Ah, Nostalgia for the Days of Coal

Billy Joel sang about the depressing steel manufacturing economy in the 1980s. “Allentown” became a blue-collar anthem, especially for miners and manufacturers who were losing their jobs in the Rust Belt.

If that song wasn’t warning enough, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the coal industry has been in decline for the last 30 years, long before the regulations of President Obama’s era were put into place. Miners have had a long time to think of a back-up plan in case coal mining didn’t work out. Instead of welcoming new research, innovations, inventions, or opportunities, however; instead of thinking outside the box or pulling themselves up by the bootstraps they claim to celebrate as part of the American spirit, coal miners decided to wait for the day that time would turn backward. That day came earlier this week with the rollback of the Clean Power Plan.

The Clean Power Plan was never fully put into effect because it’s been held up in legal battles, which means it can’t fully be held responsible for a decline in the coal industry. Also, eliminating the plan is going to take several more years so it’s unlikely to bring many new jobs in during the current administration reign. And, true to character for any of this administration's policies, it is light on details and likely to face legal challenges.

The plan was rolled back for the sake of nostalgia more than anything else. Innovations have reduced the number of actual workers needed for coal. It’s also ironic that a population of people who claim to loathe government interference sat around waiting for more government interference to get their jobs back.

The current administration is full of macho men with frail egos, or at least they’d like to think they are macho and they would like to appeal to that demographic of voters. In their minds, white men still rule this world and the idea of anyone else earning more money or having more economic power is threatening.

One excuse people use for wanting these jobs back is that they or their families are tied to the land. But America was built on people moving to where new opportunities are. It was built by people who found new land, a new place to start or settle their families. If it’s that important to be manly and support a family, figure it out. Move. People in the military do it. People in law enforcement do it. Even the representatives sent to Washington on our behalf make that sacrifice to either move their families or live away from them to get a job done.

With a party in power that’s happy to deregulate industry and seemingly indifferent to adequate health care, what’s going to happen when cases of chronic bronchitis and other coal dust-related illnesses begin rising? If it’s anything like what happened to oil-industry workers in Louisiana, the coal industry will hire lawyers to prove that it’s just a coincidence that there’s an abundance of these diseases among coal miners.

America was built on change, ingenuity, and exploration. It was built by people who moved forward to forge new paths rather than go backwards to outdated technologies. I have very little sympathy for a group of white men who feel sad that their health-risk and pollution-causing industry is no longer relevant because most Americans want progressive change, not regressive policies.

For further reading:
Trump Takes Aim At A Centerpiece Of Obama's Environmental Legacy (NPR)
What Trump Misses About Energy Jobs In America (NPR)
Coal Mine Dust Exposures and Associated Health Outcomes (Report by HHS, CDC, and NIOSH)
The entire coal industry employs fewer people than Arby’s (Washington Post)

Motivation Monday: H'bad Grethon 5K Recap

Image from Pinterest.

We ran around the lake yesterday for the Hyderabad Grethon 5K, so boy, did we earn our showers. The lake is so smelly that even after you shower and throw your clothes in the laundry, something still lingers with you all day, like the BO episode of Seinfeld.

I had no clue what to expect from this race and we (Mike and me, with Muffin in the jogging stroller) were telling ourselves that it would be fun because it would be someplace to run other than the treadmill or the park we always go to. We were right about that part, and had to admit afterwards that it was nice to run somewhere different. "In the now," though, as the morning was going on, we lost sight of the fun a couple times.

There was no formal registration like you would normally expect for races. I bought two tickets online and they never asked for any personal information for registrants. The event started at 7:00 a.m. but there was no indication if that was when the race actually started or not. To be safe, we arrived around 6:45. And the race didn't start until about 8:15. "Registration" consisted of showing printouts of online receipts to get tickets and then turning in those tickets to get t-shirts, water bottles, and hats.

The t-shirts were plain white. And so oddly sized that I have no idea who could actually wear them.

There was a bunch of thanking of sponsors and "Hip-hip, hooray!" about things. Every few minutes they mentioned another cause that the race was supporting -- polio-free India, illiterate orphans, English dictionaries for students, and my favorite, being "green," all while people were throwing chai cups and sticker backings on the ground. We finally moved into the street and there was more thanking of sponsors and cheering -- in the middle of a road that had not been closed to traffic, so cars were honking and trying to edge by.

