There are at least four things that I can think of right off hand that almost nobody in America does any more. They're all things that your grandparents, and in my case my parents, did because they lived through the Depression, and remembered when energy wasn't "free." Then along came the 1950s and 1960s, and Americans got in the bad habit of thinking of everybody else in the world's natural resources as ours for free. Which still wasn't reason enough to stop doing some of these things and go the other way; I'll probably never understand why some of these things happened. And they're all things that tick me off every time I walk by or into a house or apartment that doesn't do them, at least a little bit. I try not to be judgmental, I know that I myself am greatly ignorant in many areas, but some of these things strike me as so stupid not to do that I weep for my country that we don't all do them. Oh, and by the way? They all reduce "greenhouse gases." They also all reduce "throwing away blood and treasure that this country can't afford after an ill-considered land war in Asia." No matter why you should do them, can't we all just agree to do them?

Ceiling Fans: Except for maybe surgical operating rooms and other clean rooms, it ticks me off to walk into any room, anywhere, and not see a ceiling fan running. This is especially true when the building was built prior to 1950, because I know full well that that room had a ceiling fan at some point and some idiot ripped it out for no good reason. I know that it would cost as little as $25 per room to put one in, less than a c-note for a good one. And run full time, a modern ceiling fan will pay for itself in less than a year, not even counting what's going to happen to energy prices this year. Let me run through this one more time, because I am constantly reminded that there are people to whom this isn't obvious. All winter long, nearly all of your heating bill is spent heating the ceiling. Most of the benefit you're getting out of running your furnace comes from what little heat radiates down off of the ceiling; no wonder your feet are cold. Every time I bring this up, somebody says, "but I don't want a fan blowing on me in the winter." Really? Even if it's blowing warm air? And all summer long, half or more of the cold air that your air conditioner pumps out never gets any higher up than your knees, never gets up to the core area of your trunk where it's needed the most. So to solve this problem, you freeze the lower half of the room, so that eventually some of air where you actually live radiates its heat into it. No, really: from about November to April, you should have a ceiling fan at all times blowing hot air down off of the ceiling, and from April to November, that same ceiling fan should be running the opposite direction to bring cold air up off of the floor. Not only will this make your furnace and air conditioner run so much more efficiently that your energy bill will go way down, it'll make the center part of the room so much more comfortable that you may well find that you can stand to turn your furnace down 3 degrees or more, and your air conditioner up 3 degrees or more, without sacrificing a lick of comfort. (And that's on top of the extra 1 to 2 degrees of perceived warmth you can get all winter long by running a humidifier, but most people I know do that nowadays.) I'm not asking you to be miserable to save money or the environment, I'm asking you to make yourself more comfortable to save money or the environment -- why doesn't everybody do this already?

Window Awnings: When I was a kid, almost all residential houses except in the wealthiest neighborhoods still had metal awnings over every window except for ones sheltered by porches or very, very deep eaves. Then over the course of my childhood, virtually everybody in America tore theirs down, and I will never understand why. I mean, never mind that it's a one-time investment of a couple or a couple dozen bucks per window to almost never have to clean the outside of your windows again, because they keep the rain and the dust off -- they keep the rain and the dust out, too, which means you that you can actually open your windows without being afraid of the rain. But then comes the part where this is also about saving a ton of money and/or a ton of greenhouse gas emissions: shade. A proper window awning factors in your latitude, so you get winter sun, but not summer sun, which saves you a small fortune on your air conditioning bill even if you don't open the windows in the spring and fall. Seriously, what is not to like about awnings?

"Weedy" Trees: I know I'm going to catch some grief for this one from people who know what they're talking about, but hear me out. Although I will say, ironically, that if you live in St. Louis, at least that I know of, I may not have to tell you about this one after all; this is enough of a peculiarly St. Louis vice/virtue that some of you may well be doing it: plant fast-growing deciduous (leafy) softwoods like sugar maples, sweet gums, Bradford pears, or Tree of Heaven (the proverbial tree that "Grows in Brooklyn"). What these trees all have in common is that from one end of North America to the other, on any ground with full sun almost no matter how bad the soil is or how little water there is, they grow like weeds. We're talking 10' tall from a 2' sapling in 2 years, 30' tall in little more than that, topping out at 60' to 80' tall almost before you know it, with no care in particular on your part. Plant one each on the east and west sides of your home if your windows aren't already in the shade all day, and as many as 2 or 3 on the south side of the house, well back from the sidewalk or road and away from the house itself. Now I'd better give you the reason why some botanists and foresters are going to scream bloody murder at me for telling you this, and you if you do it. These trees only live about 40 to 60 years. Then you're stuck with a 60' tree that has to be taken down by a professional tree-trimmer with a crane, before some storm brings it down on your house. Big hairy deal. How much residential property do Americans live on any more that doesn't get bulldozed and rebuilt every 40 to 60 years, anyway? And even if it does have to come down, how many greenhouse gas emissions will it save, and how much money will it save, over those four to six decades of giving you beautiful shade that cools your entire yard, including the house, by around 10 degrees Fahrenheit all summer long without cooling it at all in the winter? More than enough to pay the tree trimming company, I'm thinking. And the beauty of this, as documented (with a note of unnecessary alarm) in Sunday's New York Times, is that research shows that unlike a lot of other plants, these are the exactly the kind of "weedy" or "trash" trees that will actually grow faster and better the more that you need them! (See Tom Christopher, "Can Weeds Help Solve the Climate Crisis?," New York Times, 6/29/08.)

Attic Fans: This technology was perfected during the Depression era, when almost every home in the suburbs had one; then as soon as air conditioners came around, every idiot in the country ripped his out. And oddly, I say "perfected" during the Depression only loosely, because we have the basic engineering knowledge now to make ones that are even better than the ones my parents, your grandparents, used during hot weather, but good luck finding one at all. It's nothing but a large, low-to-medium speed fan placed in the ceiling of the center of the top floor of the house, aimed to suck air up out of the house, into the attic, and out through the attic vent(s). This lets you take advantage of how much cooler the air is outside than in (remember, now that you've actually got shade, easily 10 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the rest of the city) and pull it into the house at good, steady breeze speeds through every window in the house simultaneously. Older ones are a bit noisy; we know more about building quiet, high efficiency fans these days than my grandparents' generation did. And you would be absolutely amazed how late into the summer you can go, on a shady lot, with an attic fan and room ceiling fans going, without turning the air conditioning on even once. Yes, even if the humidity is high; the cool air coming up off the floor and in through the windows will still dry you off so fast, your mind will boggle, at a tiny fraction of the cost of your air conditioner.

So, "save the planet." "Save endangered species." Save however many thousands of American soldiers' lives fighting in wars we could ignore if we didn't need to import so much oil. Save a ton of money we're not going to have any time soon. If I'm wrong about us not having the money, save a ton of money you can spend on stuff that's more fun -- or at the very least, that you can spend on the doctor bills or mortgage that are bankrupting you. I don't care why you do these things, can't we at least agree to do them?

Bonus: Close some doors. It saves less than the examples above, and it involves the aggravation of training yourself, your roommates, and/or your kids, but it saves more than you might think: get fanatic about closing cabinets and closets and keeping them closed. Why spend good money (and generate extra CO₂) heating or air conditioning a closet full of towels or a cabinet full of canned vegetables?