Lights!

I just finished writing this Email to my Iraqi friend and decided that it would make a good blog post. We had been chatting online when the power was cut there forcing him offline.

Hi Jassim,

How appropriate that our conversation about a power outage was cut short by a power outage!

You had just asked how my dad would do with only one hour of power a day. I'd imagine that it would be pretty devastating for him. Walking through my parents' home when my father has just gone out means finding the light on in every room. There are 2 televisions on the main floor, and it is quite common for them both to be on. Sometimes, the TV in the attic is also on. The stove in the kitchen is a gas stove, but it has an electric ignition, so one either needs electricity or a match to light the gas to cook.

Another reason why my dad was so upset about the power outage on Wednesday, was that my parents had bought a generator last year when the power was out, but the generator was in the garage, and the garage couldn't be opened, because the garage door opener needed electricity. Since there was no access door then (though there is now, after some choice words to the contractor), the generator was out of reach and useless until the power came back on (though Dad did figure out how to break into the garage anyway).

I think that my parents' generation is perhaps the most wasteful and the least apologetic about it. Their parents and grandparents had lived through the Great Depression and WWII and had learned to save everything. By the time the 1950s and 1960s came along, there was an overabundance of resources and consumer goods available in the United States and everyone wanted to have everything that they could have. There was the idea of "keeping up with the Joneses", which meant that you couldn't let the neighbors have more stuff than you did, so you had to keep buying things in order to keep up. Cars were big and got bigger until the 1970s, when there was an oil scare. I think that the generation of baby boomers considers it a right, or maybe even a responsibility, to live with as many things/toys as possible, because they can. There seems to be little thought of what one really needs or should do. I think that the idea is not to ask 'why' someone should have/do something, but rather 'why not?'.

In later generations, though I couldn't say exactly when, they started teaching about the environment in school. America is still worlds behind Europe in environmental awareness, but it's starting to catch on. Most of the people I know recycle at least some things. A lot of my friends and acquaintances are careful to turn off lights when leaving a room. A lot choose to ride a bike or take the bus rather than driving. For my dad's generation, it's nearly impossible to understand why someone would want to walk or take a bus when one could drive. I personally prefer driving most of the time as well, but I think that this might be partially because I grew up in a small town without public transit, where everything was spread far apart.

It's really amazing to stop and think about how much power we use in this country and how many resources we just throw away. It's also important to remember that although I've framed everything in terms of generations, there are also other factors involved. For instance, about a month ago, I decided that I needed a new mouse for my computer, because the old one had stopped working reliably. I commented to my friend, who is about 20 years old, that I had had the same mouse for about 7 years. He was really shocked. He said that he didn't think he had anything that he'd had that long. He also tends to leave the water running in the sink when he is getting ready to do dishes, whether he is in the kitchen or stepped out to make a phone call or go to the bathroom.

This really is a throw-away culture. People replace things just because they feel like something new or because they are too lazy to clean or repair what they already have. Whenever I think about my time in Europe, where they could live like we do in America, but for the most part don't, or about my experience in Bolivia, where 80% of the population is lucky if they have power and water at all, or about you in Iraq with your one hour of power a day, I can't help but feel a heightened sense of responsibility to conserve resources.

On the other hand, I like my creature comforts. I'm willing to turn off extra lights and the TV, but I still have the air conditioner on. I tell myself that it is because of the ferrets, but they would survive with it a bit warmer. I could probably turn the A/C off at night without hurting them, and sometimes do, though I just as often leave it on. Scolding others for wasting power is only hypocritical when I think about how much I prefer driving to taking the bus or how often I have my computer on, even when I am not actually using it.

There is a bumper-sticker that I have seen that says "Live simply that others may simply live". I guess that this is something that we should all take to heart, even if we aren't angels ourselves.

~Karen