The race finally started. Fortunately it wasn't too hot and sunny yet, although the fog was starting to burn off. (So if they'd started an hour earlier the weather would have been just about perfect!) Most people started off way too fast and it didn't take long for us to find plenty of running space and then start picking people off. Cars kept stopping to look at Muffin in the jogging stroller to the point where there was nearly a pile-up. Lots of people needed to take her photo but once we started running we didn't stop for the paparazzi.

We ran along and I glanced at my Garmin every few minutes. Eventually we reached 1.5 miles, but there was no turnaround in sight. We turned around at two miles. The question became, is the finish going to be exactly where we started or are they pushing it up? Are we running one more mile or two? We decided to gamble on two. And we were right. A 5-kilometer, 3.1-mile race was 3.98 miles in length according to my Garmin. Even if my Garmin is off by a little bit, our finish time indicates that the race was longer than a 5K.

When we crossed the finish line I mentioned that to some of the people who seemed like they were part of the organizing group but they didn't seem very concerned. They were more excited by us being the only white participants and having a baby with us, too. I may have even been the first female finisher. I don't know, I didn't stick around to find out. They wanted us to stay for the final presentation, but we couldn't. Muffin was tired and Mike and I were, too. We didn't want to be part of the show anymore.

There's another race in the same location by the same organizers next week. We're torn on if we should go or not. It might be more fun now that we know what we're getting into, but it was an exhausting morning, dealing with Muffin and the crowd.

And we still smell like the lake.

The Littlest Grasshopper and Other Critters

I think it's well known and well documented that I love all animals, even the creepy crawly ones, with just a few exceptions. I don't want them in my hair and I'm waging a constant battle against mosquitoes. Some of them should stay outside. But for the most part, I'm the first person to run up to a bug to check it out, except when Mike beats me to it. India has provided us with many opportunities so far to instill in Muffin a love and appreciation for even the smallest critters.

Here's is the littlest grasshopper, who was hanging out in the laundry room this week:

It was about one centimeter long.

This week we also saw what some people call a water bug or palm bug, but what I refer to as a giant cockroach:

Luckily it was outside, per my verbal contract with some bugs.

And finally this week,what I think is a yellow grass butterfly:

They have been showing up dead all over the street lately. I don't know if it's a seasonal thing or an environmental thing. It's been a few degrees warmer lately than it's supposed to be this time of year so maybe that's affecting their life cycle.

And here's my favorite bug of the week:

She's been known to hover at mealtimes trying for any scrap of food that she can get.

The Terrible Smell

We have a terrible smell on our terrace. We have gorgeous weather and I'd love to be keeping the back door open and spending time outside with Sophie, but the terrible smell is keeping us closed up indoors. I asked our upstairs neighbor if she knew what it was. She suggested perhaps it's the people next door smoking "something organic." I said, No, I've smelled them smoking pot, and what I'm smelling now on the terrace is not that.

This smell isn't as strong as the soup trees, but it's a worse smell. I suspect it's tree-related. There are these trees with big red, inedible fruits that have been cracking open and falling. I think the smell is the rotting fruit or seeds. It smells like awful bad breath.

For a couple days now I've been opening the door in the morning hoping that the smell has run its course. So far, no.

Another Earth Day Wrap-Up

We had a little Earth Day celebration here on Thursday. Our Green Team, of which I'm a charter member, announced an initiative to reduce the embassy's energy usage, including the residences, by ten percent in one year. I printed up signs in English and French to remind people when they leave the office to turn off the lights and air conditioners, turn off the computer monitors, printers, and scanners, and unplug phone and radio chargers that are not in use. We found a local company that will take our shredded paper; they use it for making charcoal briquettes. We're eliminating paper cups for the water coolers in all offices except the health unit (we decided for sanitary reasons that it's one place paper cups can stay). We're putting in place a policy to have the drivers turn off idling engines after a certain amount of time.

But the most important part of Earth Day -- we had a quiz and gave out some pretty awesome prizes. In order to garner interest and make people sit through all your speeches (on one of the hottest days we've had in a while here), you have to promise prizes at the end. The quiz questions all related to our initiatives. The top prize was a solar-powered lantern, which is perfect for a place where the sun shines all day and then the power grid in most neighborhoods shuts down at ten o'clock every night.

