"The Audit"

The story "The Audit" by Rachel May is very intriguing and I feel that it brings up many interesting topics. One of the main topics brought up in the story is the idea of reducing our carbon footprints. A carbon footprint is basically everything that you use on a daily basis that will leave some sort of effect on the environment. There are many ways that our carbon footprints can be reduced and there are many people that live different lifestyles in order to leave an extremely small footprint.

There are many people in the US that I know of that have started living a different lifestyle. They call it living off the grid. Living off the grid can include using solar panels, wind turbines, and hydroelectric energy. By living in this way they are able to have some of the same comforts that other people have, but with a well reduced carbon footprint.

During the story Bill, the main character, makes a trip to a cabin in the Adirondack mountains to visit a friend of his brother's in hopes that he will get him to sign off on a paper so that he can continue to live in his comfortable lifestyle. He isn't sure if his plan will work, but he is willing to try it, even though it seems far fetched, to help keep his family in the comfort they have always known. After he meets with Goodwin and spends time at his house, he seems to learn what he is 'missing' at his house with his family. On his way home, after spending the night with Goodwin, Bill sees his surroundings in a different light. He actually sees the plants and animals around him where before he just overlooked them as a sort of background. After his visit with Goodwin, Bill sees a lot of his lifestyle as extravagant and he isn't looking forward to going back to the world he knows.

Beautiful view of the Adirondack mountains