<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Ask Umbra on ungreen roommates]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by Alida Antonia Cornelius http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-10-ask-umbra-ungreen-roommates/ Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:05:48 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-10-ask-umbra-ungreen-roommates/1 CFL's are bad. They have MERCURY in them. They have to be taken to HAZARDOUS WASTE RECYCLING CENTERS. LED's are a better choice!

And you should never mess with someone else's computer...

Try this...make a wager with her that if she follows your suggestions, you can lower you electric bill by so much money.

I go to my electric box and turn the breaker off to all things like my dishwasher when I am not using it. I turn my hot water heater off at the electric box on weekends if I am not home. I turn the garbage disposal off at the breaker box and hardly every use it. Try looking at your breaker box and see what things you can turn off at the source. That can save money also.

Get a thermostat which turns the heat or air-conditioning down when you are not home.

Get a time for your hot water heater.

Those are some things which might make up for the energy she is wasting.

(please don't fall for the CFL marketing ploy....they can make your cat or any pet get terminally ill if you break one next to them...it happened to one of my friends.)

]]> CFL's are bad. They have MERCURY in them. They have to be taken to HAZARDOUS WASTE RECYCLING CENTERS. LED's are a better choice!

And you should never mess with someone else's computer...

Try this...make a wager with her that if she follows your suggestions, you can lower you electric bill by so much money.

I go to my electric box and turn the breaker off to all things like my dishwasher when I am not using it. I turn my hot water heater off at the electric box on weekends if I am not home. I turn the garbage disposal off at the breaker box and hardly every use it. Try looking at your breaker box and see what things you can turn off at the source. That can save money also.

Get a thermostat which turns the heat or air-conditioning down when you are not home.

Get a time for your hot water heater.

Those are some things which might make up for the energy she is wasting.

(please don't fall for the CFL marketing ploy....they can make your cat or any pet get terminally ill if you break one next to them...it happened to one of my friends.)

]]> Comment #2 by inkedbuddha http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-10-ask-umbra-ungreen-roommates/ Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:24:08 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-10-ask-umbra-ungreen-roommates/2 I don't see how someone could be "rational and progressive" and then label you a fascist for wanting to conserve energy (no matter how annoying, or not, you happen to be about it). I think Umbra, in this case, is too soft in her answer. While we can all stand to do some "self-reflection," I'd recommend finding a roommate with whom you have more aligned values. Who knows - not living together (and thus not seeing her waste, and getting improperly and rudely called a fascist) might do wonders for your friendship!

]]> I don't see how someone could be "rational and progressive" and then label you a fascist for wanting to conserve energy (no matter how annoying, or not, you happen to be about it). I think Umbra, in this case, is too soft in her answer. While we can all stand to do some "self-reflection," I'd recommend finding a roommate with whom you have more aligned values. Who knows - not living together (and thus not seeing her waste, and getting improperly and rudely called a fascist) might do wonders for your friendship!

]]> Comment #3 by kristen510 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-10-ask-umbra-ungreen-roommates/ Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:25:54 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-10-ask-umbra-ungreen-roommates/3 I used to get in shouting matches with my roommate because of this very thing.. lights on all day, tons of recyclables in the trash, and on and on. After having gone through roughly 12 roommates in my life I can say that the overarching problem with people like this roomate is that they have no consideration for other people or anything that does not have an adverse effect on their own immediate situation. My roommate was wealthy, for instance, and thus she figured that she didn't need to pay her share of the electric bill on time because I was the name on the account; she couldn't get in trouble. Even though I was always conspicuously absent from the house (because I was hard at work), she never managed to figure out that I might not be as well off as she (read: her parents) was. She also learned that if she waited long enough, other people would clean up her pile of dishes for her, because we needed to eat off of them.

It's tough to get through to people like this, but the best way to approach it would be to hit them in the pocketbook. Explain to them that their habits are costing them money. Make them a spreadsheet if you have to. I ended up charging my roommate double her share of PGE because she let her boyfriend live at our house for free and all he did all day was watch TV. If they see the difference in cost between your habits and their spendthrift energy usage, and are forced to pay for it, they will either change their ways or get fed up and move out.

]]> I used to get in shouting matches with my roommate because of this very thing.. lights on all day, tons of recyclables in the trash, and on and on. After having gone through roughly 12 roommates in my life I can say that the overarching problem with people like this roomate is that they have no consideration for other people or anything that does not have an adverse effect on their own immediate situation. My roommate was wealthy, for instance, and thus she figured that she didn't need to pay her share of the electric bill on time because I was the name on the account; she couldn't get in trouble. Even though I was always conspicuously absent from the house (because I was hard at work), she never managed to figure out that I might not be as well off as she (read: her parents) was. She also learned that if she waited long enough, other people would clean up her pile of dishes for her, because we needed to eat off of them.

It's tough to get through to people like this, but the best way to approach it would be to hit them in the pocketbook. Explain to them that their habits are costing them money. Make them a spreadsheet if you have to. I ended up charging my roommate double her share of PGE because she let her boyfriend live at our house for free and all he did all day was watch TV. If they see the difference in cost between your habits and their spendthrift energy usage, and are forced to pay for it, they will either change their ways or get fed up and move out.

]]> Comment #4 by PermieWriter http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-10-ask-umbra-ungreen-roommates/ Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:22:45 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-10-ask-umbra-ungreen-roommates/4 So when the SHTF and you need to look for a new roommate, make sure you highlight your eco habits in your ad, post your ad at your local greenie hang-outs, etc. It's way easier to deal with a like-minded person to start with than trying to reform someone who clearly has affluenza. Or move into an eco-village type place.

]]> So when the SHTF and you need to look for a new roommate, make sure you highlight your eco habits in your ad, post your ad at your local greenie hang-outs, etc. It's way easier to deal with a like-minded person to start with than trying to reform someone who clearly has affluenza. Or move into an eco-village type place.

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