90%

So I’ve decided what the hell, I’m going to join the 90% reduction challenge and, over the next year, try to cut our household emissions/consumption to BY 90% of the average American use. Since we already use less than most families, it shouldn’t be as painful for us. I hope.

I just checked our electric bill and we’re already down almost 20% from last year [when we had the AC going -- this spring has been a lot cooler for some reason], but we’ve still got a long way to go to get down from 459 kw per month to 90. That’s mainly going to mean a] drying laundry the old fashioned way, on the line, b] unplugging our tv’s, computers, and the microwave when not in use, and c] eating more raw and solar-cooked food, since our place is all-electric. [Yes, I'm planning to build a cheap solar oven, just to see if I will actually use it.] Heat in winter isn’t an issue since we live in San Diego, though air conditioning is a necessity for a couple of months a year but I think we can use our AC much more efficiently than we have in the past. On the plus side, since we don’t use any gas or other heating fuel, we can fudge a little on the electricity. I’m going to change the goal for that to 100 kw per month.

Gasoline: we use about 40 gallons a month with the recent addition of Robby’s first car. I doubt that he will be willing to give it up for the bus at this point, but it’s mainly for social uses since he works at the Ralphs Supermarket across the street. Me, I have to drive for organic groceries once or twice a week. Again, buses aren’t an option. I can probably make fewer trips, though, cutting our use to 30 gallons. Not much. According to the challenge, we need to get it down to 12.5 gallons per month. Good thing Robby walks to work. [I never thought I'd say good thing Emily doesn't work at all, but...]

I thought I was being so good, eating a mostly organic diet, but obviously I need to pay more attention to where my food is coming from. Just now I was shocked to look at the sticker on the organic apple I took out of the fridge and saw that it was from New Zealand! The challenge is for 70% of our food to be grown within 100 miles of where we live. Thank heavens for our warm climate — though the latest drought news is disturbing. There are a number of organic farms and farmer’s markets nearby, as well as an organic market that buys most of its produce locally. I also want to try growing some food on the balcony again — not much, just salad greens and herbs to start with. Hopefully I won’t botch it this time. Unfortunately, Robby and Emily are completely sold on processed food; they think organic tastes awful. Can you believe it? I’ve given up arguing with them about it. We shop for, cook and eat completely different meals. Very sad.

There’s more, like cutting garbage production from 4.5 pounds per person per day to .45 pounds, cutting water use from the American average of 100 gallons per person per day to 10, and reducing spending on consumer goods from $10,000 per household per year to $1,000. I don’t have a baseline for us on any of these, nor do I expect much cooperation in some of these areas from Robby and Emily. But then, it’s their future we’re trying to save here, so maybe they’ll get on board with no problem. We’ll see.

Overly ambitious? Of course. Like I said, what the hell.