The Theory of Anyway...

I've been, as I know many of you have, doing little things that will reduce my carbon footprint and lower some of my expenses along the way - changing to compact fluorescents, unplugging appliances when not in use, trip-chaining as much as possible, buying locally, eating at least one weekly vegetarian meal. These things aren't that difficult and make me feel a little more in control on the Peak Oil issue...

And surely, if you've been by a gas station recently, you've noticed that prices are down a bit...

That might cause us to want to relax a bit. To say, as we're fixing dinner and realize we're out of an ingredient - "oh, I can run to the store now...those few miles won't make a difference, since the price of gas is down" - honestly, my train of thought is more along the lines of "I'll just run a fresh gallon of water for watering the tomatoes rather than using the graywater I save from cooking and cleaning up."

I usually end up feeling a bit uncomfortable, tho'.

My immediate reaction is "What if we ALL do that - get just a little lazy?" My personal code of ethics says to do the right thing all the time, not just some of the time because maybe it's more convenient this time to drop the ball a little...

I was reading blogs today and came across this theory on Susan Albert's blog. (She has links to the original topics - go there, too, as they're good explanations of this Theory of Anyway). It's a good explanation of my discomfort over taking the "little shortcuts" that ultimately lead to a bit more waste...

Because even if we think that now it's okay to run to the store just one more time in a week or month when gas prices have dropped a little, we're still using a limited resource when we don't have to.

I like the reframing of the things we do away from a negative to a positive. It's much more pleasant to consider that we do the things we do FOR the good of the planet, and not as something we have to give up. When I make a choice to contribute to the well-being of the earth, my frame of mind is much happier.

Perspective is so important, don't you think?