When Its OK to Run Up the Electric Meter

Rick and I have been trying to cut back on electricity in preparation for the higher electric bills in February. Its amazing how much energy you use unneccessarily when you pay attention to what you're doing. But habits can be broken, and that's what we're doing. But the past few days made me realize there's one area that energy consumption can't be denied, lessened, or in any way, shape, or form, eliminated. The Health Care industry -- or more specifically, hospitals. My mother had emergency open heart surgery on Friday and it occurred to me while we waited (and waited, and waited) how vital energy is, and how far we've really come in saving lives. We talk about eating local and consuming goods like our grandparents, yet our grandparents would have likely died after a heart attack 60 years ago without the technology of today. This is thought provoking...modern medicine, research, technological advances, medical instruments, sterilization, plastic -- all critical in safe, infection-free hospital care. I'm guessing the bottom line is avoid the hospital! Exercise and eat right and stay out of there so there's no need to rely on plastic tubes running from every orifice of your body, huh? My mother is insulin dependent for 40 years -- the syringes are plastic. What did they do 60 years ago? Very thought provoking.