I've been thinking about how some of the easiest changes can make a significant impact on energy conservation in the long term. For instance, I finally bought my own plastic coffee cup at Starbucks to reuse each time I go there. An added benefit is that I save 10 cents each time I buy coffee. Given the prices of $3.00-$4.00 each time, that will definitely add up to a cost-saving benefit as well. I wondered though, why did it take me so long to do this? I simply clean it out after I use it and carry it in my bag each day--big deal. When you count up all of the disposable paper cups and plastic cups that Stabucks and other coffee chains go through each day, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this adds up to a lot of energy consumption each day. Why don't these chains push people to buy reusable cups more? I like the fact that in Brazil, the consumers do not want to use the paper cups of Starbucks; they want to use ceramic mugs. Why is our culture so into the disposable? I guess it's because most of us are too busy to use a container that we have to give back; we want to buy our coffee on the go. That's where my resuable container comes in handy, since it is a travel cup. The other problem, though, is that we love our drivethru's, which makes it difficult to use our own containers. Can we actually park our cars and walk inside? If our ancestors could only see what conveniences we are reluctant to do without, they would cringe. It seems to me, though, that if we just adjust our living to inconvenience ourselves slightly at this point, we can perhaps prevent having to endure many hardships and greater inconveniences in the future, as energy consumption will surely have to become more limited.