The standard advice for anyone wishing to reduce their energy consumption tends to include turning off the lights, walking instead of driving and turning down the heat.
Turning off the lights when I’m not in the room? Check. That one’s pretty easy. Walking everywhere? Wearing five sweaters all winter long? … Fail and fail. Some days I can do it. But on others, it just ain’t gonna happen. Excuses are just too easy to come by: My ice cream will melt by the time I walk home or I can only fit so many sweaters on top of each other.
The bad news: I’m wasting energy, and so are a lot of other people, some of whom are even less environmentally conscious and far less prone to sacrifice in the name of Mother Nature.
The good news: We can all conserve more energy with one-time choices than we can with total behavioral changes. Saving the planet is really more about using better technology, researchers are saying, than it is about giving up our comforts.
Carpooling to work with one other person, for instance, saves about a quarter of the energy that can be saved by driving a more efficient car. When it comes to keeping the house warm in the winter, we would use 5 percent less energy than we would otherwise use if we improved attic insulation, versus the less than 3 percent saved just by turning down the thermostat every day. New CFL light bulbs can save 4 percent, whereas turning off old bulbs each night will only save half of one percent of the energy otherwise needed. In other words, using more efficient technologies reduces our carbon footprint much more effectively than just using old technologies less.
Unfortunately, the word isn't getting across, and those who are inclined to take only one or two steps, fail to take the right ones.
While weatherizing the house or buying a hybrid car can cost money, such actions come with a major plus – they only require easy, one-time changes in behavior (most of the time there are savings in the long-run, too, as the electric bills are lower). Curtailing our driving or turning up the temperature on the air conditioner, on the other hand, require constant psychological willpower. Do I really want to sweat profusely in my hot home when I get back from work? Do I really want to ride my bicycle to the market through the rain? Kudos to all those who are able to say “yes,” but I’m pretty sure my answer will probably be “no” on an unfortunately regular basis.
So, to make up for my willpower shortcomings – which I will continue to try overcoming, I’ve decided to adopt just one hard and fast rule: Pick the best technology.
Watch this: I love that clip from Will Ferrell's film Anchorman, and it fits tangentially into today's post. Summer in the Midwest is a time of wretched, smothering humidity and baking heat, the combination of which usually makes you sweat without exerting any effort. If you dare to move around while outside in this sweltering stew, you take on some very real health risks. These risks should not be ignored, but they are completely manageable. With the State Fair right around the corner, we've got the two-mile Parade Run this afternooon (Get registered!) and the 6-mile (10k) Abe's Amble on Aug. 22 (Get registered!). It will be in the mid-90s today during the Parade Run, so anyone planning to run it would be well-advised to prepare. Here's a quick list of things you can do to make sure you cross the finish line on your feet instead of on a stretcher.
1) Dress for success. Just like any other area of life, running has a certain wardrobe. That stinky, pit-stained old cotton T-shirt you wear to the gym may be your favorite, but if you wear it while running in 90-degree weather, you might as well be wearing a garbage bag. You will become drenched in sweat, and the cotton will hold onto the moisture for hours. Instead, wear one of those newfangled mesh running shirts that wick away sweat like a personal towel boy. They're lighter than cotton, less prone to stretching, more breathable, and allow faster evaporation of sweat. Plus, they make you look like you really know what you're doing, so you can act all nonchalant when someone comments on your race attire. "Yeah, I run so much I had to get a special shirt...it's no big deal."
2) Baste yourself like a turkey. One of the benefits of running outside is getting a sweet tan that lets everyone know how active and "with it" you are. But when that sun is raining down fire with all the intensity of the Roman army in Western Europe, you're going to want a few tribes of Scotsmen to beat back the UV rays. Okay, that was a bad metaphor. Just wear sunscreen.
3) Go all Niagara on yourself. I can't state this enough: Drinking enough water is absolutely imperative. Dehydration can drop you like a bare-knuckle boxer, and a poorly-watered person can experience tiredness, headaches, dizziness, rapid heart rate and even constipation - none of which is helpful while running. Luckily, it's easy to prevent. Just drink plenty of water. Don't wait until you're thirsty. Do it now. Seriously. Get up and grab a bottle, glass, mug or shiny metal canister of water. I'll wait. Slurp it down. All of it. Now do that about 10 more times throughout the day. Be sure to drink during and after the race as well. Bonus: Drinking lots of water can also help curb appetite, since the body sometimes confuses thirst with hunger.
