Within 10 minutes of waking up this morning, you'll likely have tapped a coal plant for energy, drained water from a municipal water supply, and dispensed gallons of waste into the sewer system. Within 15 minutes you'll likely have used products that come from all around the world, but mostly from China. And within half an hour you're likely emitting carbon dioxide — pollution — into the air. Multiply you by 6.7 billion. That is what the earth wakes up to each morning.
In my book, You Are Here, I note the effect of everyday things on the planet. I begin the last chapter of the book with a simple exposition: the far reaches of my morning routine. But I also make another important note about daylight saving time.
"We spend a million dollars per minute on energy in the U.S. The sun provides a discount to that cost, but we don't fully use it. Without even taking into account solar power, much of the Earth's natural light is wasted. Daylight saving time, for example, saves electricity. By moving in summer ahead one hour of daylight we trim one percent per day from the nation's electric bill. Given that we spend about a trillion dollars per year on energy, we'd save about $30 million a day simply by turning ahead clocks. We don't extend that policy year ‘round. We should."
The reasons for this are simple: "At home we waste about a quarter of our electric bills to keep the lights on (and the heat up) when the sun would do the job just fine. At work, it's much the same: Thirty percent of energy is used to light offices when there is sufficient sunlight to be let in anyway. Why do we choose artificial light over natural light? It's mostly out of habit. We just don't think about opening the shades and letting the sunshine in when we can flick a switch. Hell, we need remote controls to turn on our televisions, which are just a few feet away," I write in You Are Here.
It's also important to understand from where you get your energy. I was surprised to learn how much of my electricity was derived from a nuclear power plant hundreds of miles away.
Understanding what powers our homes and where it comes from, how much water we use, and where that comes from, as well as where our drainpipes and trash go is knowledge that few take the time to comprehend. But that is where real change will occur: comprehending.
The clothes you are wearing right now, do you know where they are from? Most likely they are from Central America. Only 10% of the clothing that is bought in the U.S. is made here. Or what about the food you ingest. Any idea of where it's from, or what's in it?
I was on a panel last night at the Commonwealth Club here in San Francisco. It was part of a Litquake event, and one of my fellow panelists, Marie Cummings, spoke at length about genetically modified food. That is to say — almost all food. To me, that was shocking. There is no extensive labeling for GMOs, just as there is no extensive labeling for many ingredients.
I spoke about the palm oil that is in our toothpastes, soaps and foods and how it is ravaging the island of Borneo, contributing to deforestation, and forcing species to become extinct. A blogger from the San Francisco Chronicle took me to task for informing people that a good first step is to see if the product manufacturer that uses palm oil gets it from a sustainable source. And a good first step is to check with the Palm Oil Sustainability Council for more information. The blogger says the Council caters to the palm oil industry.
So here is where we are at as a culture: Some information is better than no information and a little information is not enough for others. I'm concluding this series of blog posts with the proposition that we do not turn people away from doing even the smallest action to help the planet. One step is all some people can do. We should embrace that. Others of us who can do more should. If we take an all-sum approach to environmentalism we will fail. And we can ill afford to do that. The planet needs all the care and attention it can get right now — even if it is just a little from one person some of the time.
Thank you for reading this past week. It has been fun!