To Microwave Or To Not Microwave

Our microwave blew up about six or eight weeks ago and we now have the dilemma of wether to replace it or not. Personally, I have not missed it but our number one and only son has, mainly as he likes to reheat leftovers.

So I am sort of going backwards and forwards between yes we should, and no we shouldn’t replace it. I just can’t seem to justify buying one for a few reasons. I can think of other things to spend my money on for starters, and I am in the middle of reading Depletion and Abundance by Sharon Astyk and am thinking more about the energy we are using and how to reduce our consumption. Buying another microwave, another appliance, isn’t probably the way to go.

I do already think a lot about our energy consumption, we turn lights off when we don’t need them, most things get turned off at the wall, the oven even gets turned off at the meter box because it is inside and we don’t need the digital display on. We have solar hot water and when we do buy appliances we try and get the most efficient one we can afford, we are currently researching front loader washing machines to replace our top loader, though mainly because they use less water.

We just can’t keep on using up our resources willy nilly with no thought to the future, and I agree with Sharon Astyk that we need to find better ways to do things, to live a gentler life but not necessarily the way we are now. We are currently trying to find ways to create energy to replace the fossil fuels so we can keep on living the way we are now, but that is just not sustainable and probably not possible.

See how much plastic is in my freezer? And I don't like plastic and try not to use it but look at this.

If you think about all the things that we use, for example, oil for, it is frightening how reliant we are on it. Not just to put fuel in our vehicles, but all the plastic in our lives, take a look around your house and see how many things are made of or partly made of plastic. That is only a small part of it too, once you look into it the whole issue is just so huge, but most of us barely give it a thought.

Is this the alternative? Not convenient for everyone though.

So what is the alternative to microwaves? I know a lot of people use them all the time, but we don’t cook in ours except for rice, and rice actually cooks better on the stove top in my opinion. So we have been using the gas stove top more, which isn’t exactly using less energy but is not buying another appliance.

Our number one and only son is also learning to eat some things cold, that you don’t always have to heat stuff up. For example, cold pizza for breakfast is good, homemade of course, and custard doesn’t always have to be warm, ours is only warm after we have made it.

So I will continue to think on the microwave dilemma and by the time I have decided we probably won’t have missed it for a long time. So for now we will keep on looking for alternatives, like a hot water bottle instead of a wheat bag, using water heated on the fire and then the next day emptied onto the garden.

ON OTHER MATTERS

There is an electricity shortage in China due to their coal plants shutting down generators because of finacial problems. They are already looking at power shortages anyway, so this will make it worse, guess they are already looking for the alternatives.

I found this article an interesting read about the world population and the economy, gives you something to think about (not that we don't already have enough).

It is now widely reported that there are bugs out there that are resistant to anti-biotics and we are heading into a future where anti-biotics will be useless for us. This article is about how the use of ant-biotics being given to animals that we eat is partly to blame for this.