I've said before that this is a country where Mike and I feel bad contributing more garbage than it already has and where anything you can do to relieve the strain on the power grid is a good thing. I'm sad that I won't be here next year to see how our initiatives have worked out, but at least I know that I've done what I can reasonably do while I'm here. And I'll bring my Green Team initiatives with me to our next post (where there's even more garbage, I'm sure).

Plastics make it possible... to horde a lot of stuff

I am a health and beauty product junkie. I don’t wear a lot of makeup, but I love trying new shampoos and conditioners, lotions and moisturizers, nail polish. It’s hard to be a product junkie when the nearest Target, CVS, or Body Shop is thousands of miles away, and you’re not allowed to ship glass or large amounts of liquids to yourself, yet somehow I’ve managed to create quite a stash.

For the last few weeks been going through my stash to use up the partially empty bottles before we move again. I try this every time we move, yet I think I still have some things from my Walnut Creek bathroom. This move, I’m determined not to bring any bottles, tubes, or tubs with me to India that I bought in California. (We left Walnut Creek, California, in January 2008.) Also, I’m ready to try some new brands; for some things I have my one tried-and-true brand that I’ve been loyal to for years, but for others I like to shop around and I’ve been living with the same brands for too long now.

I know it’s time to just throw out some things, but I feel bad about wasting products here. Besides, if I throw a bottle in the garbage can, I know that my housekeeper is going to fish it out, wash it, and take it away to use for some purpose. For all I know, he sells them; there’s quite a market for reusable bottles. So, rather than see my products get rinsed down the drain (to say nothing of what may be happening to the local water supply when that happens) I may as well use the shampoos, lotions, and whatevers, if they are still good, before they get fished out of the garbage and potentially sold.

First I delved into the closet to see how many of each particular product were already opened and partially used. You know, you go on a long vacation, lugging the toiletries with you since you’re checking the bags anyway, and when you get home your luggage is lost for two weeks, so you have to open new bottles of all your daily products. (I found three open bottles of Body Shop tea tree toner, one for each vacation I’ve taken since we arrived here.) Then there’s that one brand of one product that you bought one time, opened, used once or twice, and then stopped for some unknown or forgotten reason (sorry, Arbonne citrus scrub, you were just too messy). Then a houseguest leaves behind an expensive bottle of shampoo that you’d never buy for yourself, but it smells so good and you love what it does for your hair, so you push your already opened bottle of cheap shampoo out of the way and use the nice stuff. (I don’t remember what it’s called, but I think it has bananas in it!)

I moved all those opened bottles to the front of the shelves so that I’m grabbing them whenever I need something. Previously, the open bottles were neglected in the back of the closet. It’s actually going well and it only takes a few seconds to resist the temptation to open a bottle of something new. I feel so accomplished when I finally get to the bottom of a bottle.

This is all part of my reorganization scheme for the next time we buy consumables to send overseas (which will be later this year). As I clear space in my closet, I try to think of how I can avoid buying so much plastic stuff with the next move. Even if someone else is using the bottles, I don’t want to have to deal with them in the first place. What we’ll be gaining in plastic baby toys this year, I want to lose in plastic bottle purchases. (And we’re not thrilled with plastic baby toys entering our home but we know they will be inevitable.)

Using My Kindle Overseas

I've been using my Kindle for several weeks now and I've concluded that I like it. Yes, it's different from holding a book. Being away from its wireless features is not as convenient as it could be (although it's really not that bad). But it saves me time -- instant gratification when I want a book! -- and it's reducing the amount of stuff we have, which is quite valuable when you move every two years.

As long as the internet connection is running at a decent speed, I can go to Amazon.com and download Kindle books and magazines directly to my laptop, then use a USB cable (which the Kindle comes with) to transfer documents from my laptop to the Kindle. I can also transfer PDF and text files to read on the Kindle, which comes in handy for some of the reading I'm doing for my master's program.

I wish the screen were backlit so I can read it in lower light (like on airplanes at night without the harsh overhead light on), but in general it's very easy to read and it's easy on my eyes. After a day of staring at my computer screen I can still come home and read the Kindle screen very comfortably. You can increase the font size. There's a little tracker at the bottom that tells you how far along you are in the book, which I love. I'm always obsessed with how many more pages I have left in a book.

