1 Reducing Your Family’s Footprint: Some Easy (and some NOT so easy) Strategies Lisa Nakamura WT Parent (Class of ’12) Acadia Environmental Resources.

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Reducing Your Family’s Footprint: Some Easy (and

some NOT so easy) Strategies

Lisa NakamuraWT Parent (Class of ’12)Acadia Environmental

ResourcesApril 23, 2009

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“Remember that ad???”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH0U2AsyoWU&NR=1

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Quick Quiz Questions When was the first Earth Day celebration?

When was the idea of Earth Day first created?

How many people celebrated the first Earth Day?

April 22, 1970

1962 … it took 7 years to get the idea to actually happen!

20 million!

“Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots

level…” (Sen. Gaylord Nelson)

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A Few More Quick Quiz Questions Name 3 Greenhouse Gases

Which of these three are the most dangerous in terms of trapping heat in the atmosphere?

What does the term “Footprint” mean?

Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide (also ozone and fluorinated compounds such as freon)

1 molecule methane = 30 molecules CO2

1 molecule nitrous oxide = 300 molecules CO2

Carbon Footprint = CO2 equivalents

(But … total footprint also includes Water)

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Let’s Start with CarbonWhat is your family’s

Carbon Footprint? (link is to EPA Calculator)

Having a good baseline helps you identify how you can improve

Primarily looks at your home and automobile-related energy

Other Carbon Calculators Carbon IndependentSeventh GenerationInconvenient Truth

Get Your Children Involved!

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Easy vs. Hard Changes This is not always easy This might not always be convenient This might require us to do things

differently This might require a “culture change”

BUT – THIS IS IMPORTANT

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Here We Go … Let’s Shrink our Footprint

Energy (beyond just “turn off the lights”) Turn off your power cords. “Vampire” charges

can account for 10% of your house’s energy use Install Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs). These

use between 1/3 and 1/5 the energy of traditional bulbs, and can cut 7% of your energy used for lighting.

Turn up your A/C setting by 2°F, and turn down your heat by 2°F. Every 1° = approx. 1% savings.

Turn down your water heater by 2°F. (You probably won’t notice)

Take shorter showers. 1 minute shorter = 330 lbs of GHG / year

Easy? Hard?

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Here We Go … Let’s Shrink our Footprint

Energy (beyond just “turn off the lights”) (continued) Weatherstrip your windows and doors.

Insulate your attic. Heat loss can account for 15% of your energy bill.

Install Energy Star Appliances when it comes time to replace your old refrigerator, washer, dryer, etc. This can save 1/3 of your energy bill.

“Think” about where your appliances are located … do you have your refrigerator in a sunny area?

Run FULL LOADS ONLY in the dishwasher and washing machine. Partial loads use the same amount of energy.

Easy? Hard?

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Here We Go … Let’s Shrink our Footprint

Energy (beyond just “turn off the lights”) (continued) Avoid heat drying (dishwasher, clothes dryer,

etc.) 90% of the energy involved in washing dishes and clothes is in the drying process. 5.8% of total U.S. residential energy goes toward drying clothes.

Use cold water, even for whites. (Oxygen boosters or white vinegar will help)

Run loads at night, when the grid load isn’t as high. (This saves $ if you are getting charged for demand usage)

See “Saving Electricity” for more tipsEasy? Hard?

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Here We Go … Let’s Shrink our Footprint

Energy (beyond just “drive less”) Look for fuel efficient options:

1 gal of gas = 20 pounds of CO2.

The “average” vehicle emits 6 to 9 tons of CO2 / year.

Maintain your car – this DIRECTLY affects your fuel efficiency (tires, air filters, oil changes)

Easy? Hard?

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Here We Go … Let’s Shrink our Footprint

Energy (beyond just “drive less”) DON’T IDLE YOUR CAR

Americans waste >3.5 million gallons of gasoline / DAY through idling

Eliminating 5 minutes of idling per day reduces 400 to 800 pounds of CO2 per family annually

This would eliminate approx. 40,000 tons of CO2 / year from U.S. idling of personal vehicles

WATCH FOR MORE ON THIS HERE AT WT!!!

