Day 4: Know thyself.

There are no sustainable cities or counties or
regions in Oklahoma. There may be a few
sustainable households, but if so there are not
many. To get from where we are now, to where we
want to go, we have to know where we are in the
journey.

So today's sustainable living recommendation is to
keep accurate household records. I recommend
financial, water, energy use, and food consumption
records.

Regarding energy use, as noted yesterday if you
live in OGE territory you can get two years of
your energy usage data from www.oge.com . ONG has
similar online records. It is likely that energy
providers in other parts of the state can also
provide records of your energy usage. Put this
information into a spreadsheet. Record the month,
the energy used (kilowatt hours or dekatherms),
and the bottom line price of the bill.

Every time you fill up with gasoline, get a gas
receipt, and enter that information into your
gasoline spreadsheet.

Regarding food, for sustainability purposes we are
mostly interested in the quantities and types of
food you buy. This will be important information
to know later in this series. Record what you buy
and how much you buy, e.g. hamburger - 10 lbs,
chicken - 4, flour - 10 lbs, potatoes - 5 lbs,
salad greens - 3 pounds, etc. The easiest way to
do this is to save your grocery receipts and make
your spreadsheet from that. I suggest to keep
these totals by the month.

Financial records are important because economic
viability is an integral aspect of household
sustainability. And as they say, "Where your
treasure is, there also will be your heart."
Accurate financial records that show your spending
habits help you move towards sustainability.

These records provide you a method of keeping
track of your progress towards sustainability.
That's important because sustainability is not an
instant gratification event. It occurs over time,
long periods of time, and we need to know that we
are making steady progress if we are to remain
psychologically committed to this goal.

For example, looking at our household's energy
usage records, we find that comparing the calendar
years 2004-2005, our electricity usage declined
28%, and comparing the first seven months of 2006
with the first seven months of 2005, we find a 42%
reduction in electricity usage. (That's what
passive solar has done for us.) For natural gas,
during the years 2004-2005 our usage declined 100%
to zero (as of October 2005). For gasoline,
however, there has been no real decrease over that
period. That tells me that our household, in the
coming year, needs to focus on gasoline use,
especially since the amount of money we are paying
for gasoline has increased more than 50%,
2004-2006.

One of the primary antidotes to mindless
consumerism is to pay attention to what you are
consuming by keeping records so you know more
about yourself and your role in this eco-system.
As you come to know more about your consumption
patterns and costs, you can make more informed and
effective choices about reducing your impact on
the ecology of this region and indeed the entire
planet.