Let’s face it.  Until we admit we have a problem we won’t make any progress.  Our feeble attempts to cut back or even our best-intentioned half-measures to compensate for energy mismanagement will merely serve to camouflage the real problem. Time is not on our side. We are hurting our families, our communities, our environment and ourselves, yet we seem powerless to stop.  To me this the true definition of unbridled addiction.

Ad-dic-tion: [uh-dik-shuhn] – The state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, which creates an abnormal craving to such an extent that those under its influence are powerless to resist.

By the way, under Roman Law ‘addiction’ was a legal term and the  justification and authorization for slavery – something to contemplate perhaps.

As a nation we are addicted to an uncontrollable hunger for energy and water, and moral arguments aside, we are the epitomy of climate abusers. Here’s our solution.  Start your own inter-group using a 12-Step format for Recovery.  We’ve even come up with a name, Climate Abusers Anonymous (CAA).  We are not cured, but we are in recovery and making progress in our homes and lives.  Here are the Steps we took:

Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over our wasteful energy consumption and that our lifestyles (and the buildings we lived within) had become unmanageable.

Step 2: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves (the DOE, EPA, DEQ, USGBC, etc.) could restore us to sanity.  (We replaced our inefficient HVAC systems, built cisterns, radically cut down on vehicle miles, planted trees, etc.)

Step 3:  Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our Higher Power as we understood him/her/it. (Pick  wind, solar, wave, mass transit, high efficiency HVACs or any other water-saving, energy-conserving, GHG emissions reduction process as an option.)

Step 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and promised to determine and improve our carbon footprint.

Step 5:  Admitted to our Higher Power (again, the Sun, CFLS , Solar PV, Wind or a Deity of your choice all work here), to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs (which may include SUVs, 30 minute showers, joy-riding, excessive consumption, turf grass, old refrigerators, etc.).

Step 6: Were entirely ready to have our Higher Power (or reigning municipality) remove all these defects of character by (a)  benchmarking our excesses, (b) weatherproofing our building envelopes (c) replacing incandescents with LEDs, CFLs and daylight, (d) using natural ventilation and (e) living with a little thermal discomfort a few days a year (f) using only certified building products, materials and consumer goods (g) consuming only what we need (h) buying local and (i) following general sustainability principles to the best of our ability and (j) spreading the word.

Step 7:  Humbly asked that our environmental shortcomings and over-consuming behaviors be revealed to us, then removed and replaced with better green impulses, healthier habits and climate-friendly practices.

Step 8:  Reviewed the list of endangered species and became willing to make amends to them all by becoming energy-conscious, environmentally responsible and striving to be an improved global citizen.

Step 9:  Made direct amends to such creatures wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.  (Please don’t pet the whales, feed the wolves/bears or befriend chimps as a good start.)

Step 10:  Continued to take personal inventory, and when we slipped, parked the car, turned down the thermostat and immediately tried to correct whatever aberrant impulse had empowered such a behavior.

Step 11:  Sought through reading, education and meditation to create an improved relationship with the earth and our environment.

Step 12:  Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we will try to carry this message to other climate abusers and to practice these sustainability principles in all our affairs.

We’ll take our tongue out of our check for now, but  it’s not a bad idea for each of us to consider Step 4.   Performing a ’searching and fearless moral inventory’ of our personal carbon footprint – both as management and residents – can help us all improve our energy and water use.

Feel free to print this out, email it to your friends, republish it at will (as long as you provide this link: http://greenlandlady.com) and tell me what you think.  In the meantime, may the Force be with you.

Note to readers:  This spoof on the AA steps is intended to create a format for reversing climate change and is not an attempt to belittle, degrade or ridicule the AA program or any other AA-principles based group.