think about it....

I know you guys think Pat and I are probably weird cause we try to eat organic as much as we can and that we are passionate about certain things. But every little bit counts, at least we think so.

So our energy costs have been something we've been talking about recently. Obviously, we drive an SUV, which we truly do need, but hope one day soon they'll have a hybrid one that's reliable! And once the dear Prism kicks the bucket, we plan on buying a hybrid hopefully.

Anyways...something just to make you think on a Friday. Did you know that the US makes up only 5% of the world's population but we consume over 25% of the world's oil and energy??? What's wrong with that? We're the leading cause behind global warming and pollution. We noticed this on our trip...recycling is so easy in Europe, cars aren't huge monsters and people seem to generally care. Not so much here though. We live in a consumer society...how in the world do you change that?

I've heard of these tips before and a few of them Pat and I already do...the energy saving light bulbs are expensive...I was shocked the first time I bought one! But it's worth it! It all comes back to what's important to you.

1. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs. If every American household changed five regular light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs, it would be like taking 8 million cars off the road. WOW!

2. If you bring clothes to the dry cleaners, bring along a garment bag instead of having them wrap your cleaned clothes in plastic. Or use a dry cleaning agent at home in your dryer...there are a TON of chemicals in the dry cleaning process that can cause serious health issues which I've read about before!

3. Unplug appliances when you're not using them, even though you may think they're off. "For example, when you take your phone off, if the charger's still in the wall, it's sucking energy and that's costing us money and costing us emissions." "Everything needs to be pulled out of the wall: your coffee maker, your toaster, your hairdryer."

4. Buy toilet paper made from post-consumer waste paper—that's recycled paper!
I have to admit, this is the one thing we haven't done yet...it's so expensive! But we should!