I was driving back to home from Palo Alto, California today. Such a beautiful area near the ocean and all so opulent, and green I might add. I always feel more green conscious when I’m in the heart of the bay area’s eco-centric retailers and companies.  Anyway, between my first week of blogging on “Hart of Green”, setting my green covenant to include beef only 5 times a week and being in Palo Alto all day surrounded by Green businesses downtown, I wasn’t surprised by my response to what happened when I got home.

I LEFT THE AIR CONDITIONING ON WITH THE BACK DOOR OPEN. I was doing my dog a favor and left the door open for him in case he needed to step out for a crisis bathroom break.

I immediately felt this wave of angst because it’s expensive to run the air conditioning, and then thought of my new intention to respect the essence of living green.  Then I felt guilt. Guilty I didn’t feel empathy for wasting energy. Best thing I know to do when my gut tells me I’m unconscious is usually deep introspection of why I don’t care. The answer I got back was, “You’re not educated, you meatball!”.

Jumped on Google and caught this article ….Top 10 ways to go green

The first one is guess what?  Saving Energy. And I’ve heard all this before, turn down the thermostat blah blah blah…ok I do that. Lets see if I’m ready to do any of the others on the list.

Save energy to save money.

CHECK * Set your thermostat a few degrees lower in the winter and a few degrees higher in the summer to save   on heating and cooling costs.
CHECK * Install compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) when your older incandescent bulbs burn out.
NO NOT READY YET  * Unplug appliances when you’re not using them. Or, use a “smart” power strip that senses when appliances are off and cuts “phantom” or “vampire” energy use.
CHECK, I CAN DO THIS * Wash clothes in cold water whenever possible. As much as 85 percent of the energy used to machine-wash clothes goes to heating the water.
CHECK I CAN DO THIS. DRYER BALLS? * Use a drying rack or clothesline to save the energy otherwise used during machine drying. If you must use a dryer, consider adding dryer balls to cut drying time.

Someone told me one time, “Don’t believe every thing you think”. I believe this time I can believe that my guilty concious is a great start to having empathy and respect for saving energy.

It really isn’t all about me and my bills:)