4) Bring your Siamese twin. Running with a partner not only offers motivation and support, but it gives you a safety net in case you start feeling double plus ungood. You can always hope a stranger notices when you collapse in an exhausted heap, but a good friend and running buddy will likely see warning signs of heat stroke or other heat-related maladies before you pass out. That's what friends are for - picking up your gross, sweaty body, hoisting you onto their back and finishing the race in record time. Okay, that might be a tad unrealistic, but it would be pretty cool. If your running buddy does that, you at least owe them your first-born child. (A second or third child is acceptable if you're only work friends.)
That's all I've got. Anyone else have any good tips? Leave a comment below or email me at pyeagle@illinoistimes.com. Have a great day and a great run!
Drugs. In the world of fitness – and by extension – sports, they have become an issue impossible to ignore. Even though most of us amateur runners, cyclists and other athletes will never deal with steroids personally, we are constantly barraged by allegations about or confessions by the names we admire: Lance Armstrong, Mark McGwire, Florence Griffith-Joyner, Bill Romanowski…the list goes on for miles. If we think about it, we realize that these are names not of gods and titans, but of humans just like us – straining to hit the ball harder, pushing to top that hill faster, struggling to shave an extra second off that lap time. Those who use steroids want to be the best and make for themselves a name to surpass the heroes they admire.
Author and extreme amateur athlete Stuart Stevens began taking steroids in 2003 as research into the mental and physical effects of steroid use, and he wrote about his experiences in Outside Magazine. (Read it here.) Stevens relates how his body changed into a muscle-bound machine that wouldn’t quit, but more interesting than the effect it had on his body was the effect it had on his mind.
“You confuse what these performance enhancing drugs are doing to you and yourself,” Stevens told NPR’s Michele Norris in Oct. 2003. “You start to think pretty quickly, ‘Well, this is me. I can ride three hundred miles and the next day, I can feel just fine. Aren’t I impressive?’ ” (Hear it here.)
With steroids, we could all be bigger, faster and stronger. So why don’t we? For me, it’s a combination of reasons: the prohibitively high cost, the dangerous health risks and the lack of any real need. But there’s another reason I’ve chosen to take the hard road to fitness: to me, using steroids defeats the whole purpose of being an athlete.
“Sport is about individuals competing against individuals, not about individuals competing against other individuals’ doctors,” Stevens says. “… There’s something about it that is tremendously dishonest. The athletic endeavor should be one of the purest endeavors that we engage in in life.”
I have been running and watching my diet for about five years, and I’ve lost more than 70 pounds in that time. I’ve run two half-marathons, gained self-confidence and greatly lessened the health risks I’ll face later in life. Sometimes I imagine just what I could have accomplished if I had taken steroids. I could have done two full marathons, and I could have a chiseled physique to show off. But I’ve come to realize that wouldn’t have been me. I may be slow, weak and a bit pudgy, but I’m better off now than ever before. And I’m proud to say I did it the hard way.
No, really, it’s for the birds.
For months, my smart phone-, Mp3-, cable-less self was reluctant to join, even explore the world of Twitter. Constant updates on Lindsay Lohan’s latest faux pas? No, thanks. I only signed up for the service in January as a way to keep track of some politicos in the statehouse while I was working there for another publication. But somewhere in my new follower frenzy I found a few treasures that speak to my environment/science/how-things-work/politics tastes. So, here are a few of my favorites:
As the BP oil spill crisis dragged on, I received play-by-play Twitter updates – ripe with shocking facts, humor and sarcasm – from Kate Sheppard, a Mother Jones reporter. Somehow, in 140 characters or less (usually much less), she relayed some of the most dramatic episodes happening in the Gulf and back in the nation’s capitol. Using Twitter, she complemented her regular full-length coverage of incidents including BP-tied Sherriff”s deputies barring journalists from tainted beaches and lawmakers calling oil spill hearings unwarranted “shake-downs.” Oy. (Of course, to lighten up the mood on the oil spill front, the infamous BPglobalPR is also a must-follow.)
