Public Enemy Number 1

I've identified one of the largest contributors to my environmental footprint.  Here's a picture of him:

That's my cat.  He's pretty cute, but make no mistake, he is an environmental disaster.  Here's why:

1.  Litter:  I'm pretty good about recycling and reusing, so the actual volume of trash I produce is pretty small - so much so that I'm getting a much smaller trash can for my kitchen.  At least in my old apartment, my cat's litter accounted for about half of my trash volume.  crazy...

2.  Air Conditioning:  It gets very hot in the summer where I live.  But I'm not at home during the hottest part of the day.  Ideally, I'd like to not use the AC at all when I'm not home.  Unfortunately, it can get upwards of 90 degrees in my house on the warmest summer days and my cat can't really deal with that.  He's a big fur ball (Norwegian Forest Cat), and he just cooks in the heat.  So, I keep the temperature set so that the AC runs a little from 4-6 pm.  It's still a little warm for him, but I'm not turning it down any more.  To help him out a bit I "furminate" him every month or so during the summer.

My cat is a rescue.  I'd rather see pets live happy lives than get euthanized, of course.  But, we should try to avoid too many unwanted cats and dogs.  Spay or neuter your pets, please!

I'm in!

Well, I've just moved into my new home.  And though the home is in very good condition, there is a ton of work to do.  I can tell by the appliances, and the settings on those appliances, that the previous owners were not concerned with energy conservation.  So, there's lots of work to do.  I'm currently taking it slow, identifying the lowest hanging fruit, so that I spend my first round of cash on the most beneficial projects.  It's gonna take a while, as I'm traveling a bit in the next month or so.  But after that, it is on!