64. Redirect light away from your house with a cool roof.

The best time to fix your roof is when the sun is shining” -JFK (1962) 

Makes sense… but it’s also the hottest and brightest time to do the work. Maybe we can re-word it to suggest:

‘The best time to fix your roof is between dusk and dawn during a full moon… AND then, while fixing it, ‘Redirect light away from your house with a cool roof’? - Future You (2023)

To help you ‘Redirect light away from your house with a cool roof’ here’s a simple 2-step process:

1. Get yourself a cool roof.
2. When friends walk by, get them to say, Hey, cool roof!

Your Future You wants to remind you there are three ways to redirect light:

1. Mirrors
2. Invisibility Cloaks*
3. Cool roof!

*The invisibility cloak, is almost ready (will we be able to see it once it works?)

P.S. - It’s been reported that Corporate Housing Companies help you ‘Redirect light away from your house with a cool roof’ by… (stay with us here) directing light from the sun (and away from your house’s coof roof) indirectly into your eyes by enticing you to focus on cool interior furnished houses so this light energy attracts and directs your eyes to track that nifty pull-out sofa you can use when guests come to visit. Phew! Oof. Okay. Maybe next time, we can just say, Corporate Housing Companies don’t ‘Redirect light away from your house with a cool roof’, so just appreciate you can see cool roofs.  

P.P.S. - We would also like to go on the record that adding a cool roof to your house pushes the limit of ‘simple’ in ‘Simple Sustainable Actions.’ 

Why does this ‘Future You’ Series exist? What’s it about?  

1. Promote easy, quirky sustainable practices that are NOT preachy, or guilt-ridden and without a focus on the ‘saving the planet’ (hint: the planet is going to survive no matter what we do). 

2. A playful post of simple ways to sorta improve our lives, and the lives of those we love. Also improve our future lives… by taking playful action today. 

3. Still reading? Cool. We think you’re amazing and full of joyful zest. 

This series is based off ‘105 Simple Sustainable actions’ - from Stephane Omsanski’s article in Parade from 2021.

https://parade.com/1300935/stephanieosmanski/ways-reduce-carbon-emissions/

64. Redirect light away from your house with a cool roof.

A cool roof system is specifically designed to redirect light away from your home. This means that a cool roof absorbs less solar energy, which at first glance you may think would be a bad thing. However, a cooler house exterior (at least in summer) can keep you cool while inside, which means less of a need for running the AC on high.