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Time for the Next Step
Last Spring, we took the first step. We began to track the Sasso/O’Laughlin household’s use of some significant resources – natural gas, water, and electricity. We
asked some of you to join us by tracking the use of some or all of those items within
your own homes, and several Fellowship members have done so. We were hoping that the simple act of tracking our use of these resources would increase our family consciousness of the use of resources, and thereby we’d begin to use them more
responsibly.
We also got out our records for 2006, and so we can now compare our use of resources in 2007 with use the previous year. And comparing 2007 with 2006, what did we find? How much difference did “simply paying attention” make at my house?
Well, unfortunately, not very much! Our use of electricity in 2007 was down, but less than two percent, while our use of natural gas was up (though less than a single per cent). Our use of water was down almost 12%, but we have to admit that our vegetable
garden was a lot less successful than in years past. Those two facts may well be related.
So we have realized that we need to take some more steps. In October, rather than driving to Wisconsin for a UU ministers meeting, Bill took Amtrak to Chicago and hitched a ride the rest of the way with a colleague – he was actually happy to have a
rider with him! In November, we purchased two more energy-efficient appliances: a clothes washer and a hot water heater. The next step after that will be to replace some large picture windows with new ones that will be much better insulated. That should
happen this month. And we have a hunch that the next step after that will be to reduce heat loss through our chimney and fireplace. After that, we’re not sure what the next step will be, but we feel confident that it will appear in its time.
Why do we bother? From disappearing polar ice to sweltering summers here in southern Illinois, from reductions in irreplaceable fossil fuel stores to vanishing drinkable water supplies, from issues of overpopulation to inequities in access to resources, we
can see that our society’s current lifestyle needs to change. By taking steps now – even the modest steps we’ve taken – that change moves forward.
As Bill wrote in his column last May, we begin with the first step. Sometimes, the journey that we need to travel seems so overwhelming that we don’t believe that we can undertake it. Sometimes, that’s how we feel about global warming and our ability to have an impact on it. But wherever we are – however far from the destination – we know that we can take at least one more step in the right direction. And we have usually found that, after we take that first step, another step that we can take appears. And after that step, another will appear.
We take the step that is currently before us, and another possible step appears. In our house, it is time for the next step. Might that be true in yours, as well?
Yours on the journey,
Bill , Kathy, and Elena
