THROUGH MY EYES -- RON DAVIS
My wife was wondering why I didn’t lift a finger around the house over
the weekend. I gave her my amazed look. “Don’t you know there’s an energy
crisis?” I asked. She assumed that same confused look politicians get
when you ask them why they haven’t fulfilled their election promises?
“The governor’s asked that we conserve energy,” I continued. “I’m just
trying to do my part.”
“Not that kind of energy, you nitwit!” she fired back. “The governor’s
talking about electrical energy. You know -- like the lights and your
computer you never turn off.”
“What harm can I be doing?” I responded. “So it costs us an extra
couple of bucks. We can afford it, moreover, why should I worry about
conserving when some jerk leaves his lights on in the office all night?”
After I said that, I felt like I was going to experience my first
rolling blackout.
“You’re a power-pig,” she shot back. “You’re the reason we dam rivers,
pollute the air and pump warm water into the ocean.”
“Just because I leave my computer and bathroom light on?” I asked.
“That’s right!” she said. “It isn’t the dollar cost of electricity
that’s the problem. It’s the idiots like you who are too lazy -- no, too
selfish -- to conserve electricity, who force the construction of new
power plants.”
When my wife gets up a head of steam, there’s no stopping her.
“You know where power plants are built?” she questioned. “In places
like Huntington Beach -- right on the ocean.”
“But we have a power plant already,” I responded.
“Yes, and it’s expanding -- that means more environmental impacts --
because people like you won’t conserve electricity. And, we’ll have to
have more. That means even more impacts on the environment.”
She wasn’t going to let up now.
“Do you have any idea how much it costs to construct and operate those
plants?” she asked.
“Billions, I imagine,” I said.
“I’m not talking just about the dollars and cents, but the
environmental costs,” she continued. “Where do you think the energy comes
from to generate the electricity? Do you want more drilling for natural
gas and oil? Do you want our countryside blighted with these ugly plants
all because you’re too lazy to turn off your computer -- because you
won’t turn off the television set or stereo when you run to the store?”
“I never really thought of it that way,” I answered.
“Of course you haven’t,” she said. “The only electricity you’ve
conserved is the small amount running to your brain, and believe me, that
kind of conservation is not helping the problem.”
I had to admit she was right. I hadn’t been doing my part.
“So,” I announced, “I’ll go upstairs, and shut down the computer and
turn off my bathroom lights.”
“That will be a start,” she said.
“A start?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “Grab the vacuum so that we can clean out all of the
dust from the coils of the refrigerator so it can operate more
efficiently. Then you can clean the filters on the heater. Right after
that you can adjust the thermostat on the hot water heater to 120
degrees. Next you can do a load of laundry, remember to always do a full
load and clean the lint filter in the dryer.”
“But,” I protested, “I wanted to watch a movie.”
“Great idea,” she said. “After you’ve done all that, you can movie
your big butt down to the store and buy some of those condensed
florescent light bulbs that save almost 75% on energy.”
* RON DAVIS is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He
can be reached by e-mail at o7 RDD@socal.rr.com.f7
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