Green Is the New Black

I've never considered myself a real hipster. I don't follow trends. I really can't tell you who Hannah Montana is. I'm not into fashion. (Although I recently drew the line at my husband wearing his high school gym shorts ever again. He graduated in 1974.) I haven't enrolled our toddler in an SAT prep course. I just live my little life the best way I know how-- simply. It seems that by doing so I have turned myself into a willing participant in a green revolution.

We try to do what makes sense for us-- hanging our clothes outside, reusing cloth grocery bags, having a garden, turning off the lights, and walking or riding our bikes whenever possible. (When we need to drive, we have a Prius.) It doesn't feel like a big deal. Perhaps, it was growing up in Vermont and spending most of my childhood outside that made me this way. Or living in Turkmenistan as a Peace Corps volunteer and seeing how it was possible (and in many ways, preferable) to get by on so little. Or maybe it is just having a child and wanting her to know that she is valued for who she is and what she does and not what she has. Who knows...

Lately, I've been feeling like we could do more though. That's how we discovered People's Power and Light which allows us to purchase all of our household electricity from local renewable resources including solar, wind, biomass, and small hydroelectric plants from New England. It doesn't even cost that much more-- 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour, or about 40 cents per day for the average home. The best part is it is 100% tax-deductible. Now doesn't that make you feel all warm and tingly inside?

Many states off similar programs. Contact your local electric company and see what they can do for you. After all, we hipsters know that green is the new black.



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