Sustainability Post #1

My definition of sustainability is, "The ability of a community or the world to be able to keep running on its own power if all outside sources fail." This means that a society can provide its own food and energy for a substantial amount of time without destroying our planet.
My family is not very great at conserving energy. We regularly have our lights on and they only go off when there are termites or during the night. We remind each other to save electricity but still don't turn out the lights if no one is in a room. Recently, my family has started recycling cans and glass or plastic products. At times it seems like it just isn't worth the labor of sorting them and taking them to the recycling trucks but its not all about the money. For water usage, we try to turn off the tap when brushing our teeth or when it is not being used but we could still lessen our showering time. For traffic I think that my family is doing quite well. We live very close to Punahou so almost everyday we walk down the hill instead of driving. We have been trying to eat healthier and add more vegetables and fruits into our meals but there is always room for more broccolis! My mom also usually buys her fruit from the farmers market in Manoa marketplace and we grow our own bananas, papayas and citrus fruits.
The two areas of improvement picked are energy and water. I picked these because they are the two with the most area for improvement. I also picked these because energy if such an easy thing that you can improve but no one really looks into it. I also chose water because Hawaii is getting desperate to lessen water usage, as it is a pure source that is beginning to diminish. To improve my energy use I will enforce turning off lights in unattended rooms and also unplugging appliances that are not being used. I could also set up a day once a month or once a week to we live in old times with no energy. As for water consumption I will set time limits for showers, dry laundry outside instead of in a dryer and regulate plant-watering times. If everyone in my family agrees with these terms we can start a new household sustainable way of living.