Hello

This blog is born out of guilt, cheapness, and an innate curiosity of how one household can try to do things a little greener, a little better, and a little differently from the rest of the herd. Over the next few years, my husband and I are attempting to see how far into the “green” pool we can venture, without giving up our meat consuming, gadget loving, inquisitive ways. The adventure of being newly married as well as new homeowners (of a rather old home), seemed to not be enough of a challenge, we want to see what other stresses we can add to our life! – Please, please let the fates read the sarcasm inherent in that sentence!

I suppose I should explain the name of this blog… one other option was Geeks going Green, but to be fair, only my husband counts as a geek. I’m a died in the wool Nerd, will be until the day they pry my D20 out of my cold stiff fingers. Is there a difference,I hear you ask? Of course! My husband (true geek that he is) is in the beginning stage of going over to solar energy. We already camp with solar panels, its only a matter of time until they are integrated into our home. Why? Is it the love of the planet? The guilt over our countries vast consumption of fossil fuels? The desire to be a greener and happier person?

Nah. It’s the toys. The thrill of wiring minuscule parts and pieces together, sparks flying, and the muttered “It’s Alive!” as the panels flicker on for the first time. Well, that and the money that can be saved in the long run. We’ll ignore the money being spent in the meantime, k? That… is the essence of the green geek. A nerd, now… we’re a different bird altogether. Nerds plant trees (after studying the effects of fir verses poplar in the urban environment, of course.) and recycle… not out of some need to prove themselves. No, we do it out of the sneaking suspicion that when Momma Nature finally makes a house call… we want to be able to slip on our elf ears and firmly blame man! We’re well read hippies, too educated – read cheap- to go to a megamart and pay 19.99 a pound for dried organic banana chips… we’ll search the Internet to find a connection with a boat out of South America and dry the dang things ourselves! (Possibly selling the finished product to the yippies of the world.)

I’m taking this year to publicly put my efforts out there for all to inspect and critique. I’ll be honest when I fail – cause let’s face it, failures are at least funny. I’ll let you know what we’ve tried – what works, what doesn’t, and what isn’t worth the time it took to type up. Maybe at the end of this a few of you will have joined me in being naturally nerds… or at least slipped into the pool of the greening geek. Come on…. Where else will you find the greenhouse effect being compared, point by point, to the Evil Empire? (Granted, that will be the week my husband guest blogs.) Or the use of AD&D in effectively promoting recycling?