The Lazy Conservationist's Way to Save Energy

My husband poked his head in at my office door.

"What the heck are you doing down there?" he asked.

"I'm (mmfff!) trying to get my computer plugged back in, " came my muffled reply from amongst the tangle of wires and dust kittens inhabiting the dark recesses under my desk.

"Oh," he said, coolly leaning back against the door frame to observe my contortions. "You really don't have to do that, you know."

"Of course I do!" I replied indignantly, wiping a strand of cobweb from my eye. I glared at him. He knows as well as I do that the average American household could save up to 10% of their power bill each year - and reduce the amount of carbon pumped into the atmosphere - just by unplugging appliances when they're not in use.

"Cool your jets," he said smugly. "Why don't you just clear a path to that?"

"To what?" He seemed to be pointing to a blank wall.

"To the ground fault interruptor," he enunciated, in that tone of voice usually reserved for kindergarteners.

I peered past my stacks of books at the wall. There was some sort of electrical plate on the wall.

"Just push that in," he said, indicating a little button on the plate, "and it'll turn off the power to the entire circuit."

"Oh," I replied, heaving myself up from below. "Yeah. Thanks. I will."

He sauntered off to the kitchen, rolling his eyes.

Infuriating.

But as usual, he was right.

It really can be easy being green.