Going Green

My family has been green for much longer than it has been the "In Thing." Please, hold your applause.

The truth is my father was the energy saving police, but it had more to do with saving green than going green.

Lights off, doors closed, heat low. We did it all. To this day we really only heat the rooms we live in, while our bedrooms remain significantly colder.

I was actually shocked when I went off to college and one of my roommates kept her room so warm she could walk around with little clothing on. My cousin and I shared a bedroom which stayed so cold I swear that some mornings you could see you breath.

68 degrees was the normal temperature for our household growing up. 70 was unheard of.

I can still hear my dad walking down the hallway, shutting doors, and calling, "E you left your light on."

This was also the man that charged us $1 (or was it $5) every time he had to tell us to put our seatbelts on. Who knows how much I actually owe him.

Needless to say, some of these Green tendencies are already ingrained in me. Using fewer lights, layering up to get warmer. I do it all.