Tag: green

simply living simply pt.2

Well I promised I’d try and share some of the things Laurie and I are currently doing to live simply.

I’m not sharing this list because I want to brag about what we do, or because we’ve got it all figured out and we do it right all the time. I’m just sharing this list because they’re some things that we’ve found that work for us (as in – “Hey! We can do this!”). Laurie may have some additions to this list (I hope she does).

Invest in others – Laurie and I are both involved in several groups where community and relationships are built. We are both part of a community group that meets each Tuesday night in the home of friends and we share life and God. Laurie also now meets weekly with several friends on Thursday night to just spend time building those relationships and I’m involved in a Bible study/discussion for men on Wednesday morning (the men’s What-a-Study) and typically meet with one or two other guys at different times during the week.

Recycle – we’re not doing near enough yet (in my opinion) but we’re doing a lot more than we used to. We recycle our aluminum cans, plastic and glass thanks to city recycling program. We should probably add cardboard and paper to the mix – but we haven’t taken the time to store and deliver paper products to a recycling site (mental note: add that to the goal list).

Utilizing public transportation – I’m a big fan of public transportation, especially good systems like DART. Granted, the old joke remains, “The thing I hate about public transportation is the public.” Sure there are days when folks can annoy you and get on your last nerve – but we save a great deal of money on gas and parking each month with my monthly DART pass. On top of that, it gives me an opportunity to actually be in fellowship with others rather than tuning the world out as I climb in my truck all by myself.

Using CFLs – We’ve switched all but just a few lights in our house to new CFL or LED bulbs. We need to find some good CFLs that look good above our bathroom mirrors, but otherwise I think all of our lights have been changed to money saving CFLs.

Utilize an automatic thermostat – This is one of those ways we’re easily putting technology to use to try and save money and automate our air conditioning/heating needs. We also utilize ceiling fans in our main rooms of use (including a brand new one I installed in our office today). While this may be too warm for some folks, we keep our thermostat at 78° F while we’re home and at 85° F during the day. We just discussed the possibility of lowering that day time temperature to 80 or 82 so our AC doesn’t run as long in the evening to cool the house off again. We haven’t found any substantial evidence as to which is best for efficiency, cost and wear and tear on our AC. While our winter bill was a bit higher, we’ve had 2 months of spring/summer electric bills of $70 or less!

We’ve discussed other areas we can improve on or start doing including:

  • starting a garden
  • starting a compost pile
  • recycling paper
  • eating more organic foods
  • eating out much less
  • having friends over for dinner on a more regular basis

Well there’s you a starting point. Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions?

Be sure and check out Shaun Groves’ latest post to see some of his goals as well.

simply living simply

Kevin has shared some thoughts on living simply.

I think everyone wanting to live simply has different reasons for doing so, Kevin says, “Part of my motivation is money: Spending less on stuff makes our adoption more affordable. It also makes it easier to help others and be more generous.”

Kevin points to two recent posts by Shaun Groves who writes that his desire for living simply is: “To free up resources which should be spent on those presently in need. To prevent need. To invest in personal health – mental, spiritual, relational and physical.”

These things resonate with me deep in my soul. Yet I struggle with simply giving up my wants and desires in order to simply live a simple life. Things like having my own car (truck) to take me where I want when I want, having the AC/heater on at the exact temperature I want it at, eating what I want, when I want or even living in a “suburb” away from the big city. These are things (along with others) that I want control over – but seem to go against the idea of living simply.

Some other things I think are important to living simply (that Kevin and Shaun didn’t specifically mention) are taking full advantage of technology when and where its affordable and practical. Probably one reason I’m a big fan of sites like Lifehacker.com and even social networking sites. I’ve always sent prayer requests to people via txt messaging and e-mails but now with Twitter and my BlackCrackBerry those processes are even faster and easier. There is some additional cost along the way – but to me, for what I do its well worth it for some of the technology (but maybe these are areas I should work on as well). Of course when and where I can use open source – I’m all for it.

I think ultimately I have several reasons for wanting to live simply and both Kevin and Shaun have included them in their reasons – but off the cuff here are some of mine…

  • Investing more in others rather than myself. The more I spend on myself, the less I have to give away. God may choose to bless me and Laurie, but I believe he blesses people so that we in turn can be a blessing to others. I also think this carries over into investing personal time and such with people as well. If I share my dinner with friends and family, not only am I giving to them financially, it offers opportunity to give and share relationally.
  • Being a good steward of ALL that God has given us. We hear this a lot in our churches, but I think we tend to only apply it to our tithe and finances we give back to the church or other causes. I think this also includes being a good steward of the world around us – i.e. living green, recycling, etc.
  • Living simply = less stress. Let’s face it, the less you have, the less opportunity you have for things to go wrong. Sure some of those things may happen and stress may still occur but if I become dependent on things – it becomes a lot more stressful when those things don’t work like they should.

Well those are the basics. Be sure and read Kevin’s post as well as Shaun’s to see what they’re doing. Maybe a little later I’ll share some of the simple things Laurie and I have started doing to try to simply live simply.

In the meantime, how, why and where do you live simply?

Mother Earth

I read an interesting view on “mother nature” yesterday and why Christians often have a hard time with living green or caring for nature (aka natural conservation – which sounds like the very essence of a conservative).

First off, because most Christians believe the earth is going to be destroyed in the end – so why should we worry with protecting the environment?
Secondly because most Christians traditionally consider themselves “conservative” there is a tendency to be against anything and everything those “liberals” are for.
And third, the idea of a “mother earth” seems mystical or too spiritual or giving too much authority to the rest of creation. It also seems to reflect a Darwinist viewpoint that we all evolved from a single cell somewhere that was birthed my “mother earth.” And I think in addition, there’s a fear that “treehuggers” have taken it their love of God’s creation to the extreme. Some how the dolphins and Pygmy Three-toed Sloths have become more important than humans and well – we can’t have that.

So how about this? What if rather than using the term, “Mother Earth” which tends to give a higher authority to the rest of God’s creation – we used a new term, “Sister Earth?” After all, we do have the same Father/Creator.

Thoughts? Ideas? Have you faced some of the same struggles? Do you care?

Earth Day pointers

A co-worker shared this idea with me…

We save water (and keep our plants outside in good shape in summer) by saving our pre-shower water, you know, that water that just goes down the drain as we wait for the shower to heat up?

It fills a bucket per day for us, a bucket of water I am paying for that usually goes down the drain. Instead, it goes on my potted plants and trees outside, making them very happy, even when rationing starts in the summer.

And here are some good tips for what to do with left over 2-liters:


2 Liter Recycling – video powered by Metacafe

We’ve been trying to save all our milk jugs and water jugs and such to recycle but there are certain rules/restrictions you have to follow in Red Oak. Our jugs were starting to pile up and so the other day while we were working in the yard I started cutting the tops off of some of them and are now using them to hold soil, grass clippings etc until we get a “formal” compost box.

Also – anyone know where I can get rid of several cups worth of old gasoline?