Posts Tagged ‘green energy’

When I first got my driver’s license the price of gas was under a $1 a gallon. There were some places I could find is for $0.78 a gallon. The last time I was in the US (about 2 years ago) the price of gas was around $3. And while I think this is ridiculously high, I pay nearly $6 a gallon here in Japan. Are we insane?

However, it’s not just gas, it’s all commodities. Especially anything that can be controlled and is something people really need. Gas, water, electricity, drugs, certain foods, and a lot of other things fall into this area.

So why do we take it? Are we too comfortable to make changes? Is it money? Too lazy?

I mean, most of us don’t need a new car, we choose to buy one because we want more luxury, more reliability, or just something new. So if we all stopped buying until the makers design something that doesn’t rely on gas, that would be one hell of an incentive.

This goes for the same or green energy. There are more solar panels for sale than there used to be, but most homes still don’t have them. I live on an “eco island”, as classified by the Japanese government, and there are almost no solar panels here either. Though I will admit the local store has a few small ones. They are also just now putting in a small solar panel field. I should also mention that the government just destroyed a major reef to put in a multiple million dollar underwater aquarium, but spends very little on green energy to improve peoples lives. Why do we let them get away with it?

Now as a renter, I haven’t purchased solar panels. It doesn’t make a lot of sense considering I move on occasion. However, I would be willing to add a few bucks a month to my rent to get my power that way. Cheap solar panels are getting easier to find, but I don’t see many people putting them up. Is it that no one cares anymore? Are are we just all too busy with our own lives?

Please comment in the bottom and let me know why you think this is. I would also love to hear from people who are using solar panels and other green energies. What has your experience been like.

Just a few days ago I was watching an episode of survivorman titled “Off the Grid”. As you can imagine, it was all about how to move away from the city and get away from relying on “the system”. He choose to move his family out to a very remote area that was only accessible for certain parts of the year. While it doesn’t seem like suck a horrible thing to me, I think it is a bit too extreme for some.

So are there option for those who don’t live in a remote area? What about those of us who live in the city and the suburbs with limited resources and limited land? It seems there just isn’t much we can do. At least that is what I thought until I watched the below video and learned how one family turned their 1/5 acre in the suburbs into a farm that grows 99% of their food and even makes a living for them.

Over the last year I have started a small garden for myself. With tomatoes, bell peppers, egg-plant, mint, parsley, onions, lettuce, etc; but this takes it to a completely different level. Imagine what the world could be like if we all did this even a little. Imagine watering a lawn full of vegetables instead of green grass. It definitely makes me rethink my garden.

Time to plan a better one. Let me know what you think and what kind of garden you might already have. Oh, and also be sure to check out their website: Path to freedom.