Optimal Use of Resources

Is there an optimal use of resources?

I read about Al Gore who is going around the world spreading the message of global warming, is himself a carbon hog by consuming lot of power for his mansion. The argument in favor was that his mansion was very efficient, uses solar power and he buys carbon credits.

The bottom line for an average city dweller is: no matter how much you reduce the usage of resources, you still are a resource hog. The best one could do is to progressively reduce the resources consumed without comparing with others. The resources could be water, power, all materials. At AID, there was a huge discussion on ways to reduce some of which are:

1. Replace filament bulbs with energy efficient CFL(Compact Fluorescent Lamp)
2. Open windows to let the natural light warm the home.
3. Reduce the number of bulbs in bathrooms that have Victorian style: 6-10 bulbs.
4. Placing a gallon plastic container in flush to reduce water usage.
5. Using a bucket for bathing instead of shower
6. Stopping newspaper and going to the Internet for news. Reusing paper
7. Carrying a shopping bag instead of the plastic covers when one goes shopping
8. Driving at less than 55mph to improve vehicle driving efficiency
9. Buying local and organic produce
10. Turning down energy hogging electronics when now in use.
11. Going for cloth diapering for babies instead of disposable diapers.
12. Not buying things that are not so necessary (a subjective one)

and some more

We have tried many of the above. Some are tough initially, like carrying a shopping bag each time I go to get groceries. Sometimes we get strange looks from shopkeepers. But eventually we got used to it. Reducing paper was easy as I have a bunch of hand kerchiefs. The speed thing was a bit tricky. But most of my friends now know that I drive slowly. So they start early when they ask me for a ride. We stopped buying new clothes till we use up all the existing ones. Some of this may appear frugal. If so, so be it.

We are still consuming lot of resources because of travel and stuff at home. There is more work to be done. Some more to try are reducing packaged food/goods, eating out and avoiding elevator, paper and plastic.

For some one who is really living a 0 impact life style, check noimpactman.com. For more about folk who try to reduce carbon food print by reducing and reusing read about compacters.

This experiment is reasonably successful, but there is some room for improvement.