time to give, but I think I am really needing a break now.  Or I could do what he and my mom suggest.  Let him cry. 

I'll be hiding.  With earplugs.

Did I mention that my cat, Carlitos, insists that he sit on my lap-even if the baby is in my arms and the laptop is on my legs?

More Explanation on ING Direct

Gross mismanagement and misinformation being stated by employees on critical matters -- because it affects whether or not you can withdraw your money!! I had an employee service desk tell me something completely wrong and in complete contradiction with the contract I signed.

I am very distressed about how my ING Direct account is being handled. I was told today by this employee that I never verified my account link (which I verified back in Jan .or Feb.) and that people have had accounts for 3 years with unverified links. I quote from their website:

"Your initial deposit will be withdrawn from your linked account even if you have not validated the two small deposits. If you do not validate the link within 60 days ING DIRECT will close the account, return the initial deposit including any interest earned to the linked account."

Somehow the link with the originating institution was put into an "unconfirmed" status. As a result of the linking issue with the original account providing the money, I am told that a check I sent in to request a new link was returned to me unfulfilled. I have to send it all over again. In addition, that check has not arrived here, and I think the problem might be the apartment # was not included on the mailing address (the apparent fault of another employee). This means that my check may be floating around the post office somewhere. Finally, the original link with the originating account would no longer be valid even though I "confirmed" it or re-validated it (for the sake of their rules) because I closed that account, so I cannot use that orginal link.

I am getting heartburn with ING Direct. It is good that I do not need the money immediately because I have no way of accessing it immediately. Let your friends and relatives know.

Don't Use ING Direct

Sorry, I am on a personal crusade against ING Direct. Really, it's not worth it.

Please DO save money however you can, wisely. Try your most available credit union. Might be a better choice.

Thanks for letting me crusade. Get the word out!!!