November 29, 2023 • 24 mins
Ordinary appliances like the gas stove are considered harmless, but they're significant contributors to harmful emissions. This episode exposes the shocking influence of the gas and oil industry that has led us to favor gas stoves, even with their environmental and health impacts. I also delve into the alarming data about natural gas revenue and the water volume used in fracking.
But don't worry, it's not all doom and gloom! I'll offer you tangible ways to become a kitchen activist. Small changes, like opting for a toaster oven or a single burner induction cooktop instead of a gas stove, can make a difference in reducing air pollution and improving health.
Together, we can write a story of well-being for our home.
Be well,
Florencia
Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! Click Here to get started.
Join us inside the Kitchen Activist Collective. Learn more here.
Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
Reach me at info@eatlesswater.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome.
I'm glad you're here.
Together, we will turn ourshared concern about the state
of our environment into a forcefor change.
It will require you toreimagine the role of your home
kitchen as more than a warehouseof food or a room where we cook
and gather to eat.
The time has come to enter yourkitchen with eyes open to the
(00:24):
transformative power itharnesses for the planet and you
.
The home kitchen has alwaysbeen ground zero for positive
environmental and social change.
Waiting for you to take yourposition as a kitchen activist
Now that you arrived, you willchange the world with what you
(00:45):
eat.
Welcome, my name is Florenciaand I am so glad you're here to
(01:15):
learn with me ways that you andI can partner to make a
difference on this planet andfor our own health.
And today's podcast.
You're going to see just howlinked our human health with the
larger environmental healthwhen we talk about natural gas
(01:35):
the natural gas in our stoves.
If you already have an electricstove, you are way ahead of the
curve, but in the United States, 50% of kitchens have gas
stoves and in more populousstates like New York and
(01:55):
California and Illinois, thatnumber pushes up to 70%.
It is likely that you are, likeme, sitting in the group of
people that still has a gasstove.
One of the sections in my bookthe Kitchen Activists I'm
(02:16):
writing is on how to electrifyour kitchens.
I spend a lot of time talkingabout how to get fossil fuels
the leading contributor toclimate change off our plate.
So when we, for example,purchase from that organic or
regenerative farmer, we aretaking fossil fuels off our
(02:38):
plate, which is food overall isone of the largest greenhouse
gas emitters.
But one part that I haven'ttalked about at all, or really
done a deep dive myself into, isour appliances in our kitchen
and specifically our gas stoves.
When I was a child and the gasstove that we had in our kitchen
(03:02):
when I was growing up so thiswas back in the 70s and early
80s the house that we lived inhad an electric stove, and that
goes hand in hand with thestatistics that I found, because
in the 1970s only about 30% ofall homes had gas stoves at that
(03:25):
point.
But the gas and oil industryhas spent a lot of marketing
dollars and lobbying effort toget us away from electric stoves
.
For my mother, listening to herreasoning of why she wanted a
gas stove and then handing thatsame reasoning to me Was very
(03:50):
much cultivated by the marketingefforts.
That was incredibly successfulby gas and oil.
So things like the electricstove doesn't cook evenly.
That was something that my momwould say.
I don't know if it was reallybased on fact, but think about
how marketing campaigns areeffective.
Politicians do this too, whenthey say the same thing Over and
(04:14):
, over and over again, to thepoint that then you start to
believe it as truth.
So was it true?
I don't know.
I just know that it cooked allof our meals for many years just
fine, or there was also theaesthetic piece right, that it
just didn't look as good, or orthat it didn't have the same
(04:36):
Satisfaction at an electricstove that had the flat, you
know, top, versus a Gas stovewhere you see the flame, and
somehow the flame was moresatisfying than the flat Coils
that light up.
I can see it in my mind rightnow exactly what it was like,
because I would use it to cooktortillas right on the electric
(04:59):
Coil, which seemed to work well.
Back then, when I found myselfin a position to buy my own
stove, I Also bought the naturalgas stove, which is what I have
now in my kitchen.
So when we bought this housedidn't already have all the
(05:19):
setup for Electric, because youneed 220 volt for an electric
stove, which isn't already therefor you.
It's all piped in for naturalgas.
So the infrastructure of ourhomes at least older homes are
set up for us to continue thistrend of natural gas.