Easy? Hard?

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What about the rest of my footprint?

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Your Water Footprint Americans use approx. 80 – 100

gallons / person / day This compares to the 18 gal / day

used by 2/3 of the world’s population Don’t run the water while brushing

your teeth, scrubbing pots, shaving. Fix leaking toilets and faucets (this

can save up to 22 gal / day) Water your lawn as little as possible /

during non-peak hours. The average lawn uses 240 gal / watering. (See above … 18 gal / day for most of the world)

Use low flow fixtures (Toilets, shower heads, and faucet aerators cut water by 40-50%)

Easy? Hard?

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The “Buying Stuff” Footprint Think L I F E C Y C L E

How was it made? Where was it made? How was it shipped? How is it packaged? How can it be recycled

or reclaimed? How will it get

disposed of? Do you NEED it?

LINK

This is where it gets hard…

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The “Buying Stuff” Footprint Bills, Catalogs & Mail

The average U.S. household receives 800 pieces of junk mail / year

That’s 100 million trees and 500,000 garbage truck load

The GHG associated with manufacturing junk mail is more than 9,700,000 average passenger calls.

Cancel subscriptions to unwanted catalogs (see Catalog Choice)

Learn more about the Do Not Mail campaign

Pay bills online: save paper, fuel, chemicals (inks)

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The “Buying Stuff” Footprint Food Choices

This is where it gets (REALLY) hard…

1 CO2

30 CO2 = 1 Methane

300 CO2 = 1 Nitrous Oxide Energy &

Agriculture / Fertilizers

Energy

Cows

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Food Choices: Meat U.N. Food and Agricultural

Organization estimates that 18% of global GHGs is associated with the international meat industry

37% of total methane is from manure and “gas”

65% of total nitrous oxide is associated with the agricultural processes required to raise cows.

Plus … the transportation, processing, etc.

The “Buying Stuff” Footprint

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Food Choices: Meat Options Vegetarian / Vegan

Diets Modified / “Less Red

Meat” diets BUY LOCALLY / BUY

CERTIFIED ORGANIC PA Association for

Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) -

The “Buying Stuff” Footprint

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“A typical carrot travels 1,838 miles to

reach your plate” (PASA)

Other Food Considerations Where did your organic

produce come from? How much packaging is

on / around your food? The more “EZ COOK” it

is, the more packaging, preservatives and chemicals it contains

The “Buying Stuff” Footprint

(p.s. That’s a lot of energy, and probably a lot of chemicals to

keep it fresh)

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Interesting Factoids

Fact: Creating a new aluminum can from raw materials requires 95% more energy than making one from recycled aluminum

Fact: 27 million trees are used every year to make paper towels!

Fact: Growing corn for ethanol / “Green” products is a major source of nitrous oxide. Plus water. Plus fuel to transport it.

Fact: Total GHG for an iPod Nano is 15 kg (source: Apple) (does not account for disposal of the iPod)

The “Buying Stuff” Footprint

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The Big Challenges Vacations

Flying (2000 lbs of GHG for every cross-country flight)

Hotels (Fact: Re-using your hotel linens and towels can help reduce total water and detergent use by 40%, in an average 100-room hotel)

Eating out – huge source of food waste

Purchase Offsets!

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The Future for Us Consumers More control over our energy usage via

SmartGrid technology 2-way communication between homes and

utilities Peak-shaving and energy savings Remote programming of energy use (i.e., when

you’re on vacation) Reduces waste / $ associated with energy

production More access / choices for cleaner & greener

energy

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So…what does this all mean? “Being Green” is a nice idea It’s not easy It takes a conscious effort It sometimes takes money It sometimes isn’t

convenient It’s not just carrying a

reusable shopping bag … it’s what you put in it

As consumers, we have tremendous power (but again…it’s not easy)

Involve Your Children!

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It’s our legacy

“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our

decisions on the next seven generations” (Iroquois

Confederacy)

Click HERE to see the “Next Generation” Speak (U.N. Earth

Summit, 1992)