As I mentioned last time, my approach to consumption of resources can be summed up with these five words: reduce, reuse, renew, rethink, and recycle. In prior columns, I discussed reduce and reuse. This time, I’d like to talk about renew.
When I think about renew, I think about the use of renewable resources. We need to reduce our usage of non-renewable resources such as oil, coal, and gas, and move in the direction of renewable resources. Making use of renewable resources is not something that is easy, but it can and must be done. When purchasing your next car, will you consider an electric or hybrid automobile? How about installing solar panels on your roof? Yes, I realize that this is a bit more of an investment than purchasing a steel water bottle. Nonetheless, these are viable options for some of us.
Another way you can work on “renew” is to lobby your state and federal elected officials for greater investment in renewable resources. An easy way to communicate with the governor and your state representatives is to go to the website https://access.wa.gov/. At the federal level, you can go to https://www.senate.gov/, https://www.house.gov/, and https://www.whitehouse.gov.
How about contacting one federal or state official this week and making a pitch for investing more in renewable resources?
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