(05:40):
I came across this eye openingstatistic 68% of the revenue
generated by natural gas isdirectly resulting from our gas
stove.
So you could see why they'repushing back so hard Against
this wave that is inevitable forus to move away from natural
(06:04):
gas.
And the other thing aboutNatural gas, which is also part
of the marketing there's nothingnatural about this gas.
It turns out that Natural gasis, in fact, mostly methane gas.
Methane gas is A potentgreenhouse gas emitter.
(06:25):
Methane warms the climate atleast 80 times more 80 times
more than an equal amount ofcarbon dioxide over a 20 year
period.
Natural gas is mostly minedthrough hydraulic fracturing,
which we also call fracking.
And consider this one frackingwell uses 2.6 million gallons of
(06:52):
fresh water.
One fracking well and this isnot water that we can clean and
use again.
This is polluted with toxins.
Here, where I live in VenturaCounty, we have a tremendous
amount of fracking wells.
In fact, we have fracking wellsthat are situated right in the
(07:13):
center of strawberry fields, andI find it to be jarring.
But also it goes hand in hand,because it's all petroleum based
the strawberry fields that aretreated with petroleum through
chemicals of pesticides andfumigants and petroleum based
fertilizers, and then you have afracking drill happening as
(07:33):
well.
But then there's people onthose farms, farm workers, who
are ingesting not just thechemicals and toxins from
picking strawberries, but nowalso from the pollutants caused
from fracking.
There's more and more evidenceabout the pollutants generated
(07:56):
from fracking.
As much as the marketingcampaigns are telling us that
it's clean and it's safe, thereis more and more research to
tell us otherwise, of not justthe water pollution but also the
air pollution.
And then what does that mean inour house?
So let's move from the biggerpicture of what natural gas or
(08:21):
methane gas is doing to ourlarger community and how it's
impacting climate change inprofound and harmful ways.
What does that mean in ourhomes?
Well, the pollution is in ourhomes, in a place that is even
(08:42):
more impactful to our health,because our house is not well
ventilated and we're justingesting these particulates
that are coming out of ourstoves I'm talking about.
We need to cook more often, andevery time we're turning on
that stove or that oven, we areingesting harmful toxins, which
(09:06):
is unnecessary, and at the endof this podcast, I'm going to
give you some simple suggestionson how we can move away from
fossil fuels in our homes.
One out of every eight cases ofasthma in children in the United
States is directly caused by agas stove in their house.
(09:30):
That is just right there, justso telling of the harm it's
doing to our health.
Cooking more often should notbring more harm to our health,
but should be part of thesolution of building health, not
just for our planet, but alsofor ourselves and for our
(09:51):
families.
Every time we turn on theburner or heat up our oven, it
produces carbon dioxide, andit's estimated that gas stoves
collectively emit 6.8 milliontons of carbon dioxide each year
, which is equivalent to 1.9million cars.
(10:13):
A study by Stanford Universityshowed that our gas stoves are
also emitting unburned methanethrough leaks and incomplete
combustion, which just meansthat the firing didn't fully
complete.
So we have carbon dioxide, wehave methane emitting in our
(10:35):
homes and we also have nitrogendioxide.
They found that homes that have, gastroves have more than twice
the levels of nitrogen dioxide,which is a gas associated with
respiratory symptoms likewheezing, shortness of breath,
chest tightness, and it can beharmful for children with asthma
(10:58):
and, if not, causing asthma.
Another study found thatthere's elevated carbon monoxide
in the home with gastroves.
One study out of PortlandUniversity showed that carbon
monoxide readings were abovenine parts per million, which is
(11:18):
higher than the long-termexposure limit in the United
States.
Long-term levels of carbonmonoxide can cause fatigue and,
of course, are dangerous forpeople, and especially people
who have underlying healthissues already.
Ventilation can certainly helpwith this, but, for example, we
(11:41):
don't have a ventilation systemthat takes the air outside, so
instead it's just recirculatingtoxins inside the house.
So the ventilation system needsto be strong, it needs to be
powerful, it needs to be turnedon during the entire time of
(12:02):
cooking, plus 15 minutesafterwards.
Your windows need to be open,and that becomes less and less
likely when the weather becomescold outside, especially in some
areas where it gets very cold.
