So, as some of you know, I have been on another environmental thing lately. I do these fairly regularly, usually when I am reading or have just finished a book about the environment, but since I since I try not to foist my views on too many people, you may not know that (although part of me wants to change that, since I think it is important that people begin having conversations about these things). The nice part about a blog is that if you are reading this, I assume it is voluntary.
Anyway, so I have been researching ways to make a home more energy efficient and found some great resources. Basically, to summarize the findings, heating and cooling are you home's biggest energy users, first air conditioners and heaters and then hot water heaters and refrigerators, all of which can be more efficient. Also, most large appliances use much more energy over their lifetimes than they cost to make, so it is usually better for the environment and cheaper to get a more efficient model, even though it might be more expensive initially. Some of the easiest changes are changing your light bulbs to CFL, if you haven't already, and washing your clothes in cold water (heating the water uses 95% of the electricity of a washer). There is some pretty easy math that you can do to figure all of this out, and the best site is here
http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/. . This site actually explains in detail everything I might want to say on the subject and he has some other cool guides as well about bike safety, buying a house, finding cheap airline tickets, vegetarianism, etc. I would definitely check it out. Especially if you live in Hawaii where electricity is twice as much as everywhere else., and so all of these changes will be that much more worth it financially.
Also, although the electricity use of a given appliance is listed on the appliance, that is the maximum amount that appliance would ever draw, so while it can be nice for comparative purposes, it won't tell you how much electricity you are actually using. There are several ways to do that, but the easiest is get an electric meter that you plug into the wall and then plug your appliance into, which you can buy
here. There is one for $16, plus $5 shipping. I bought one and had it sent to my mom's house so you can play with it there, do the math, see if it is worth it upgrade your appliances.
There is a lot more I could say about this, but just go read check out the website. Also, possibly more than any of these changes would be to get a good bike and ride it instead of driving whenever possible. Oh, and I am thinking about becoming vegetarian. (The only hard thing about doing it here is that you can't get complex carbohydrates like brown rice or whole wheat.)
Bazaar. There is no regular shop, but it is open on Saturday from 9-2. We got there at 11 
and I had to be somewhere else at 2, so we didn't get to see everything, but we got some cool stuff. The main mission, clothes for M, was successful. She got a dress and a few skirts and shirts. I got a few neat Japanese styles coats, and a hanging scroll. But I was most stoked about an old book I found. I had been looking for it online and there hadn't been any for sale, but here it was for $3. When I got home, I checked and in the interim, some had been listed on Amazon, but still they were $50, so I was pretty stoked. We had noodles and ice cream at the hospital cafeteria next door and then I realized I was going to be late for my conference, so we ran to the station. We didn't have time to see everything, so we're going to have to go back. I will add some pictures of our finds soon.
