http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080710/ap_on_re_us/celebrity_green_off;_ylt=Av3.hL3VAh9P82LLuS4U8hlvzwcF
I think it's kind of cute that Bill Nye and Ed Begley are in a giant Celebrity Eco-Death Match over their carbon foot prints. And of course you know I'm backing my boy the Science Guy (Bill! Bill! - Bill! Bill!). I spent many happy bowls of Cheerios watching the mysteries of science on a Saturday morning.
But I'm going to give major props to Begley for one of the things mentioned in the article. His sprinkler system that checks the weather and shuts off when it's raining. Love that. This is one of my GIANT pet peeves. When you see a lawn that's being watered in a rain storm by an automatic system. Errrrggg!! Fist shaking! I blow raspberries in your general direction! You stuuuupid people! It's one thing if it's at your own house, and you're just to flipping lazy to march your saggy behind down to the garage and shut the water off. That's just laziness. And coming from one lazy chick, even I think that's pretty bad. It makes me even crazier when it's a business that's closed all weekend. Granted, people won't be on the premises 24/7, so nobody wants to drive down to the office to switch off the sprinklers when it rains. Dear, or dear. How on earth do you fix that? It's a problem.
Wait! I have an idea! When it's a business and it rains when the office is closed, you make somebody be in charge of the sprinkler. They check the weather, and if there's a decent chance of rain, they shut the system off before they leave for the day. And if it doesn't, the lawn won't die because it missed one day of water. It won't. That's so ingenious, why, it's almost simple. But there are businesses that I drive by regularly, and see the sprinklers just spitting their heads off in the middle of a Noah's Ark style deluge. Poor planning, people. And bad business. You do know you have to pay a water bill don't you? You would think if you couldn't get even one of your employees to watch the weather report, it would actually be worth buying one of those electronic weather monitors, just from the savings on the water bill over time. Oh, and also, you'd stop wasting water! Geez!
And while we're at it, there are the subsidiary peeves of 1.) water sprinklers that are aimed at the sidewalk (FYI - you cannot grow more sidewalk this way), and 2.) sprinkler systems that are used during the winter when the temperature is sub-freezing. First, that ain't helping the grass, and second, the ice floe you just created in the street ain't helping the traffic. Schmucks.
I don't know if I'd go as far as Begley and put in an AstroTurf lawn. That's pretty out there. Though I've heard there are some pretty impressive new artificial lawns out there. Made out of recycled plastic and everything. And I guess it would be hypo-allergenic too. And no need to water. Hmmm. Maybe Begley isn't such a crazy old coot after all. I wonder how much that stuff costs?
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3 comments:
Yeah -- the worst is when they run DURING a rain - I love me some "Living with Ed" but have to admit - he needs to be less repetitice and more forthcoming with prices - thosesolar panels he has cost as much each as a car!
Yeah, some green improvements end up being money savers, even short term. But you'd have to be in for the long haul on something like solar panels.
Yeah, some green improvements end up being money savers, even short term. But you'd have to be in for the long haul on something like solar panels.
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