Use Natural Lighting and "Air Conditioning"

This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal. 

The summer is coming, and that means long days and hot weather.  For many people this means high bills from central air conditioning.  This is one of the most wasteful and unnecessary creature comforts that human society has.  While it is comfortable and pleasant, there are plenty of ways that we can mitigate the environmental waste and damage caused by these creature comforts.

Since summer is coming, the days are going to be much longer.  This means that we will not need to waste as much electricity on lighting, since days are going to last longer.  It is important to harness as much natural light in both office and residential settings.  Large, well placed windows will allow us to bath in the radiance of the sun, and avoid wasting electricity for artificial lighting.  This is fairly straight-forward, but the design of many buildings does not effectively take advantage of the free solar lighting offered.  To make this change, demand windows and natural lighting.  Also, if you have it available to you, make sure to take advantage of it, and consciously turn off lights if they can be avoided.  Furthermore, get out and enjoy the sun, especially for those of us who live in the northern part of the country, take advantage of long summer days and get outside in the evenings rather than watching TV indoors.  Have a bar-be-que, play sports, or just lounge outside with a book.  Free lighting everywhere!  I also try to take advantage of this in the winter, by going to bed earlier, so I do not need to waste electricity at night.  Candles are great, especially before bed!

As far as natural "air conditioning" this is a bit more difficult.  Obviously, everyone loves the cool comfort provided by central air and fans, but do we really need it?  No, humans are well adapted to warmth, and we sweat out all of our excess heat.  Instead of using a fan or the air conditioner, open up the windows!   This goes for both the car and the house.  No need to waste gasoline by using your air conditioner, just slow down and roll down those windows and drink in the breeze.  Although there is a chance that pests may get in your house, its not much of a bother, just get a screen!  If it gets unbearably hot, try to use low levels of air conditioning, rather than cranking it up to the highest setting.  Most of the time, you just need a little bit of conditioning rather than the frigid cold in the middle of July!

Volunteer

 This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal. 

One of the most green things that you can do is to volunteer.  Many of the things you can volunteer to do, such as clean up the local parks or just the city where you live will make a meaningful impact.  Or you can choose to help others.  During the time that you are volunteering, you will not be using electricity to watch video games or driving to the mall to buy goods made halfway around the world.  Even if the activity you are doing is green neutral, you will still be making a huge difference in someone's life.

There are so many different ways to volunteer.  Every year on Thanksgiving my family volunteers at a local homeless shelter.  We get together to serve the homeless a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  Instead of sitting at home, with the heat on, television on the football games and all of the accompanying environmental damage, we are out in our community, interacting with the downtrodden.  It feels absolutely great to give up a couple of hours of your time for a good cause.

There are many other activities that you could volunteer in if you would rather be outside, volunteer with the local parks department.  I am sure they would be willing to have a helping hand clean up one of the local parks.  This helps to keep our green places fully natural and avoids disturbing the local ecosystem as much as possible.  In addition, you get a chance to be outside, enjoying making a beautiful place more beautiful.

Even if you are simply volunteering your money, by donating, make sure to donate to a good cause.  There are many causes that help the sick, hungry, and downtrodden.  Also money can be donated to keeping the outdoors clean.  Volunteering your riches can help to facilitate others to take up the cause, even if you do not have the time to do it yourself.

The most important point is that this does good in a world filled with cruel people.  This series is all about making a difference, and there is no better way to make a difference than to volunteer to help others or the planet.  Even if the volunteering you are doing has no environmental effect, it is likely that you are at least not doing anything negative, environmentally speaking!