In the best case scenario, youhave a ventilation system that's
powerful, it's clean, it'sconnected to the outdoors, it's
(12:25):
on and it remains on for those15 minutes, and in those cases
it can remove up to 80% ofparticles, but if those
conditions are not met and noris there a lot of research to
tell us what is exactly powerfulventilation, then we are in
(12:47):
this scenario where we'recreating more and more air
pollution in our homes each timewe turn on the stove.
When I started thinking abouthow to electrify my kitchen, all
of this work for me comes fromthe larger perspective of how
can I improve the health of theenvironment.
(13:08):
So how can I move away fromfossil fuels, not just with my
shopping and the food that I'mbringing into the kitchen, but
also the way that I'm cooking,baking and roasting my food.
I started to do a deeper diveon this topic.
It gets me so mad about howincredibly harmful natural gas
(13:35):
is in our homes, whether it'sour fireplaces which, by the way
, I also have a natural gasfireplace and especially our
stoves, and I don't listen tothe pushback by the marketing
campaign that's happening fromoil and gas, because they have a
lot to lose with our switchoverto electric.
(13:57):
Just overall, it's just noise.
I'm looking at the research.
I know that I don't want fossilfuels.
I know fossil fuels are partare a huge contributor to
climate change, and if I'msomeone who is interested in
making a difference and being aclimate activist, a kitchen
(14:17):
activist, making a differencewith my daily habits and
routines in positive ways thatare going to build well-being
for this planet and for myself,then I don't care what the
marketing is from oil and gas.
I'm not going to listen to it,because I see the research, I
(14:38):
know the research, I know thatwe need to move away from
natural gas and what are waysthat we can do it, regardless of
where you are with your budgetto do so.
So let's talk about the actionsteps that we can take, that any
of us can take.
(14:58):
So, of course, the best thingwould be to just get an
induction stove.
The induction uses less energythan an electric stove and it is
more expensive than an electricstove.
But I have been watching theprices.
The prices are starting to godown little by little, and
especially now.
(15:18):
Right now is a time to buy anappliance during the holiday
season and in the pipeline.
As part of the InflationReduction Act, there is money
there for rebates up to $840 tomake the switch from a gas stove
to electric or induction stove.
(15:39):
But after doing hours ofresearch and making phone calls,
what I learned is that therebates are not available yet in
most states at least not inCalifornia because it is a
state-by-state thing.
So each state has to figure outhow exactly they're going to
(15:59):
coordinate these rebates.
So in my particular state, thatmoney is yet to be made
available, because the rebatewill be available immediately at
the point of sale.
So if you are going, say, toBest Buy or Home Depot to buy
(16:22):
your appliance right away, youshould get that rebate when it
is available.
But right now it is notavailable, and from someone who
I was talking to within thatindustry, I thought it would not
be available until sometime in2024, and maybe in 2025 even,
(16:42):
but it is something that will bein the future.
You also may be someone who isrenting, and so that's not a
possibility either.
So what can you do if you cannotbuy an induction stove?
So do you just say, well,forget it then.
No, there's plenty that we canstill do that is not as costly
(17:06):
but can make a difference, bothin a larger scheme of things of
reducing our dependence on oiland gas, but also for our own
human health in our homes toreduce that air pollution that
is, over time making us sick.
(17:28):
If it's not in your budget tobuy that induction cooktop, I
get it.
I'm right there with you.
What are other things we can doto electrify our kitchens in
more affordable ways, until itis the right time for us to make
that transition or the rebatesare made available?
(17:52):
So some ideas.
Instead of a toaster on yourcountertop, you can instead swap
that toaster that only does onething toast your bread and get
a toaster oven so we don't haveto turn on the oven to cook
(18:14):
small things.
There are toaster ovens thatare quite large that you can
cook even roasted chicken inthem, but for the most part,
when we turn the oven on, it'sfor things that are pretty small
.
Think about when you use youroven so you know what size
toaster oven you can use.
(18:35):
That's one thing.
Another would be to buy asingle burner induction cooktop.
I found one on Ikea called theTill Radha, which sells for
about $60.
What I like about it?
Because I'm always thinkingaround how much space we have in
(18:55):
our kitchens and most of usdon't have a tremendous amount
of space or extra space in ourpantries or on our countertops.
