In the past few days, I've started to see a lot of differences in how much energy I consume versus how much my Ugandan counterparts consumer. In another idea from Tom Friedman’s book, he talks about how people around the world aspire to live the “American lifestyle.” The expansion of the global middle class is a testament to that. The issue is, Americans use more energy per person than any other country on the globe.
As an American in a country with an energy shortage, I’ve grown acutely aware of how much electricity I use. I have to charge my laptop, my iPhone if I want to listen to music and call my parents, my lantern, my Ugandan phone, my camera, etc etc etc. I can’t think about how my host family’s electricity bill is going to go up because of me.
I’ve also realized how much stuff I have. My host mother told me that I had the most bags out of any intern she had ever seen. Did I really need to take my iPad with me? Did I really need to take all these clothes? It’s become my new goal to reduce my bags from three down to two, so hopefully I won’t struggle on my way home!
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