"Seven Generations"

Have you ever driven a little slower on the highways to save on the cost of gasoline?

We went on a road trip lately and the person driving [not me!] was very focused about staying within the speed limit regardless of the other traffic. When we filled up at the end of the journey, we found that the cost per KM was under 10¢ instead of the .11¢ or .12¢ we had been getting recently!! WOW! We saved money … not much mind you, but then every penny counts or so they say! It was only later that it dawned on me we were celebrating the wrong thing. It wasn’t the money saved that was important but rather that less of the finite fuel supplies had been used.

Do you try to do your laundry in the evenings?

I must admit that I never have, even as a retired person. The experts say that 90% of the washing machine’s energy consumption is in heating the water. I use only cold water, except on rare occasions, and prefer to hang my clothes outside when the weather cooperates. However energy costs are lowest at night and in the early morning hours. And so I wonder about what the real or perceived reason is for doing laundry then: saving money on the hydro bill or relieving the energy grid during the day and perhaps preventing brown outs due to excess energy demands during peak hours.

What is really important? That we save a few pennies here and there? Or is the really important thing is that we lessen our footprint on this earth, by using less of the non-renewable products like natural gas and by reducing our reliance on energy from non-renewable sources.

But that won't happen until our thinking has changed from always considering everything in the light of how much money it will either cost or save us. Instead it must become automatic to think of the cost to the environment of our actions. As our First Nations like to ask ‘What will be the impact of our actions today be seven generations from now? How will we be judged?” It is a sobering thought, that we are responsible for the environment that will be inherited in seven generations.

How do you want to be judged in seven generations? But most importantly what are you willing to do about it today?

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NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

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