Record Breaking Idiots
It’s not news that it’s been insanely hot the past few weeks. There was a period of a few days that we were actually able to open up all the windows and enjoy the cool breeze as it made it’s way through our apartment, but for the most part, we’ve had the AC on since early June.
I watch the news as I scrape my eye crust out every morning and I swear, I’ve got their local news brief down…
The heat wave continues as we reach close to 40 degrees when you factor in the humidity and we’re not going to see a break any time soon.
Another smog alert for Toronto and the GTA, so make sure you take it easy if you have to be outside and a warning goes out to children, the elderly and those with respiratory problems.
Ontario topped another energy consumption record yesterday…
Again, none of this is news and whatever you watch, read or listen to – they’re all telling us the same thing. Conserve energy and water wherever you can and try and keep vehicle use down to a minimum. The city of Toronto actually has a 3 minute per hour idling control by-law in effect with a maximum fine of $5,000 – yet on a daily basis, I see dozens of people idling for no good reason.
Just yesterday, Hannah and I made a stop at Toys R Us on the way home and ended up parking in front of Lincoln Navigator – you know, one of those gas guzzling, giant SUVs that soccer Moms like – with the windows up, AC cranked and no one in it! Oh wait, upon further investigation I discovered there was someone in it… the family dog. Roughly 20 minutes later we came out and it was still there.
Tonight after picking Deanna up from work, we stopped at Sobey’s to grab a few things. As the automatic doors opened in front of us we felt a blast of cold air that made us all say ‘Whoa!‘ in sync as if it was rehearsed. We made our rounds and by the time we were done (only spent $14 so we weren’t there long) we were all practically shivering, it was that cold in there.
This last example is great! Ready? This morning as I was mouthing the words to the local news report, I took a double-take when I glanced past the reporter at the luscious, full green lawn she was standing on. Are you kidding me? The people that have been telling the entire Country every day for the past 2 months to conserve, conserve, conserve – have quite obviously been watering the shit out of their grass. I haven’t seen green grass for months!
Yesterday was yet another record breaking day with energy consumption up to 26,160 megawatts. When are people going to smarten up and do their part? People need to stop being so wrapped up in themselves and things they think are important and look at the bigger picture here.
We’re doing what we can to conserve. We’ve kept our AC set to medium, even on the hottest days. Deanna’s been using the run off from the air conditioner to water her plants and flowers every night and we only turn on lights when they’re needed. This is my first week working from home and I’ve been spending my days in the bedroom (furthest room from the AC) with the blinds closed, fan on low and only a desk lamp.
It’s really frustrating and quite astonishing to see the number of asshats that just don’t care. Do everyone a favor, hang up your ignorance and do your part. It might be a little inconvenient, but it’s not forever. But it quite possibly could be, if we all don’t get our shit together.