For a while now, I've been frustrated about how our country uses energy, and how we waste precious resources like oil, and mess up the environment. At the same time, I'm excited about what opportunities we have for energy conservation and renewable energy. So I started a website a while back called Oil is Dumb. There are lots of environmental-ish websites out there, but I found that they mostly offer tips and tricks for doing things to conserve energy or live greener, which is great. But guess what I also found out? Nobody does this stuff.
Okay, not nobody. But the more I looked into it, the difference between what people know and what people do amazed me. Our awareness of environmental issues, our energy use, and our waste of oil and the problems it causes, are at an all-time high. And yet research shows that if you ask people whether or not they're willing to do such-and-such in order to use less or change our ways, they say no. It's very strange. To me, it seems like there is a bigger problem. Something awareness can not fix. To me the problem is action. But I believe in people, and I think we can do it, we just need a push.
So here's what I'm gonna do: I am going to pay people money to take action.
I'm doing a monthly contest called a No-Brainer, where I pay people cash to do a simple thing like cancel their junk mail, or fill up their tires to the correct pressure. I research these things to make sure I'm focusing on the things that give the most impact for the least amount of effort. And so it's fun. My entire goal is to make this a sustainable business model, and then get people doing it. So that's what I'm trying to do.
My website is www.oilisdumb.com. I'll keep posting here to tell you more, and let you know how it's going.
Chuck Michelson
Writing from oil country in central Texas
No comments:
Post a Comment