Small steps can help

Dear Editor:

I am a Canadian, born 92 years ago in Toronto. In the 1950s my family and I learned from writers such as Rachel Carson, Thomas Malthus and Charles Darwin that the natural world needed our attention.

Besides overpopulation, we in the north were overusing natural resources. The problem has not been fixed, and has become worse.

Our small family once had two cars. We soon learned how much better to use mass transit. We sold our cars – a relief. Unfortunately for some, transit is not convenient or cheap to use.

My handyman husband built a small solar collector of wood, glass and metal pipe, connected it to a tank in the basement, and placed it in our front yard. It gave all the hot water we needed for dishes, laundry, and bathing from April to October. Undoubtedly there are kits and patterns for building a solar collector.

New buildings should be situated for solar heating, with no windows on the north or east sides at this latitude.

Helen Hansen,
Guelph