So what I like about this oneis it has a hook so you can hang
it up when it's not in use andthat is key right, so that you
have enough space to still chopand do all the other things that
(19:17):
you need to do on yourcountertop and then just bring
out the induction stove when youneed it.
So I really like the idea of asingle burner.
So that's another idea.
So electric toaster oven asingle burner.
Another is slow cookers instapots, rice cookers, electric
(19:41):
teapots, electric griddles Anyway that you can cook on an
electric appliance is better.
And again there's a space issue.
But there's many good productsout there I've been noticing
that do more than one thing.
Well, I think the rule of thumbbefore was, once you purchase
(20:06):
something that does more thanone thing, then it doesn't do
any of those things.
Well, I think that was true atone time, but it's not true
today.
The technology's gotten a lotbetter in these small appliances
that you can find good kitchenappliances that do four
different things.
I found one that is a slowcooker, a pressure cooker, a
(20:30):
rice cooker, plus it sautes.
I already have a slow cookerthat is using that amount of
space and I have a rice cooker.
So if I can get an all in oneand donate those other two
things.
I've actually gained space bydoing so.
Think about what is it that youcan use to electrify your
(20:55):
kitchen with these smallappliances and move away from
fossil fuels.
And right now is a good time tothink about it, as people are
asking you, what do you want forChristmas?
Cause I know my kids are askingme mom, what do you want for
Christmas?
And I don't know what to say tothat.
But now I do.
What I want for Christmas is atoaster oven and I want an all
(21:20):
in one slow cooker, pressurecooker, rice cooker simple fixes
to moving us away from fossilfuels, moving us away from using
our natural gas stoves as muchas possible.
Get those small electricappliances back into your
(21:44):
kitchen and minimize how muchyou're turning on that stove in
oven.
These are also good ideas forChristmas gifts for others too.
Think about getting your friendor family member who loves to
make tea an electric teapot.
I did that years ago and it'sso much easier.
(22:04):
I'm gonna leave you there.
I hope you're having a reallynice holiday and I hope I gave
you some good, simple actionsteps to think about and to help
you move away from natural gasand fossil fuels in your kitchen
.
So thank you so much, and I willbe back here next Wednesday.
(22:30):
Be well, let's stay connected.
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(22:53):
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Together, we will write thestory of wellbeing for this
planet we have the privilege tocall home.
(23:14):
Meet you back here everyWednesday.
There is power in thecollective.
Welcome.
I'm glad you're here.
Together, we will turn ourshared concern about the state
of our environment into a forcefor change.
It will require you toreimagine the role of your home
kitchen as more than a warehouseof food or a room where we cook
and gather to eat.
The time has come to enter yourkitchen with eyes open to the
(00:24):
transformative power itharnesses for the planet and you
.
The home kitchen has alwaysbeen ground zero for positive
environmental and social change.
Waiting for you to take yourposition as a kitchen activist
Now that you arrived, you willchange the world with what you
(00:45):
eat.
Welcome, my name is Florenciaand I am so glad you're here to
(01:15):
learn with me ways that you andI can partner to make a
difference on this planet andfor our own health.
And today's podcast.
You're going to see just howlinked our human health with the
larger environmental healthwhen we talk about natural gas
(01:35):
the natural gas in our stoves.
If you already have an electricstove, you are way ahead of the
curve, but in the United States, 50% of kitchens have gas
stoves and in more populousstates like New York and
(01:55):
California and Illinois, thatnumber pushes up to 70%.
It is likely that you are, likeme, sitting in the group of
people that still has a gasstove.
One of the sections in my bookthe Kitchen Activists I'm
(02:16):
writing is on how to electrifyour kitchens.
I spend a lot of time talkingabout how to get fossil fuels
the leading contributor toclimate change off our plate.
So when we, for example,purchase from that organic or
regenerative farmer, we aretaking fossil fuels off our
(02:38):
plate, which is food overall isone of the largest greenhouse
gas emitters.
But one part that I haven'ttalked about at all, or really
done a deep dive myself into, isour appliances in our kitchen
and specifically our gas stoves.
When I was a child and the gasstove that we had in our kitchen
(03:02):
when I was growing up so thiswas back in the 70s and early
80s the house that we lived inhad an electric stove, and that
goes hand in hand with thestatistics that I found, because
in the 1970s only about 30% ofall homes had gas stoves at that
(03:25):
point.
