Last night marked a few firsts for me.. First time to an IMAX theater, first time I’ve been able to go on a date with my wife in quite some time, and first time I’ve helped to break a Guinness world record. Well, the world record isn’t confirmed yet, but I expect it will be with something like 400+ theaters in the US and 63+ countries around the world showing The Age of Stupid, simultaneously, it should be easy enough to smash the record.
Oh, what’s The Age of Stupid, you ask? Well, it’s a damn good thing you’re reading this blog post because that’s what I plan on talking about! The Age of Stupid is a drama-documentary-animation hybrid from director Franny Armstrong and Producer Lizzie Gillett. The film is set about 45 years in the future, after climate change has ravaged the world. It is a combination of short documentary clips, some nifty animation, and actual news footage from current and past events. All together it presents a pretty decent look at where we, the human race, may be headed if we don’t head off climate change in the very near future.
Climate change is one of those hot topics that lots of people talk about, even more have an opinion on, and a source of much debate. Personally, the effects of climate change, manmade or not, are pretty obvious. Hotter summers, rapid changes of season, melting ice caps, etc. These are all signs of a changing climate, change which could be extremely detrimental to all inhabitants of earth. Unfortunately, there are also those that believe that climate change is nothing more than a big hoax.
So let’s talk a little bit about climate change. Climate change is a natural occurring phenomenon. Whether you believe in the Bible, or in Evolution, climate change still exists. For those that are religious and reject evolution, there’s Noah’s great flood. That’s some serious climate change right there, though one could possibly argue that it wasn’t a natural event. And for those that believe in Evolution, there’s the Ice Age, continental drift, and more.
So climates change over time. However, if you look at the world today, and look at the world a scarce 50 years ago, you’ll see that there has been quite a bit of climate change in a very short period. Interestingly enough, it seems that much of this change seems to have come about as we, humans, evolved and developed new technologies. I’m not a scientist, and I don’t claim to be one, but it’s hard to believe that glaciers that have existed for thousands of years have suddenly decided to melt, rapidly, just about the time we start polluting the hell out of the earth. You can argue all you want about correlation and causation, but just look around a bit. Hurricanes have been getting increasingly stronger, there is a rise in tornado activity, and more. It’s hard for me to believe that mass logging of forests, significant rises in CO2 emissions, and the general strip mining of the planet has no effect.
Changing our lifestyle to be more “green” isn’t all that difficult. In fact, it makes good economic sense in many instances. Let’s take a look at some easy ways to handle “going green” and save money.
Bottled water is a great place to start. First of all, bottled water isn’t necessarily “better” than tap water. In most cases, bottled water *is* tap water. You’re paying good money for the convenience of picking up a bottle (that you had to stop at the store to get) rather than filling it with water from the tap. And if you’re that concerned about “bad” tap water, just get a filtration system. Filtration systems can cost you anywhere from a few bucks to a few thousand bucks, depending on what you want/need. For myself and my family, we opted for a whole-house filtration system that cost us a few thousand up front. Since installation, all the unit costs me is a bag of salt every month or so. That’s runs me about $30 a year. Compare that to buying water in a bottle. I use about 2-3 bottles of water a day, just for myself, which would cost me roughly $3 a day. That’s over $1000 a year, just for bottled water. Plus, I’m already paying for the water the city feeds to my house. So, having installed the filtration system about 9 years ago, I have already paid for the filtration system twice over! On top of that, think of all the plastic bottles I haven’t used. 9 years, 3 a day, that’s about 10,000 plastic bottles. Unbelievable when you sit and think about it.
What else can you do that’s both economically feasible, and eco-friendly? How about hot water? Well, we use hot water every day for a variety of tasks such as washing dishes and clothes, taking baths and showers, and even heating our house. Traditional water heaters store heated water in a tank, ensuring the temperature stays steady throughout the day, whether you use it or not. This is great as it means instant hot water (minus the time it takes to get from the tank to your faucet), whenever you need it. Right? Well, sort of. While it does mean instant hot water, there’s only so much to go around. It’s very easy to use up all of the water in the tank and have to wait for more to be produced. Plus, heating that water all day and night, even when its not needed, is a waste of resources and money.
We recently switched to a tankless hot water heater. The general idea is to heat the water, only when we need it. There’s still a delay before the hot water gets to you, and it’s a little bit longer of a delay, but the water gets and stays hot until I turn off the tap. And when I’m not using hot water, there’s nothing heating it, so it costs me nothing. The initial install cost is a few thousand to get one installed, but these units pay for themselves in no time. Add to that something like the Chilipepper hot water pump and you can even stop wasting the cold water already in the pipes while you wait for the hot water to get to you.
There are even more ways to save. Moving from grid electric to solar electric can save you a ton of money in the long run. Simple solar installations will significantly reduce the amount of electricity you use from the local grid, reducing your monthly electric bill. More advanced installations can completely remove your reliance on the electrical grid and may even result in the electric company having to pay you for the electricity you feed to them! Solar is, however, a heavier investment up front, so it’s not for everyone.
Overall, there are many, many ways to reduce your carbon footprint and become a better eco-citizen. As part of the Age of Stupidity premiere, a new campaign was mentioned. In a nutshell, this campaign aims to cut individual carbon emissions by 10% in 10 months. It’s a pretty ambitious campaign, but definitely obtainable. They have a 10-point checklist on their site to show you how you can start reducing your footprint. Those steps are as follows:
- Fly less, holiday more
- Save 10% on heating
- Save 10% on electricity
- Drive less
- Eat better
- Buy good stuff
- Dump less
- Don’t waste food…
- … or water
- Feel happier
Sure, it’s built for marketing, but these are still great ideas. In fact, I outlined numbers 2 and 3 above. And my solutions are far more radical than the ones they suggest. If you want it simple, follow their solution. Turn off the heat in areas you don’t need it and insulate your house better. To save electric, just turn off stuff you’re not using! That plug in the wall to charge your phone? Yeah, it uses electric, even when you don’t have the phone plugged into it! Simple things can make a huge difference.
So, can you drop your carbon footprint? Are you willing to do your part? Do you need more convincing?