Let’s Talk About Pulling The Plug
While I despise the woman who slapped my hand for my lack of eco friendly totalitarianism, I still respect the movement to create a more friendly attitude and actions toward our planet. With all of the informational resources available, there is no excuse to claim ignorance on the subject matter of conservation. The “Unplugged Living” blog is the perfect place to start stock piling ideas for being an eco friendly human. It is where I started my quest for earth saving knowledge, because it gives ideas that are easy to implement. If we all commit to picking up just one new green habit, every month, to add to our practices, the earth would greatly benefit from it (and so would our electricity and water bills!) Here is the mini interview that Noel was so sweet to take part in. Read it and then head over to Unplugged Living to start living green!
- How would you describe Unplugged Living in one sentence?
Unplugged living is about alternative energy, conservation, recycling,
and other things that could help offload mother nature. - Do you ever wish that kids or spouses had a plug that you could pull when necessary?
Oh definitely. I have a son and when he was around 2 to 3 years old,
you just wish there’s a plug or an off button so you can turn him
off. I think they call this age, the terrible twos where they climb,
write on the walls and do stuff that you told them not to do.
Now that my son is 4 years old, I need that plug for another reason.
Whenever we go to the mall and he sees the toy section, he will force
his way to that area and find a toy that he wants and won’t let go.
If I only have a remote where I can type “shutdown now” just like what
I do when I shutdown my linux machine, that would be very very
helpful. - I see that you have a lot of solar posts on your blog. Would you say that the sun is the best kept secret in energy sources, or the most ignored?
I think it is. It is an open secret if you can say that because a lot
of people know that solar technology exists but they don’t find ways
to use it. The sun has the capacity to power the entire planet
several times over. - Recycling…I think that it is a good thing, but I am leery of recycled
water. It just seems gross. What is your take on it?
I give it to somebody who doesn’t complain. My lawn and my plants
- Earth Day…The earth only deserves one day of recognition? Yet we abuse it
everyday. Don’t you agree that it should be earth day, everyday?
Yup. I agree. Everyday should be Earth Day. - What is the one conservation project that you are most proud to say that you
take part in?
I say it would be the continuous waste segregation. It is simple and
yet is has one of the most impact in conservation. One doesn’t need
any special devices, just the will to segregate your household waste.
Our whole neighborhood is involved so it is great to see other
people make simple contributions for conservation. - What is one plugged in item, in your house, that you couldn’t live without?
I think that would be the refrigerator, otherwise all our food would
spoil and we need to keep on going to the grocery every day. That
would be a total waste of petrol. - What made you decide to blog about freeloading off of Mother Nature?
It’s one of my passion. Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated with
solar energy, wind energy and other renewable energy sources.
One of my goals is to live entirely using power that I produce. It
might take a lot of money to do that but that’s one of the things I
really want to achieve.
Noel Bautista
I think 99.9% of going green is just being aware. Half the battle is just starting to think. So when you need to, say, drive to the store, you start thinking “Can I combine trips? Do I really need this thing? Can I walk? Can I take a reusable shopping bag?” When you look at your yard, start thinking “Does the grass really need fertilizer, just because I fertilized it the same time last year? Will our lives be ruined by a dandelion or two? Do we need to water every day?”
For us, a lot of stuff came gradually, but is now routine. We had to buy light bulbs anyhow – we bought compact fluorescents. Our 2nd car died, so we didn’t replace it, choosing to keep our more fuel efficient smaller car and occasionally rent a larger car if we really need it. We decided our front yard was a)too small and b) too ugly, so we ripped it up and replaced it with mulch and ground cover. It wasn’t a radical change, but a bunch of small changes adding up.