But the gas and oil industryhas spent a lot of marketing
dollars and lobbying effort toget us away from electric stoves
.
For my mother, listening to herreasoning of why she wanted a
gas stove and then handing thatsame reasoning to me Was very
(03:50):
much cultivated by the marketingefforts.
That was incredibly successfulby gas and oil.
So things like the electricstove doesn't cook evenly.
That was something that my momwould say.
I don't know if it was reallybased on fact, but think about
how marketing campaigns areeffective.
Politicians do this too, whenthey say the same thing Over and
(04:14):
, over and over again, to thepoint that then you start to
believe it as truth.
So was it true?
I don't know.
I just know that it cooked allof our meals for many years just
fine, or there was also theaesthetic piece right, that it
just didn't look as good, or orthat it didn't have the same
(04:36):
Satisfaction at an electricstove that had the flat, you
know, top, versus a Gas stovewhere you see the flame, and
somehow the flame was moresatisfying than the flat Coils
that light up.
I can see it in my mind rightnow exactly what it was like,
because I would use it to cooktortillas right on the electric
(04:59):
Coil, which seemed to work well.
Back then, when I found myselfin a position to buy my own
stove, I Also bought the naturalgas stove, which is what I have
now in my kitchen.
So when we bought this housedidn't already have all the
(05:19):
setup for Electric, because youneed 220 volt for an electric
stove, which isn't already therefor you.
It's all piped in for naturalgas.
So the infrastructure of ourhomes at least older homes are
set up for us to continue thistrend of natural gas.
(05:40):
I came across this eye openingstatistic 68% of the revenue
generated by natural gas isdirectly resulting from our gas
stove.
So you could see why they'repushing back so hard Against
this wave that is inevitable forus to move away from natural
(06:04):
gas.
And the other thing aboutNatural gas, which is also part
of the marketing there's nothingnatural about this gas.
It turns out that Natural gasis, in fact, mostly methane gas.
Methane gas is A potentgreenhouse gas emitter.
(06:25):
Methane warms the climate atleast 80 times more 80 times
more than an equal amount ofcarbon dioxide over a 20 year
period.
Natural gas is mostly minedthrough hydraulic fracturing,
which we also call fracking.
And consider this one frackingwell uses 2.6 million gallons of
(06:52):
fresh water.
One fracking well and this isnot water that we can clean and
use again.
This is polluted with toxins.
Here, where I live in VenturaCounty, we have a tremendous
amount of fracking wells.
In fact, we have fracking wellsthat are situated right in the
(07:13):
center of strawberry fields, andI find it to be jarring.
But also it goes hand in hand,because it's all petroleum based
the strawberry fields that aretreated with petroleum through
chemicals of pesticides andfumigants and petroleum based
fertilizers, and then you have afracking drill happening as
(07:33):
well.
But then there's people onthose farms, farm workers, who
are ingesting not just thechemicals and toxins from
picking strawberries, but nowalso from the pollutants caused
from fracking.
There's more and more evidenceabout the pollutants generated
(07:56):
from fracking.
As much as the marketingcampaigns are telling us that
it's clean and it's safe, thereis more and more research to
tell us otherwise, of not justthe water pollution but also the
air pollution.
And then what does that mean inour house?
So let's move from the biggerpicture of what natural gas or
(08:21):
methane gas is doing to ourlarger community and how it's
impacting climate change inprofound and harmful ways.
What does that mean in ourhomes?
Well, the pollution is in ourhomes, in a place that is even
(08:42):
more impactful to our health,because our house is not well
ventilated and we're justingesting these particulates
that are coming out of ourstoves I'm talking about.
We need to cook more often, andevery time we're turning on
that stove or that oven, we areingesting harmful toxins, which
(09:06):
is unnecessary, and at the endof this podcast, I'm going to
give you some simple suggestionson how we can move away from
fossil fuels in our homes.
One out of every eight cases ofasthma in children in the United
States is directly caused by agas stove in their house.
(09:30):
That is just right there, justso telling of the harm it's
doing to our health.
Cooking more often should notbring more harm to our health,
but should be part of thesolution of building health, not
just for our planet, but alsofor ourselves and for our
(09:51):
families.
