The following resources are intended to help you reduce energy use in your own life and community.
Previous Projects
Green=Gold
A Report on Energy Use at the College of William and Mary, Its Financial Implications, and a Roadmap for Reform
This was a project by the Environmental Sociology class at the
College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, taught by
Timmons Roberts. I was the teaching assistant for the class. This project looks at energy use on campus and how it can be reduced.
Building an Efficient Campus
An Energy Policy for the College of William and Mary
Truly Equal Access
A Policy for Physical Accessibility at the College of William and Mary
Though not addressing energy use, this was a sister project I undertook at the College. Environmental concerns and accessibility address the same aspects of an institution's design and operation, but they can come into conflict.
31 Steps to a Different World
I wrote this a couple years ago, but I still think it's useful.
ZERT Plans
New Energy for New Town
A Plan to Reduce Energy Use and Other Environmental Impacts by the New Town United Methodist Church
My first ZERT project, advising the
New Town United Methodist Church in Williamsburg, Virginia, on how to reduce energy use and become more environmentally friendly.
An Efficient Office
The Geiger Group, Dept of Chemistry, Northwestern University
Sustainable Dining
A Plan for the Hoffman House Restaurant
With all the carbon emissions from the food we eat, restaurants can make a big difference. This plan includes suggestions for the
Hoffman House, in Molalla, Oregon, including both its menu and its building.
Top Ten Lists
Ten Ways to Help the Environment
By Reducing Home Energy Use
Basic but effective suggestions for the homeowner.
Ten Ways to Help the Environment
For No Money, Even if You Don't Own a Home
Energy-saving tips often are geared toward homeowners with disposable income, but these are actions even poor renters can take.
Ten Ways to Help the Environment
By Reducing Paper Use
Many of the above documents focus a lot of attention on electricity, but carbon emissions from our paper use can be many times those from electricity. Here's how to help.
Other Flyers
Compact Fluorescents Flyer
Advertises the virtues of compact fluorescent light bulbs, including financial savings.
Website Flyer
A quarter-sheet flyer directing readers to the website to stop junk mail, save energy, and help the environment in other ways. The reverse contains additional suggestions.
Long Shots
An Energy Saving Plan for the Birmingham Public Library
My second attempt at a serious ZERT project, energy-saving suggestions for the
Birmingham Public Library, with a cover letter to the director.
An Energy Saving Plan for the Nashville Public Library
Links
Coming soon!
thoughts on paper
Love the new top 10 lists. They seem easier to grasp than the previous ones. I'm going to post information about the "do not mail" registry by the mailboxes for my apartment building so that everyone can cancel all the catalogs we get.
Well, I wanted to pass this link on to you: Co-op America publishes a quarterly, and their latest issue focuses on paper use. It is really well done. Read it online.
I'm working on writing a book, "The Car-Free Lifestyle Guide to the Capital Region." It's really coming along fast. I have a first draft and now am editing. I will post you a copy of my best draft so that ZERT readers can access it.
But my plans are to publish it. I've been researching my options, and I think I feel best just publishing it myself. I initially thought of the radical project of collecting post-consumer scrap paper from offices and libraries in Troy, and whenever I collected 100 sheets with one clean side, I'd paste it all together and print up a copy of my book. But I don't know. I feel like the content of my book should get into as many people's hands as possible. I believe, in this case, that product, not process, has the greater impact.
What is the right choice? If I self-publish, I am waffling between using post-consumer recycled paper and tree-free paper like kanaf. I'm not sure which process is altogether better for the environment. Recycling is energy-consuming, but if we don't, our paper just piles in landfills. But growing and processing kanaf must be equally energy consuming.
I know I could just publish online, but I really worry about issues of access. It is definately not true that everyone in America is online. There are definately a lot of families without computers and I don't think they all go use the library computers either. I'm writing a book for bus riders, and these are people who, I assume, would make more use of a guide book in their hands than online.
Hope your trip is going well.
kenaf beats recycled paper
Greg,
I haven't had a chance to read it all, but the Co-op America issue looks really interesting and has some good suggestions. I'm also excited to hear about your book and eager to see it.
In terms of publishing options, I don't think you need to choose one. You can publish both online and in print. People have access to the Internet, at libraries for instance, they just need to be made aware that it's available and worth their while.
For paper books, reusing paper is definitely the best option. If it's not wrinkled, you can photocopy directly onto it - just take it to a copy shop and load it into a self-service copier. But don't use wrinkled paper and jam their machines! And you might want to be careful not to let people see you.
If you run out of reusable paper, I think kenaf is the next best option. I'm not a fan of recycled paper. When we recycle paper, the quality degrades, and recycled paper requires more toxic additives than virgin paper to maintain its color, brightness, smoothness, and shine.
The more we recycle paper, the more toxic it becomes. Some people with chemical sensitivities can't even handle newsprint because it's so heavily recycled.
The best disposal option with paper is to compost it, but our recycled paper is too toxic to compost. The ideal paper cycle is to produce from kenaf then compost, with no recycling.
Kenaf is not only sustainable to grow but kenaf paper takes less energy to produce than wood paper. But we do have this wood paper that we may not want to throw away. A kenaf-recycled blend allows us to recycle some of our wood paper but in a blend that keeps the paper from becoming too toxic.
Whatver paper you use, if you don't want to glue it yourself, you can take it to a copy shop for a variety of binding options. As you may know, the most sustainable way to bind books is to stitch them together (you could probably find a book on how), but that's probably a more time-consuming process than it's worth.
Let us know what you decide!
James