‘Green’ message is getting through

by Rob Wilkins

Earth Hour, Earth Day, year, decade, century…whatever the time frame, there are a number of “green” initiatives which raise global warming awareness. For me, and I’ve said it before, I’m all-in for reducing our footprint.

This year, Earth Hour arrived at 8 p. m. Saturday March 29.Wanting to be part of the solution, not the problem, at 7:59 p. m. I did my part and ran around the house turning off the lights, furnace, computer, stereo…anything that was using electricity.

I was even on my way to poweroff the kitchen appliances until I realized that turning them off meant pulling each away from the wall to gain access to their plugs. I decided to pass since my back wouldn’t appreciate it.

Also, turning them off meant turning them back on. I wasn’t in the mood to watch the blinking ’12:00s’ for days. To make up for my paranoia and lack of technical expertise, I promised myself I wouldn’t open the refrigerator door – on a Saturday night, no less!

At 8:05 p. m. I looked out my door and of the dozen or so houses I could see, only two had their lights blazing. Not bad, it felt good knowing our street was part of the program.

Sounds like we did a good job, not perfect but good. (Okay, I admit it, the hockey game stayed on, but I couldn’t find the converter in the darkness…ya, that’s it).

To give you an example of how green-conscious we have become, during the recent Truck World show I was asked why we were handing out plastic bags?

“They contain our publications and will provide you with something to carry your show pickings in,” was my response. Turns out, I was way off track.

They didn’t care why we were handing the bags out, only why they were made of plastic. I believe their response was “So you’re too cheap to give us the re-usable cloth ones?”Yikes!

Next, one of our staff was concerned that we were serving coffee in Styrofoam cups. She went out the next day and out of her own pocket, purchased the recyclable cardboard kind.

It didn’t end there; yet another asked if we really needed all the booth lights turned on…he suggested it wouldn’t hurt to turn a few off and save on electricity.

Whoever is in charge of the world’s ‘green’ awareness program, congratulations. I think it’s working.

– Rob Wilkins is the publisher of Truck News and he can be reached at 416-510-5123.


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