Thursday, March 16, 2006

Getting out of the habit

My obsession with our energy consumption, carbon emissions and our household footprint may be good for the planet but it's not so good for my relationship with the washingqueen. Over the past weeks I've become ultra sensitive to all emission creating actions and I have to admit it's pretty irritating; it irritates me so goodness knows what it's like for her.

Now I think we've done quite well over the past six weeks in making some pretty obvious (and probably long overdue) changes to our household arrangements - like switching to a renewable electricity supply, installing energy efficient light-bulbs, getting our doors and windows draught proofed, setting up a cold composting bin for kitchen waste and installing flow restrictors and water hippos to reduce water consumption. It's all moving things in the right direction, reducing our footprint and emissions, but I know it's not going to be enough to keep things moving in the ever downward direction that's required by this experiment in the long term.

So that's why I've started looking at the little things, the small everyday actions we take that waste energy, that are probably insignificant on each occassion but add up over the weeks, months and years to make a big difference to our emissions and footprint. And judging by early reactions, I think it's changing the thousand little habits that's going to be the tougher nut to crack. We're talking about little things that are so deeply habitual that we probably don't even notice we're doing them anymore. Until someone like me starts mentioning it every time you do it.

Little things like leaving the microwave door open after heating something up.... which also leaves a little 40W bulb burning pointlessly for an hour or two. Or boiling a pan of vegetables with the gas on full and no lid on.... superheating the kitchen and turning it into a Turkish bath. Or filling the kettle to the brim to make a cup of tea, then forgetting to make the tea, then boiling it again, making the tea, forgetting to drink it and starting all over again.

Now I'm just as guilty as the washingqueen at doing some of these things but my internal nagging has been quite effective at helping me change my habits, at least some of the time. But the nagging is not working so well with her. Probably something to do with the fact I nag myself quietly while I remind her out loud several times a day. It's probably another habit I've developed which I'm going to need to change. If I don't there'll be little chance of saving our marriage let alone saving the planet. For the sake of my marriage and the planet, let's hope habits can be changed.

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