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Get your GREEN on!

By Caren Black, Titanic Lifeboat Academy (Astoria, Oregon, US)

The harvest is in. Days are still fairly warm and long. This is a good time of the year to work on home projects, and the folks at Titanic Lifeboat Academy have a fun one! TLA is inviting everyone to join their “October Green Fest”! How sustainable can you make YOUR lifestyle?

Okay, so you saw An Inconvenient Truth. Or you already recycle and/or compost. You belong to Post Carbon Institute’s Relocalization Network. While these are important steps, making one’s lifestyle “sustainable” involves a great deal more than recycling, composting, changing our lightbulbs, as you probably know. Just what does “sustainable” mean, exactly? Architect Carol Venolia put it this way:
     “Sustainable if when:
     If you keep doing what you’re doing,
     you’ll be able to keep doing what you’re doing."

A 501c3 nonprofit, the Titanic Lifeboat Academy specializes in research and education in sustainable living and is one of the original relocalization groups of Post Carbon Institute. Directors Caren Black and Christopher Paddon have been working for two years to create a sustainable homestead where they can demonstrate the skills, systems and technologies of sustainable living. During the month of October they will test themselves on how well they are doing.

Check out their plan: No outside utilities, no garbage, 1 tank of gas, and no purchases for the month.

While they are attempting their month-long test, they invite everyone to give it a go!
Try something simple, like going an entire week with no purchases. (Or even a weekend!) Cut electrical use and compare October’s bill with last October’s. Set a percentage goal, like cutting usage by 20%. You might accomplish this by vigilantly turning off all lights which are not in use and switching to Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs, by conserving on home heating and cooling, by conserving hot water (if your hot water heater is electric), and simple things like staging dinner’s leftovers next to the frig and putting them all away at the same time (rather than repeatedly re-opening and closing the refrigerator.)

Or, set a percentage goal for cutting gas consumption. Start carpooling once a week. Eat only locally produced food for the entire month. Cut your garbage in half for the month—or even a week. Buy nothing for a week. Take one room of your house “off the grid”.

Start small; start anywhere, but start. The possibilities are endless! C’mon! Try something! Think how you might reduce your consumption; re-use more of everything; repair instead of replacing. Rethink “necessary”. See more ideas on going green below.

Take up the Green Fest challenge!
Register your Green Fest Pledge by emailing the Lifeboat people at TLifeboatAcademy@charter.net. Registration consists of explaining what you’ll attempt for the Green Fest (The Lifeboat folks can also help you with ideas) and pledging what you will donate to the cause of TLA’s further research and education, should you renig on your promised attempt. You will have support: The Lifeboat folks will check in with you during the month and again in November, to see how you do.

On November 19, The Lifeboat Show on Coast Community Radio (9:30 am, KMUN 91.9, KTCB 89.5, streaming at www.coastradio.org, and archived on Global Public Media) will feature participants’ stories. Everyone who completes their Green Fest Pledge will receive a free CD of The Lifeboat Show.

If you’ve trying to green your lifestyle, take up the challenge. Local group to local group. Member to member. Go for it! Even light green is good.

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Read an article about Caren Black and Christopher Padden's challenge by Kara Hansen in The Daily Astorian.

[PHOTO: "Caren Black and Christopher Paddon stand beside the wind turbine outside their Astoria home, which also serves as the Titanic Lifeboat Academy’s education and research station." KARA HANSEN — The Daily Astorian]

A few other ideas on going green (in no particular order):

*switch to CFLs and turn lights off when not in use
*drive less, take the bus, or carpool, or walk or ride a bicycle
*eat no meat
*produce no garbage--compost & recycle
*buy only local, unprocessed food
*plant fruit and nut trees, or start an herb garden on your windowsill
*save organic and open pollinated seeds
*use hot water sparingly
*make or install solar thermal (hot water) heating (the biggest renewable bang for your buck and Oregon Energy Trust rebate-able)
*use cloth shopping bags
*shop less
*hang clothes outdoors to dry
*insulate your walls and windows
*buy local whenever possible
*buy less
*get rid of debt
*rule out the big-box stores
*reuse baggies (wash them)
*use handkerchiefs, not tissues
*use towels, not paper towels
*install a rainwater catchment system (can be a simple, weekend project)
*install a compost system (easy!)
*buy items in bulk whenever possible, avoiding excessive packaging, and using your own (glass) bottles and your own (cloth) bags
*dress for the weather, not for temperature-controlled interiors
*read Small Is Beautiful (TLA has a long bibliography, if reading is your entrée.)