Every time we turn on theburner or heat up our oven, it
produces carbon dioxide, andit's estimated that gas stoves
collectively emit 6.8 milliontons of carbon dioxide each year
, which is equivalent to 1.9million cars.
(10:13):
A study by Stanford Universityshowed that our gas stoves are
also emitting unburned methanethrough leaks and incomplete
combustion, which just meansthat the firing didn't fully
complete.
So we have carbon dioxide, wehave methane emitting in our
(10:35):
homes and we also have nitrogendioxide.
They found that homes that have, gastroves have more than twice
the levels of nitrogen dioxide,which is a gas associated with
respiratory symptoms likewheezing, shortness of breath,
chest tightness, and it can beharmful for children with asthma
(10:58):
and, if not, causing asthma.
Another study found thatthere's elevated carbon monoxide
in the home with gastroves.
One study out of PortlandUniversity showed that carbon
monoxide readings were abovenine parts per million, which is
(11:18):
higher than the long-termexposure limit in the United
States.
Long-term levels of carbonmonoxide can cause fatigue and,
of course, are dangerous forpeople, and especially people
who have underlying healthissues already.
Ventilation can certainly helpwith this, but, for example, we
(11:41):
don't have a ventilation systemthat takes the air outside, so
instead it's just recirculatingtoxins inside the house.
So the ventilation system needsto be strong, it needs to be
powerful, it needs to be turnedon during the entire time of
(12:02):
cooking, plus 15 minutesafterwards.
Your windows need to be open,and that becomes less and less
likely when the weather becomescold outside, especially in some
areas where it gets very cold.
In the best case scenario, youhave a ventilation system that's
powerful, it's clean, it'sconnected to the outdoors, it's
(12:25):
on and it remains on for those15 minutes, and in those cases
it can remove up to 80% ofparticles, but if those
conditions are not met and noris there a lot of research to
tell us what is exactly powerfulventilation, then we are in
(12:47):
this scenario where we'recreating more and more air
pollution in our homes each timewe turn on the stove.
When I started thinking abouthow to electrify my kitchen, all
of this work for me comes fromthe larger perspective of how
can I improve the health of theenvironment.
(13:08):
So how can I move away fromfossil fuels, not just with my
shopping and the food that I'mbringing into the kitchen, but
also the way that I'm cooking,baking and roasting my food.
I started to do a deeper diveon this topic.
It gets me so mad about howincredibly harmful natural gas
(13:35):
is in our homes, whether it'sour fireplaces which, by the way
, I also have a natural gasfireplace and especially our
stoves, and I don't listen tothe pushback by the marketing
campaign that's happening fromoil and gas, because they have a
lot to lose with our switchoverto electric.
(13:57):
Just overall, it's just noise.
I'm looking at the research.
I know that I don't want fossilfuels.
I know fossil fuels are partare a huge contributor to
climate change, and if I'msomeone who is interested in
making a difference and being aclimate activist, a kitchen
(14:17):
activist, making a differencewith my daily habits and
routines in positive ways thatare going to build well-being
for this planet and for myself,then I don't care what the
marketing is from oil and gas.
I'm not going to listen to it,because I see the research, I
(14:38):
know the research, I know thatwe need to move away from
natural gas and what are waysthat we can do it, regardless of
where you are with your budgetto do so.
So let's talk about the actionsteps that we can take, that any
of us can take.
(14:58):
So, of course, the best thingwould be to just get an
induction stove.
The induction uses less energythan an electric stove and it is
more expensive than an electricstove.
But I have been watching theprices.
The prices are starting to godown little by little, and
especially now.
(15:18):
Right now is a time to buy anappliance during the holiday
season and in the pipeline.
As part of the InflationReduction Act, there is money
there for rebates up to $840 tomake the switch from a gas stove
to electric or induction stove.
(15:39):
But after doing hours ofresearch and making phone calls,
what I learned is that therebates are not available yet in
most states at least not inCalifornia because it is a
state-by-state thing.
So each state has to figure outhow exactly they're going to
(15:59):
coordinate these rebates.
So in my particular state, thatmoney is yet to be made
available, because the rebatewill be available immediately at
the point of sale.
So if you are going, say, toBest Buy or Home Depot to buy
(16:22):
your appliance right away, youshould get that rebate when it
is available.
