As I write, I am listening to a television news report about the price of gas on Nantucket reaching $5.00 a gallon! When most of our clients began driving, the cost of a fill- up was $1.50.

Rapidly rising energy prices are causing great concern for everyone – even for folks who do not drive – since they affect the cost of virtually everything else we buy. This is as true for organizations such as NSES as it is for individuals and families. At NSES, we are taking serious steps to conserve our use of energy, which leads to cost efficiencies as well as being good for the environment.

Recently, our landlord replaced all the light fixtures in our office with energy-efficient lighting. Not only are we realizing savings of about $1,000 a month in our electric bill, our employees now have brighter and more attractive work areas. Next time it’s time to buy replacement bulbs at your home, we encourage all our clients and their families to purchase “Energy Star” compact fluorescent ones.

We are also conserving in other ways, too. Thanks to one of our neighbors, The Law Offices of Michael T. Eramo, we are now being paid to recycle our paper. Attorney Eramo arranged for a “paper retriever” to be placed in our parking lot from AbitibiBowater, one of the largest recyclers in the world. They now pay us for our recycled papers and magazines! If you would like to contribute your papers to the effort, call us for details 978-750-4540.

There is an additional recycling endeavor we support, Helping Hands of America, which receives donated cars, trucks, and boats on behalf of the meals-on-wheels program. They will take away your old vehicle free of charge and you receive a tax deduction and the satisfaction of knowing that you are supporting an essential service for thousands of frail elders. For more information, contact 1-888-881-9090; be sure to mention that you would like your donation to go to Meals-on-Wheels.

We can’t do much about the cost of gas or limit our use of paper or have our employees work in the dark. What we can do is be as vigilant as possible with the resources we do use and be helpful citizens by being environmentally sensitive. As Kermit the Frog would say, “Being green is good.”