Donna's Healthy Living Tips

This past weekend I had fun at an alumni reunion for Camp Fire and Camp Wathana.  While there we had a discussion about some of the various ways we have all “gone green”.  One woman shared a really interesting and compelling story.  She said that her school district (she is a teacher) decided that they were going to work on decreasing their energy consumption.  There were procedures put into place to have people turn off computers, unplug electronics, and turn off lights when not in use, and such.  Over the year, the school district saved OVER $700,000!  Every little bit that you and I do makes a difference.

If you would like to lessen your impact on the planet AND your energy bills…read on!

To start with, one thing we can all do is consider what time of day you are doing your most energy-rich activities (i.e. running the clothes dryer, using the vacuum, running air conditioning) and try to do those activities outside of normal business hours (8 AM – 6 PM, Monday-Friday).  The reason is that we don’t store electricity as it is made and during business hours there is naturally an increase in how much electricity is being consumed by all the offices and manufacturing facilities across the country.  So imagine how much power must be produced to keep a factory going and then imagine in the evening when the factory is idle all that electricity is still being produced but not used.  It is much better for us to do our high-energy activities during those off-hours.

All of the usual considerations about turning off lights when not in use, unplugging electronics (especially battery chargers that are not currently charging any batteries), those all still apply.  Here are a few more to consider:

• Look into LED lights instead of CFLs.  There are a couple challenges with CFLs which include the lifespan sometimes doesn’t live up to the expectation AND CFLs contain a small amount of mercury which requires special disposal so the mercury doesn’t end up in our ground water or harm the earth.  LEDs do tend to be more expensive but their lifespan is supposed to be even longer than CFLs.  I think you will hear more about these and other alternative lightbulbs in the years ahead and hopefully the price will decrease as well.
• Give gentle reminders to others.  No one likes having friends and family “police” them but you can be helpful by saying something like, “Can I turn off the light in the hallway for you?  Are you done in there?”  There isn’t judgment in those words, you are offering to be helpful and reducing energy consumption at the same time.
• Consider motion detectors for your outside lights.  Now sometimes they are over-sensitive and that becomes another problem but for your safety you want your porch light to automatically turn on when someone, especially you, walks up to the door.

If you have your own suggestions that have worked for you, I would love to hear them.  In the meantime, consider what an impact we can all have on the environment and our pocketbooks by reducing energy consumption.  Good luck!

Donna Copeland is an Independent Shaklee Distributor.  One of the reasons she chose Shaklee as the company she represents is their corporate commitment to reducing energy consumption and other forms of waste.  If you would like to purchase products (or become your own Independent Shaklee Distributor) from a company that is green through and through, go to: www.DonnaCopeland.MyShaklee.com