With Kindle-specific files, you can highlight, make notes, and look up words in the dictionary instantly. You can jump around between locations, go back to the table of contents, and skip ahead to chapters. I'm having a little trouble with the bookmarking feature, so I find myself jotting down the location number (rather than folding down the corner on a real book), when I want to jump around in a book. PDF and text files are not as easy to manipulate. If all the features of Kindle-specific files are available for them, I haven't figured them out yet. I know that with PDF files, you only have two choices for font size (small and not quite as small), whereas for Kindle files there are five or six sizes.

I love handling it. It took me a few days to get used to it, but now it's completely comfortable in my hands. I can hold it with one hand and press the button to turn pages while juggling a beverage in the other hand while the cat jumps up into my lap. I bought a case for it, to protect it while transporting it, but when I'm reading at home I generally take it out of the case so I can hold it easily with one hand.

Recently I successfully wrote my first paper for a course using source material directly from my Kindle. I highlighted portions of the text and saved them in the My Clippings file, then opened that as a text file on my laptop. From there it was easy to copy/paste the quotes I wanted directly into the paper I was writing. Going paperless like this is huge for me. Once I got the hang of it, it definitely saved time in not having to copy the notes longhand from a book, then type them into a Word document.

Some other comparisons of using it overseas as opposed to in the United States... If you don't have the wireless thing turned on, the battery lasts about two weeks rather than one week, so you don't need to charge it as often. If you're overseas in an area that does have wireless access, you'll be charged for each direct download, whereas wireless access is part of the cost of the Kindle when you're in the United States so there's no additional charge. Wherever you are, you can still download directly to your own computer for no extra charge. Not all titles are available overseas. When Amazon thought my computer was in Burundi, I had a limited selection of titles to choose from. But for some reason it now thinks I'm in the United States (I did not change the settings in any way; it just happened on its own somehow) and I have the full selection at my disposal. One last thing -- if you're in a non-wireless area, you can't subscribe to magazines and newspapers; you have to purchase each issue separately and download them to your computer, which costs more than having a subscription.

I haven't tracked if it's saving me money or not. I'm downloading a lot of free or $1 ebooks (Goodreads and Project Gutenberg are great sources for free ebooks, even if you don't have a Kindle), because I like a lot of classics and some of the public domain documents are handy for my courses. But, am I also buying more new books, at least during this initial, new-and-exciting-gadget phase? Probably. However, most new books on Amazon are $9.99 for the Kindle edition, whereas the new hardcover editions cost more. On the other hand, I rarely bought hardcover books and usually waited until cheaper or free paperback editions were available. Lots of hands and variables to consider there.

Just this week I realized something I hadn't considered before. Once I'm finished reading something on the Kindle, I can't pass it off to someone else. If it's a book I think Mike will like, he has to borrow the Kindle to read it, which means I'm not using the Kindle. I give a lot of books away to friends, my office library, or PaperbackSwap.com. Now these books are taking up digital space instead of bookshelf space. I'm not that concerned about the digital space -- the Kindle can hold thousands of books. But not being able to share those books is bothering me now. I still have plenty of real books to give away; I don't think my personal library will be diminished any time soon.

Now if you'll excuse me, a book I want to read is releasing today. I have to go refresh my Amazon page to see if it's available for download yet.

Image from Amazon.com. I was not compensated in any way for this post. Items were purchased by me for personal use.

Hiking Kibira Forest

Recently we packed up our hats and waterbottles and headed out past the village of Bugarama for a guided tour of the Kibira forest with Burundi's own crocodile hunter, Patrice Faye. The forest is beautiful and amazing. It's one of the only bits of undeveloped land in the country. It's an old forest and has a primeval feeling about it. More than one person made a Jurassic Park reference. I honestly would not have been surprised to see a brontosaurus emerge from the leafy canopy.

We started the walk through a tea plantation. I've started recognizing tea bushes by their alarmingly bright green leaves. The path through the plantation is cut lower than the vegetation, so the bushes hang over you. You know you're in a jungle as soon as you step off the road onto the path. The path is nearly invisible and the tea bushes envelope you. Even Patrice walked by the path and one of the local guides brought him back to it. And he does this trek almost every weekend!