But right now it is notavailable, and from someone who
I was talking to within thatindustry, I thought it would not
be available until sometime in2024, and maybe in 2025 even,
(16:42):
but it is something that will bein the future.
You also may be someone who isrenting, and so that's not a
possibility either.
So what can you do if you cannotbuy an induction stove?
So do you just say, well,forget it then.
No, there's plenty that we canstill do that is not as costly
(17:06):
but can make a difference, bothin a larger scheme of things of
reducing our dependence on oiland gas, but also for our own
human health in our homes toreduce that air pollution that
is, over time making us sick.
(17:28):
If it's not in your budget tobuy that induction cooktop, I
get it.
I'm right there with you.
What are other things we can doto electrify our kitchens in
more affordable ways, until itis the right time for us to make
that transition or the rebatesare made available?
(17:52):
So some ideas.
Instead of a toaster on yourcountertop, you can instead swap
that toaster that only does onething toast your bread and get
a toaster oven so we don't haveto turn on the oven to cook
(18:14):
small things.
There are toaster ovens thatare quite large that you can
cook even roasted chicken inthem, but for the most part,
when we turn the oven on, it'sfor things that are pretty small
.
Think about when you use youroven so you know what size
toaster oven you can use.
(18:35):
That's one thing.
Another would be to buy asingle burner induction cooktop.
I found one on Ikea called theTill Radha, which sells for
about $60.
What I like about it?
Because I'm always thinkingaround how much space we have in
(18:55):
our kitchens and most of usdon't have a tremendous amount
of space or extra space in ourpantries or on our countertops.
So what I like about this oneis it has a hook so you can hang
it up when it's not in use andthat is key right, so that you
have enough space to still chopand do all the other things that
(19:17):
you need to do on yourcountertop and then just bring
out the induction stove when youneed it.
So I really like the idea of asingle burner.
So that's another idea.
So electric toaster oven asingle burner.
Another is slow cookers instapots, rice cookers, electric
(19:41):
teapots, electric griddles Anyway that you can cook on an
electric appliance is better.
And again there's a space issue.
But there's many good productsout there I've been noticing
that do more than one thing.
Well, I think the rule of thumbbefore was, once you purchase
(20:06):
something that does more thanone thing, then it doesn't do
any of those things.
Well, I think that was true atone time, but it's not true
today.
The technology's gotten a lotbetter in these small appliances
that you can find good kitchenappliances that do four
different things.
I found one that is a slowcooker, a pressure cooker, a
(20:30):
rice cooker, plus it sautes.
I already have a slow cookerthat is using that amount of
space and I have a rice cooker.
So if I can get an all in oneand donate those other two
things.
I've actually gained space bydoing so.
Think about what is it that youcan use to electrify your
(20:55):
kitchen with these smallappliances and move away from
fossil fuels.
And right now is a good time tothink about it, as people are
asking you, what do you want forChristmas?
Cause I know my kids are askingme mom, what do you want for
Christmas?
And I don't know what to say tothat.
But now I do.
What I want for Christmas is atoaster oven and I want an all
(21:20):
in one slow cooker, pressurecooker, rice cooker simple fixes
to moving us away from fossilfuels, moving us away from using
our natural gas stoves as muchas possible.
Get those small electricappliances back into your
(21:44):
kitchen and minimize how muchyou're turning on that stove in
oven.
These are also good ideas forChristmas gifts for others too.
Think about getting your friendor family member who loves to
make tea an electric teapot.
I did that years ago and it'sso much easier.
(22:04):
I'm gonna leave you there.
I hope you're having a reallynice holiday and I hope I gave
you some good, simple actionsteps to think about and to help
you move away from natural gasand fossil fuels in your kitchen
.
So thank you so much, and I willbe back here next Wednesday.
(22:30):
Be well, let's stay connected.
Sign up for my newsletter andreceive more tips in your inbox
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Shop.
You can also find me on yourfavorite social media space.
At Eat Less Water, pleaseremember to hit subscribe and
(22:53):
leave a review, even if it'sonly the star rating, because
every one of them will increasethe chances of other like-minded
folks to find us.
Thank you for joining me onthis journey to Eat Less Water.
Together, we will write thestory of wellbeing for this
planet we have the privilege tocall home.
(23:14):
Meet you back here everyWednesday.
There is power in thecollective.
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