Home Truth

I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on something I said last time. Can’t get it out of my head. I said that my quality of life was in danger of being reduced by my husband’s feverish desire to save electricity. How selfish that may sound. Honest, but selfish.

But isn’t that part of the problem? Many of us believe that we have the right to a certain quality of life and are prepared to play around with care for the environment and care for the developing world as long as it doesn’t have a detrimental effect on our own lives.

Globally, climate change and its effects can no longer be denied or ignored. I watched Al Gore’s film a month or so back and was faced with the inconvenient truth in a stark and shocking way. What a fantastically apt title. The Inconvenient Truth. Inconvenient, uncomfortable, undeniable, unsettling….. a must see for all the sceptics out there.

However, the day to day business of bringing about environmental changes in my own life and household is proving to be a minefield of conundrums. If I use the tumble drier less, will I not end up having to iron more? If we have the heating on less, will we not be boiling the kettle more for hot drinks and hot water bottles? Isn’t a dish washer more energy-efficient than flying in an Eastern European au pair?!?

Actually, as I am writing, it is all becoming clear. The problem is that we (well me, anyway) are always looking for equivalence. An environmental option that is equivalent in cost, effectiveness and attractiveness to the rest of the market. We don’t want to pay more, create more work for ourselves, in fact compromise our standards in any way at all.

With our world heading for environmental crisis, maybe compromise is what is called for. Even sacrifice. Maybe cutting my quality of life by 20% is my contribution to the solution. More reflection needed.

Filed under: Uncategorized on March 6th, 2007