From wikipedia: The Kibira National Park is a national park of northwestern Burundi. Overlapping four provinces and covering 400 km², Kibira National Park lies in the mountains of Congo-Nile divide. It extends from the border with Rwanda almost as far south as the town of Muramvya. It is estimated that around 16% pf the park consists of primary evergreen rain forest.... It is composed of montane rain forest containing several vegetation strata.... It is a zone rich in both animal and plant biodiversity: 644 plant species have been found in the park, as well as about 98 species of mammal (primates, servals, African civets, etc.). Bird life is also rich and varied, with 43 families and more than 200 species identified.... More than three-quarters of the water in the country’s largest dam – providing more than 50 percent of the hydroelectric energy consumed – comes from this forest. Thus the park, situated as it is on the Congo-Nile ridge, plays a fundamental role in regulating the hydrological system and protecting against soil erosion.

As you trek through the old-growth forest it gets dark and cool. It's just like being in a movie, with forest-jungle noises all around you. The Kibira is an area where there are still wild chimpanzees, and spotting one was a goal of mine for the day. Unfortunately we didn't see any. But speaking of Jurassic Park, we saw gigantic worms, snails, and slugs. We also saw two vipers. One was an adult, but it was dead. It was very cool to be able to see it close up, harmlessly. The other was a juvenile, but very much alive. Patrice scooped it up to take home. He milks snakes for their venom in order to make antivenoms. 

Patrice Faye runs several guided tours throughout Burundi, including a pirogue trip in the Rusizi delta in search of Gustave, the world's largest Nile crocodile. We will definitely be calling on him again. We'd love to spend another day in the forest searching for chimpanzees. I'll leave Gustave alone.

Photos at my flickr album.

You know what really grinds my gears? G-8 Edition

You know what really grinds my gears? Conferences held by world leaders to discuss the bad economy and saving the environment that are expensive and have ridiculous carbon footprints just in the amount of jet fuel used to get everyone there.

A few months ago, what was it, 20 leaders who gathered together in London? And this week the G-8 was held in Italy.

They should be leading by example. If they're going to talk about the greatness of renewable energy and reducing carbon footprints, why not have a contest to see which biotech company can develop the greatest solar-powered video conferencing system, and put it to the ultimate test by actually using it. What better way to stimulate innovation in a field they all say they promote and save everyone a lot of money at the same time?

 

Really, what is coming out of these conferences? What is being accomplished? Everyone talks about the good things they want to do, but where are the actions? If they're going to sit around talking about pledges, the least they could do is sit around at home so that they don't look quite so showy.

Every world leader should be forced to take one of those "stay-cations" I've heard so much about. They could promote tourism and service industries in their own capital cities. I think it's lovely that the Obama daughters got to make real gelatto in Italy, but there are plenty of ice cream crafters in the D.C. area who I'm sure would give them the same opportunity. And it would help a small, local business. If only the Secret Service would let them use the Metro, for the real D.C. experience.

vegetable ivory and biodiesel

A few days ago I went to a shop that sells jewelry made from vegetable ivory beads. I’d never heard of vegetable ivory until my mom sent me an article about button identification and preservation a few weeks ago. Vegetable ivory is the way to go, if you want all the fun of real ivory without harming elephants.

Here in Burundi, vegetable ivory comes from the nut or seed of a locally found palm tree. I got to see the whole production process, from sawing open the nut, to dying with curry powder or other plant-based dyes, to polishing and carving, and finally stringing the beads into beautiful necklaces. The retail shop is on a compound where all the work takes place, too.

At the compound, folks are also experimenting with oil from jatropha plants. Its seeds have a high yield of highly usable oil. It can be adapted for diesel engines, lamp fuel, cooking oil, and even made into soap and candles

As an added bonus, the compound also has some fearsome guard geese, stupid turkeys, a friendly monkey, huge toads, and an owl that was sleeping. I love how everyone’s yard here is basically a petting zoo. (Clicking on the photo will take you to flickr, where there are more photos of the beads and the animals.)

Recycled Clothing

Okay, so maybe Earth Day awareness isn't such a bad thing. Maybe it's just a coincidence but for the last week or so I've been thinking a lot more than usual about recycled clothing. Thrift shopping, whether it's for ready-to-wear garments or raw materials to make new garments is recycling. Recycling isn't just bottles and cans (and just clap your hands).

