[Announce] Day 4: Know yourself.

[Robert Waldrop]

30 Days Towards Sustainability

Day 4: Know yourself.

There are no sustainable cities or counties or 
regions in Oklahoma. There may be a few 
sustainable households, but if so there are not 
many. To get from where we are now, to where we 
want to go, we have to know where we are in the 
journey.

So today's sustainable living recommendation is to 
keep accurate household records. I recommend 
financial, water, energy use, and food consumption 
records.

Regarding energy use, as noted yesterday if you 
live in OGE territory you can get two years of 
your energy usage data from www.oge.com . ONG has 
similar online records. It is likely that energy 
providers in other parts of the state can also 
provide records of your energy usage. Put this 
information into a spreadsheet. Record the month, 
the energy used (kilowatt hours or dekatherms), 
and the bottom line price of the bill.

Every time you fill up with gasoline, get a gas 
receipt, and enter that information into your 
gasoline spreadsheet.

Regarding food, for sustainability purposes we are 
mostly interested in the quantities and types of 
food you buy. This will be important information 
to know later in this series. Record what you buy 
and how much you buy, e.g. hamburger - 10 lbs, 
chicken - 4, flour - 10 lbs, potatoes - 5 lbs, 
salad greens - 3 pounds, etc. The easiest way to 
do this is to save your grocery receipts and make 
your spreadsheet from that. I suggest to keep 
these totals by the month.

Financial records are important because economic 
viability is an integral aspect of household 
sustainability. And as they say, "Where your 
treasure is, there also will be your heart." 
Accurate financial records that show your spending 
habits help you move towards sustainability.

These records provide you a method of keeping 
track of your progress towards sustainability. 
That's important because sustainability is not an 
instant gratification event. It occurs over time, 
long periods of time, and we need to know that we 
are making steady progress if we are to remain 
psychologically committed to this goal.

For example, looking at our household's energy 
usage records, we find that comparing the calendar 
years 2004-2005, our electricity usage declined 
28%, and comparing the first seven months of 2006 
with the first seven months of 2005, we find a 42% 
reduction in electricity usage. (That's what 
passive solar has done for us.) For natural gas, 
during the years 2004-2005 our usage declined 100% 
to zero (as of October 2005). For gasoline, 
however, there has been no real decrease over that 
period. That tells me that our household, in the 
coming year, needs to focus on gasoline use, 
especially since the amount of money we are paying 
for gasoline has increased more than 50%, 
2004-2006.

One of the primary antidotes to mindless 
consumerism is to pay attention to what you are 
consuming by keeping records so you know more 
about yourself and your role in this eco-system. 
As you come to know more about your consumption 
patterns and costs, you can make more informed and 
effective choices about reducing your impact on 
the ecology of this region and indeed the entire 
planet.

Bob Waldrop

www.energyconservationinfo.org

www.bettertimesinfo.org

www.oklahomafood.coop