But I have to credit Grist, an environmental news and commentary website, with leading me to Sheppard. (Retweets rock! Er, I mean, they’re helpful sometimes.) Grist’s latest stories have included a feature about a “conservation community” in Illinois and an audio recording about the “population bomb.”
Another favorite of mine, the Society of Environmental Journalists, can be great. It can also be really annoying. It posts links to great environment news stories from across the U.S., but it also posts about 30 at a time. Overload!
For the official word on environment and science, I’ve started following several government agencies. (And then when I visited Washington, D.C., for the first time earlier this summer, I got just as excited to walk past an event I’d seen promoted on Twitter as I did about seeing the monuments. Sorry, Abe!). A quick run-down with a sample tweet for each:
• Greenversations, the Twitter account for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's official blog
Science Wednesday: Growing Green Minds: Each week we write about the science behind environmental protection. Prev... http://bit.ly/aBShLr
Ways to Take Action: Let native vegetation grow by the lake—mow and fertilize less! #lakesmonth
EPA Science Advisory Board panel holding public meeting 7/20-7/22 on the impacts of Mountaintop Mining http://bit.ly/aPL8dh
USDA Blog: Endangered Birds Benefit from Wetlands Reserve Program http://bit.ly/a8vsux
Have kids ages 8-13? Have them check out the recently redesigned Sci4Kids website: http://bit.ly/sci4kids (via @ARSInformation)
Learn about sea turtle conservation via NOAA's latest online game, "Waterlife: Sea Turtles and the Quest to Nest": http://go.usa.gov/OVa
It's National Pollinator Week! Get the Buzz: http://bit.ly/cZ5Wuh
A few others:
• Nature_org, for the Nature Conservancy
Boeing reveals its new hydrogen-powered plane the Phantom Eye! (via @BBCnews) http://nature.ly/a9jrCV
News: Indian Ocean Sea-Level Rise Threatens Coastal Areas: Indian Ocean sea levels are rising unevenly and threate... http://bit.ly/cJsde1
Creating new wetlands to protect migratory birds from Gulf #oilspill http://bit.ly/9YzyeR
Sewage. It happens. And, typically, it ain’t pretty. But! Check it out: decorative manhole covers!
A photograph of just one of many artsy manhole covers on Japan’s streets, the image is from Remo Camerota’s book Drainspotting. There are plenty more photos here.
According to this guy, utility companies and cities often have their very own manhole design … which must be what makes the International Manhole Cover Museum possible. It’s in Farrara, Italy. Screw Venice and its gondolas! (Besides, those little love boats float down canals into which households historically have directly dumped their sewage. Romantic, no?)
But, if I can’t make it to Farrara, I’m hoping to find some postcards by Floridian Bobbi Mastrangelo, who paints pictures of manholes. My favorite is the “save water” version.
They call Bobbi “the grate artist,” but the “grand dame of manhole covers” (or the “Manhole Cover Lady”) is Diana Stuart. She wrote a book – 128 pages. With pictures – 400. She crusades for manhole cover preservation in New York City.
I'm pretty sure I want to meet her.
Let’s take a break from fitness for just a moment to discuss “The Decision.” I happened to catch hoops prodigy LeBron James’ announcement that he would play for the Miami Heat, and I just have to make a few things clear to the world of sports:
1) Professional athletes are a bunch of overpaid clowns. Basketball players throw an orange ball through a metal circle suspended twelve feet in the air and get a brazillian dollars for it because it’s entertaining to watch. I spent five years in school learning to analyze politics, build computer databases and write professionally so that I can perform a vital public service. No one offered me millions of dollars, and I sure as heck didn’t have a press conference to announce my acceptance of a job offer. I can’t dunk, though…so that might have had something to do with it.
2) It’s
not the end of the world,
3) Just
because LeBron was good at
I really do wish LeBron the best, though. He’s got an
amazingly bright future ahead of him, and he seems to have worked hard to get
where he is. Let’s just hope it all works out for the best. Come on,