Today’s Power Trip – Follow the Leader, Protect the Environment

Today’s Power Trip is my way of sharing my day-to-day adventures in home energy savings, in-a-way, you could say I have an slight energy conservation addiction.

My e-Newsletter, the Energy Spy Insider, hits the emailing list about three times a week and brings you the latest news, tips, methods, and stories concerning the broad subject of energy conservation, energy politics, and renewable energy. If you found this “Power Trip” and have not signed-up for my eNewsletter, just look around, there is a sign-up form here somewhere, just add your email address and hit submit.

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I would like to share with you the fact that Detect Energy will be up-grading the old website once again. Visitors will still be able to access all the great “energy saving” articles, but, in addition, there will be a wealth of “How To” checklists and ebooks to choose from. Perhaps you would be interested in being a contributing writer – just let me know.

Warm up to the idea: and I don’t mean another big screen T.V.

Couple news stories really caught my eye this last week. Both stories scream for a change in the way society reacts (or does not react ) to individual challenges that are undertaken by people on behalf of everyone. Society ( we the people ) are quick to give them a complimentary pat-on-the-back, a gentle nod of approval and a little chatter around the water fountain, but little else.

Tim DeChristopher was sent to prison for two years for throwing a monkey wrench into an unlawful BLM mineral rights auction. Tim’s purpose was to point out that the government was not following it’s own environmental laws. Two years prison and that’s not all, criminal record following him around like a bad toothache.

I think it would be so nice if a million people marched on the self-righteous Court, got the District Attorney and the Judge that tried the case and gently explained to them that the people make the laws, government must follow the same laws, and the people did not intend to have their laws interpreted this way.

Seems to me, in the most direct way, Tim was simply exercising his right to free speech. Did Tim go to jail on behalf of all of us that are concerned about the way the government treats our environment? I think he did and we had all better warm up to the need to protect our environment, even from the government.

Rachel, 9 years old, lost her life in a traffic accident. Days before her tragic death, Rachel had spirited a campaign to exchange birthday presents into cash for clean water. She was concerned that so many children do not see their 5th birthday because they do not have clean water. She was determined to raise $300 and see that it was used to develop clean water sources for needy children.

Once again, we the people respond to her idea and effort with a pat-on-the-back and, this time, an open wallet, but then we let the meaning and the generosity fade as we cuttle back up to our computer screens and the Yahoo news.

Rachel, with the generosity of thousands, has raised $378,000 for the children that need clean water. It is such a shame that Rachel can not be here to see the impact of her dream and her life.

It is my opinion, the world has the ability to see that all children have access to clean water. If it was as important to the world as it was to one little girl, children everywhere would not fear the water they have to drink. Many more would live to see their 5th birthday and even their 9th birthday.

We all must warm-up to the need to protect our environment, even if it means taking a cattle prod to the government.

I am reminded of a man that lived a long time ago that is said to have stood up against government injustice and is said to have walked on water. We still think about him now and then, like we do Tim and Rachel, but for our own safety and comfort, we rarely let the memory linger long enough to take action.

Mans Best Friend

I listen to the radio on my ride to work where one advertisement really catches my ear drums. This company must spend a bundle on advertisement because I have been listening to the same, dead pan mono-voice for years. This guy is so bad I usually turn the radio up just so I can hear how bad he is. Now that’s a good advertisement.

Have you heard a jewelry salesman say that his diamonds and ruby’s are best because he goes to Amsterdam just to pick out the best ones for you. Have you heard the guy say that the reason his pearls are the best - and at the best price – is because he cuts out the middle clam and goes straight to the Chinese oyster beds. I think if he really went right to the source for precious gems, he would end up in a muddy pit in Africa somewhere next to a skinny kid looking for clean water to drink.

Are diamonds a lady’s most precious gift and the true gift that just keeps on giving? A womens best friend? ( I think a mans best friend is still a dog )

Folks, we need a fundamental change in the way we think and the way we react, not only to bumps in the road, like Tim and Rachel, but also to diamonds placed in our path. What would happen if instead of that $4,000 rock that spends most of it’s time strangling a finger or protruding through an earlobe, we would spend that same $4,000 on a solar array and display it proudly on the front of our house.

You know a solar array can really sparkle under the mid-day sun. Not only does it sparkle, it also produces clean electricity which has all kinds of far reaching benefits other than appearing like a zit on your lower lip.

Next time you need that special gift that just keeps on giving, invest in the future with a little something from the silicon family. Yep, still from the earth, like a diamond, but this special mineral does not come from a special trip to Amsterdam or from the bowels of an oyster, it comes from the earth to give back to the earth.

Guess What’s in the Picture. You can bet on one thing, it has to do with home energy savings.

Thanks for stopping by Detect Energy, hope you come back soon, but I won’t leave the light on for you…