Paper Packaging Devours South-Eastern Forests. New AC Stats.

Cypress Swamp--Merchant's Mill Pond
North Carolina State Park
Natural Monument
"KFC's paper packaging is directly contributing to the destruction of our Southern forests.  While other fast food chains are working hard to use less, use more recycled paper, and ensure that their paper packaging is not coming from the world’s endangered forests, KFC continues to make its famous buckets from the few remaining special places in our region.

KFC is one of the major purchasers from International Paper, the largest paper company in the world and a company notorious for business-as-usual destructive forest management practices such as large-scale clear cutting, conversion of natural forests to plantations, and reliance on toxic chemicals in forest management."    More at: http://dia.dogwoodalliance.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2817
___________________
What is going to be left for the kids?

"The forests, which span from Delaware through the Carolinas to Georgia, are extremely rich in biodiversity; scientists have catalogued over two-thousand terrestrial species, including thirty-two endemic species. Probably the most famous endemic species is the Venus flytrap; this strange carnivorous plant is native to an area only 10 by 100 square miles in North Carolina.
The report employed market research to establish a few of the larger corporations that are degrading southern forests for paper packaging, including fast food companies like KFC, McDonalds, Buffalo Wild Wings, Starbucks, and Taco Bell; other non-food producing corporations include Unilever, L'Oreal, Wal-mart, Glaxo-Smith, Schering Plough Corporation, General Mills, and Costco."       
More at: http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0210-dogwood_hance.html
_______________________

Today:

I don't know I ever did it, when I bought that used AC, I never buy used appliances.  Especially air conditioners, as I worry about the animals in the house.  But someone needed the money, and I wanted to take the new 5,000 BTU out, and put it in the HiLo that we were remodeling. 
I didn't have time to go into the next town, so I bought the used 8,000 BTU to help them out, until I could get a new one, but procrastinated, and it cost me dearly.
It was a good thing we took that older, larger AC out of the window yesterday when we did.  This heat was making it work so hard that the cord was quite warm to the touch.   The compressor would stay on for hours and never shut off, that is why I had my highest light bill ever.  I always felt clammy, so I knew it wasn't working right, and it was time to replace it.

The new smaller 6,500 BTU AC is working out fine.  I don't feel sticky any more, as it is dehumidifying like it is supposed to.  The compressor cycles on and off, plus it is several degrees cooler in here.  It has an energy rating of 10.7 EER.
I read my electric meter at the same time as yesterday.  I have been careful to use only the same things, with the same routine as usual.  The weather temperatures have just about been the same, and yet I have used a lot less electricity.  They are improving the energy ratings of appliances all the time, so it doesn't pay to buy used.

It all adds up, and it works out to having used $2.40 less today.