The internet is a weird, wild place and I happened across this article this morning, How to make a baby romper from a t-shirt, which reminded me that there are some thrift stores in my new neighborhood that I've been meaning to check out. Also, I know about a hundred women having babies this year so used t-shirt onesies, in theory, sound like good gifts. In reality though I can't think of anyone (except maybe Vicky, eco-conscious supermom -- let me know!) who'd actually want onsies made from t-shirts.

I set out to visit those thrift stores this morning. I had my canvas shopping bag filled with items to mail from the post office and once it was empty I was anxious to fill it with "new" stuff. Both stores were a bust. One wasn't open and I was tired of wasting time waiting for it to open. But judging from the window displays it didn't look like there was much inside I'd be interested in. The second one turned out to be for high-end consignments and they had absolutely no clothing. A nice woman showed me a tiny selection of cute linens, but nothing I felt like buying. I did, however, find a used bookstore so I filled up my bag with books. (Like I need more books, but they were $2 each. How could I resist? And one has already given me a recipe to try for dinner tonight.)

So, I'm not a garment recycler yet but I'm working on it. I'm still interested.

Earth Day Shmearth Day

I can't help feeling about Earth Day the way I feel about Valentine's Day -- nothing. If you really love someone you should find ways to express that on a regular basis, not just one day in February when people get irrational over chocolates and teddy bears. If you care about the earth, doing something on one day isn't going to make a difference. You have to make many small changes over a long period of time. (And don't say it's about awareness--being aware for one day and forgetting the next doesn't do any good. After the Lights Out For an Hour night, who has continued to reduce their electricity usage on a daily basis?)

So today hasn't been any different from my regular routine. I walked to a nearby grocery store with my shopping bags. I took the stairs 3 out of 4 times instead of the elevator. I dropped some bottles in the recycling bin.

I'm not saying I'm a great green person. I think I'm pretty low on the green scale, actually. I don't wash and reuse every single bit of plastic or glass. I occasionally forget to turn off lights and unplug chargers.

I wonder what recycling will be like in Burundi? If Americans weren't so frivolous and consumer driven, would we even need an Earth Day?

C3 BYOB

Intrigued by the secret code in the title? It means that the new pledge for Carbon Conscious Consumer this month is to bring your own bag when you're shopping. Whether you have canvas tote bags or leftover plastic or paper shopping bags from your last trip to the store, bring 'em along. Some stores, such as Whole Foods, even give you an incentive... five cents off your grocery bill for each bag you bring in. (It may be small change, but over the weeks it adds up to lattes!)

It doesn't matter to me if you click on the badge below and take the official pledge, or if you just keep the thought in the back of your mind until the next time you go to the store. What matters is that 12 million barrels of oil per year are used in making the plastic bags Americans get at the grocery store and on other shopping excursions. That's a lot of oil. And do I really need to remind you about the troubles with oil?

And since this is a month of mega amounts of shopping, it's the perfect time to get in the habit of BYOB.

Giving thanks that we haven't completely depleted our natural resources

It's Thanksgiving, which means lounging around in PJs and being lazy until the last minute. All I have to do make icing for the cake I baked yesterday and we don't have to leave until 3:00-ish. That gives me all day to procrastinate making that icing.

I've made coffee and I ate breakfast. I took a shower and washed some dishes. I made the obligatory phone calls to parents. I have the Alfred Hitchcock marathon on AMC turned on. I checked my Scrabulous games on Facebook. I caught up on some blog reading.

At Brainsitting I learned about Carbon Conscious Consumer. Every month they put up a new pledge, a small habit you can easily change to reduce the amount of carbon you use. I'm not saying register and officially make the pledge, but keep some of the ideas in mind. This month they ask people to use cold water instead of hot for 4 out of 5 loads of laundry. That's easy!

According to CCC:

U.S. energy consumption is a major cause of climate change and, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute, water heating accounts for approximately 19 percent of total home energy use. Today's more efficient clothes washers and laundry detergents make it possible to get both white and colored clothes clean in cold water. Unless you are dealing with extradordinarily tough stains, washing in hot water is more likely to clean out your wallet than your apparel.

We live in an apartment that doesn't give us the option of energy-efficient appliances so I try to take as many steps as possible to reduce our energy consumption. It takes just a small amount of effort to make an impact on your energy usage... and your energy bill.

Even if you don't believe in global warming, surely saving money on your bills appeals to you.