With damages from the earthquake, Japan currently has very limited electricity. As a countermeasure, the government has approved a planned blackout to avoid real, more damaging blackouts throughout the country. Regions are taking turns dealing with cyclical blackouts to save electricity. The 23 wards of Tokyo which uses 30% of the nations' electricity was excluded due to the economic impact it would have. I live in the central ward - one of the 23 wards that won't be facing any outages.
地震の影響で制限されている東日本の電力。対策として只今計画停電が実施されている。私は、対象外の23区に住んでいるので影響無し。でも、茅ヶ崎に住むおばあちゃん、横浜に住むいとこ、２３区外に住んでいる友達は４月末まで定期的な停電生活を送る。
Reasonable, but a bit unfair. My grandma who lives about an hour from Tokyo is living through the blackout, so are my other family and friends. Last night, when this announcement was made on the news I saw somebody tweeting that even though they live in the 23 wards where there will be no blackouts, she would pretend that she was an participate in a cyclical outage. Thinking this was a great idea, I have decided to have my very own planned blackout as well.
23区での停電は経済的インパクトが大きすぎる。分かるけどちょっとアンフェアだなと思いながらニュースを見ていた。そんな時に、ツイッターである呟きが目に入った、「23区在住だけど、自分が無理なく参加できるグループの時間帯に自主停電してみようかな……」これを読んで、私も自分の計画停電を実施することにした。
So today I am working in the dark. Daylight to get by during the day, and the light from my PC to get through the night.
なので、今は、真っ暗の中で作業中。
日中は、外の明かり、夜はパソコンの明かり。
Who needs light when you've got a PC? Save light for those that truly need it.
パソコンさえあれば明かりなんていらないじゃん。
本当に必要な人に分けよう。
Ok I admit, I'm not in a complete blackout since I have to charge my PC. But once it's charged, I can leave it unplugged for about 5 hours. Plus, compared to the amount of electricity I normally use, this is great improvement. I'm giving myself a break.
パソコンをチャージしているから完全な停電状態ではないけど、一回チャージしたら５時間持つし、普段に比べたらずいぶん節電しているはず。
I really haven't been the most environmentally friendly person and have never had the consciousness to save energy. But hey, it's not so bad. I learned the importance of awareness and the importance of having a "trigger" to start something.
基本的に何も節約できない私。やってみたら意外と大丈夫だった。きっかけと意識って本当に大事。
I hope that one of these days, I'll be able to make decisions without these "triggers," but for now I'll accept me for me and do my best to change a little for the better everyday.
きっかけが無くても良いことを出来る人になりたいけど、今はこう言う自分を受け入れて少しずつ変わって行こう。
