The Zero Waste Lifestyle...

    This week has reopened my eyes to some things. On Monday and Tuesday I completed half of a Green Collar Workforce Training program. I am able to take this class through a State-Funded Grant.  I was invited to enroll in the four-day training program because of my history of working in construction.  The class is taught by an acquaintance I have known and worked with for a number of years.  He is the Director for Sellen Sustainability, a company created at his urging, in attempts to keep up with the growing demand for bettering our world through positive choices that all impact our world not only today, but especially for all future generations.
    I learned about a LOT of things and I would love to share and discuss ideas on sustainable living and building more often.  It is an important issue, one that we each have to decide to adopt.  General contractors are adopting more "green" elements and practices to stay relevant and win more work.  I think that all workers on "Green" job-sites, or buildings trying to achieve "LEED" certification should take this class.  In a few years it will most likely be a requirement, so I feel honored to be able to be ahead of the curve and take the class now.  In fact, several times in the past, I've almost paid to take a class very similar to this one...so I was pretty excited when I was able to enroll in it.  The second half of the program will be a site-tour of The King Street Station remodel next Monday, followed by an exam on Tuesday.  I'm pretty excited to dust my hard-hat & other safety gear off for the tour on Monday! Although due to a funeral that is also on Monday, I may miss a good portion, or all of the tour.

   In the class, we learned about a lot of different products, projects, and practices that focus on sustainable resources as well as the FOUR "R"s of the environment.  Did ya know there are now 4?
Here they are:
1) Reduce
2) Reuse
3) Recycle
4) Refuse

Refuse is obviously the newest addition.  We watched a really interesting video on a family that has adopted a total Zero Waste lifestyle. (Here is a link to a video about the Johnson Family, if you would like to watch it).  As they mention in the video, it sounds expensive, but it actually ends up saving them 40% (as compared to their past expenses) each year!  I am extremely intrigued by the idea.  I have a feeling I will be a reading every inch of her blog when I get a chance.  If you are interested in her blog, it is called: The Zero Waste Home.

    This class helped me open my eyes to a lot of thoughts about life, the world we live in, and what the future may or may not hold for us.  I for one, am going to be rethinking a lot of decisions I make in the future.  I want to be proud of the choices I make.  I want my future children, grandchild, great-grandchildren, etc to know the world as I once did.  If we do not educated ourselves about the harm we can do, and have been doing to the earth...well...let us hope we don't have to find out what will happen, or when.  As for now, I encourage you to check your impact on resources.  How much energy does your household use per year?  What about per month?  Or even break it down per day?  Is it above or below the U.S. average?  What activity in your household uses the most energy? Could you take measures to cut that amount down?

What about WATER?  Water is so vital to life...but why do we use so much of it every day???  Just how much water is your household using per day?

Did you know "if [all] the world's water were poured into a bucket...only ONE spoonful would be drinkable?"  Why do we use drinkable water from a hose to water our lawns?  How silly are we?  Why not use "gray water" to water lawn?  Gray water could mean water collected in cisterns or rain-barrels; there are tons of solutions out there.  They are just waiting to be adopted!

Did you know that "every minute four people across the world die from a water-related disease [due to a lack of uncontaminated, or clean, water]"?

Did you know that the average person living in the United States "uses 105.7 Gallons of water per day...and in developing countries such as Mozambique the average person uses 1.3 gallons per day?"  I should point out that "a low-flow toilet in the U.S. uses 1.6 gallons of water per flush"!

If you are a visual person, like myself, then I suggest watching this (super short, but really well made) video which includes the above tid-bits on placing an importance on water.

This last item makes me really want to get a "green" car...
I'll leave you with a with a clear VISION of just one of the impacts we are making on our world:

(source)

For every 1 Gallon of gasoline burned in a car, there are 19.4 POUNDS of CO2 created.

For every 1 Gallon of diesel burned in a car, there are 22.2 POUNDS of CO2 created.