I remember when there was a gasoline shortage, not once, but twice in the same decade. Energy supply, economics and our environment started to enter the minds of several Americans. As an Environmental Studies Major, I knew in reality everything was and is connected.
I was incensed by the fact that ten short years earlier America's team at NASA was able to have humans walk on the surface of the moon and bring them all home safe again, but after that second gasoline shortage answers to the "energy crisis" came through stickers. Team work became a thing of the past and for everyone too young to remember, here is an example of America's Best team effort to save energy:
I was incensed by the fact that ten short years earlier America's team at NASA was able to have humans walk on the surface of the moon and bring them all home safe again, but after that second gasoline shortage answers to the "energy crisis" came through stickers. Team work became a thing of the past and for everyone too young to remember, here is an example of America's Best team effort to save energy:
I saved these stickers all these years, because I knew one day they would be really useful.
The only effort America had that came close to teamwork, was a move to conserve, but that conservation move was all about sacrificing. We were told to put on a sweater and lower the thermostat to decrease the amount of heat used in our home and put a sticker on the wall with a cleaver saying like:
"DON'T SHOWER BY THE HOUR!"
(To save on the fuel used to make the hot water)
"TO SAVE MORE, DRY DISHES WITH AN OPEN DOOR!"
(To save with Dish Washers and not run the electric heating elements to create hot air for drying the dishes)
"SET AIR CONDITIONER AT 78! DON'T USE IN AFTERNOON!"
(Yeah, right)
"LIGHT NOT NEEDED? TURN ME OFF!"
(Because they couldn't do a rhyme with: Shut The Light Switch, You Wasteful %!¶@#!)
"FOGGY HEAD STAY IN BED, SHUT THE DOOR!"
(To save by shutting your refrigerator door, not the dish washer door that you left open to dry the dishes and tripped over when you went into the dark kitchen for that midnight snack.)
These stickers stated one word: "sacrifice," a tough sell to the American consumer because our lifestyle had to change. These "marketing steps" were a failure simply because they didn't embrace or set out to solve the issues with new technology that were already becoming available. Sadly, these are still the conservation steps many think are necessary to save energy today.
My next GoingTrueGreen blog post will be about America's Future. The other week I spoke to several students at Sigma Pi Sigma's induction ceremony for the Physics department at St. John's University. Students who will be part of our world's future and solutions. When speaking to them the other night, I provided them with a starter list of initial steps so they can be the catalyst for thinking anew... So solutions can be implemented that will, in fact make a great difference.
Bill Lauto , GTG
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!
"DON'T SHOWER BY THE HOUR!"
(To save on the fuel used to make the hot water)
"TO SAVE MORE, DRY DISHES WITH AN OPEN DOOR!"
(To save with Dish Washers and not run the electric heating elements to create hot air for drying the dishes)
"SET AIR CONDITIONER AT 78! DON'T USE IN AFTERNOON!"
(Yeah, right)
"LIGHT NOT NEEDED? TURN ME OFF!"
(Because they couldn't do a rhyme with: Shut The Light Switch, You Wasteful %!¶@#!)
"FOGGY HEAD STAY IN BED, SHUT THE DOOR!"
(To save by shutting your refrigerator door, not the dish washer door that you left open to dry the dishes and tripped over when you went into the dark kitchen for that midnight snack.)
These stickers stated one word: "sacrifice," a tough sell to the American consumer because our lifestyle had to change. These "marketing steps" were a failure simply because they didn't embrace or set out to solve the issues with new technology that were already becoming available. Sadly, these are still the conservation steps many think are necessary to save energy today.
My next GoingTrueGreen blog post will be about America's Future. The other week I spoke to several students at Sigma Pi Sigma's induction ceremony for the Physics department at St. John's University. Students who will be part of our world's future and solutions. When speaking to them the other night, I provided them with a starter list of initial steps so they can be the catalyst for thinking anew... So solutions can be implemented that will, in fact make a great difference.
Bill Lauto , GTG
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!
Telling the Untold Stories: TELOMERE by L. J. Williams
