If Reagan hadn’t sabotaged the direction the country had started to move in, we would be a hell of a lot less dependent on oil and gas, have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions, and generally be in a lot better shape than we are today. Gasoline didn’t get cheap because they discovered so much more oil, it got cheap because demand went way down.

You do what you can and demand action from the Federal government, because corporations don’t respond to their customers anymore, they only listen to stock analysts.

Sure, it would be great if I could afford to buy a hybrid car, or to buy a house closer to where I work so I could walk or bike in a reasonable amount of time without needing to take another shower after I arrived. But there’s literally no way to make that happen on my current salary, and while my boss likes me and likes the work I’m doing, I don’t think he likes me enough (or has enough money in his budget) to give me the kind of raise that would make that happen, either. Public transportation? Hollow laugh. I’ll be retired before that arrives in any meaningful fashion.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue turning off the lights in rooms when I’m not in them, being careful about how much water I use, and hoping that the city will start offering recycle bins to apartment-dwellers. I’ll hang my shirts up to dry, and wash as much laundry in cold water as possible. I have no illusions that I’ll be able to save the world on my own, but at least I can contribute some effort in that direction.

San Diego pumped it’s treated sewage out under the Pacific, when the water could have been used for irrigation. They just don’t think.

Steve, the market might be able to control water usage if politicians and utilities would stop cutting special deals for large users, often making it cheaper to use more water than less. No one should be able to grow rice in California in an economically realistic fashion, but subsidized water makes it possible. Conservation is for other people.

Then one year the owners, not wanting to admit to a rent increase, decided to do something our state permits them to do: bill for water per apartment, prorated based on square footage and occupancy. Our clever state of Texas billed this as a “conservation” measure.

If you think for two seconds about it, under such a scheme, as a tenant, the only way you can be sure of getting your share of the water you pay for is to use as much water as possible in your apartment, so that you equal or exceed the average usage for your level of charges. Now that’s some conservation measure, isn’t it.

Yes, of course, the measure was passed by a Republican-dominated legislature and signed by a Republican governor; need you ask? Irrationality, thy name is Republican.

People were arrested for watering their lawns or for “stealing” their neighbors water. Some folks resorted to spray painting their lawns green. I still cringe when I see folks “hosing” down their walkways. I want to scream and tackle them and knock some sense into them.

My fair city spent $6mil on a de-sal plant only to shutter it after one run that made one run of bottled water that was ultimately sold to tourists. The residents had voted for “State Water” so felt they were in the clear. I, by the way, voted NO. The State can’t legislate how much snowfall the Sierra’s are going to get so I figured they had no way to support their claims of being able to provide so much water.

Unfortunately, our society has no clue as to how things work. Trash “magically” disappears instead of being dumped somewhere in landfills, electricity “magically” is always available if there is a light switch to be turned on (power plants? what are those?), toilet water just “magically” disappears elsewhere (who needs to worry their pretty little head where the “ucky stuff goes”). The mentality is “if there is a tap, there’s going to be water.”

We also have this warped mentality of “free markets”, if you have money to pay for it, it will be available. This is just not so.

We’ve become so detached from reality and mother nature. Until we are able to grasp “science” at it’s most basic, we are going to be in deep, deep do-do.

I have a five light goose-neck floor lamp that even when all five are lit only uses 75 watts, but puts out 300 watts of light.

Looking for efficient appliances when you have to buy something new saves you money in the long run, even though they are more expensive to buy. My Mother saved the extra cost on her new air conditioner in two months of use.

Saving electricity, saves you money, and cuts down on green house gases.

People need to know these things, but no one in government is making the effort.