How often do you think about the energy you consume? You know the gas in your car, the hydro that lights your home, the natural gas (or oil) that heats your water and your home etc…
I know I don’t think of my energy consumption and carbon footprint as much as I should, but today I did. As part of my job I attended the Energy Matters 2010 Summit hosted by the Region of Peel. The keynote speaker that kicked off the conference was Thomas Homer Dixon – he did a fantastic job of capturing my relatively uneducated attention. Yes I know greenhouse gas emissions are a concern, yes I know we’re depleting our oil sources, yes I know we’re experiencing global warming… But I never saw the tie between these concepts and how I can play a role in saving our planet. I’ve felt helpless and like we’re all doomed!
But we’re not (thank goodness!). Sitting in a room full of engineers I realized that there are already ideas on how we can almost reverse the effects we’ve placed on the earth. But we can’t expect to keep doing what we’re doing & get a different outcome. We know our lifestyles are contributing towards our own doom.
But how can we help on a personal level? Oil supplies us 40% of the energy the world uses – 90% of that is used by vehicles. But oil is quickly becoming depleted, and as it becomes depleted it takes more and more energy to find & produce energy. We’re running out.
Energy really does matter!
So how can we do our part & reduce our demand? Does anyone know? Do we buy locally? Reduce our consumerism & therefore how much product needs to be transported to us? Should we reuse more? Walk to garage sales etc? I know the part I’m playing in my job, but wow! What can we personally do?
Like I’ve said, I’ve never really considered how much energy matters.
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Chill!!
.-= Shelina Ishani´s last blog ..A Match Made In Heaven =-.