Things our family
does to fight climate change and be kind to the planet
Green roof on 600 sq ft addition installed June 2005
Solar hot water installed February 2009 (installer Solar Services)
Solar photovoltaic installed March 2009 (installer Solar Services)
Home renovation done with a green builder, local and sustainable
materials, low VOC, 75+% of construction waste reused or recycled
Permeable pavers in drive to eliminate runoff to bay
Energy survey and IR pictures of house to
identify places we have heat leaks
Added insulation and blocked leaks per above surveys
Replaced leaky windows with new, energy-efficient
Energy Star appliances
Drive an all-electric BMW i3
and Tesla Model S, and a plug in hybrid SUV
Fully electrified house – changed
gas appliances to electric
Use heat pumps for heat and
A/C
Carpool to events where
possible
Use LED light bulbs & Christmas
lights
Maximize time that we have
heating and A/C turned off -- goal is 3 months in spring and 3 months in fall
Do laundry in cold water
Don't dry clothes all the
way in dryer -- hang dry after short time in dryer
Turn oven off before end of
cooking time
Huge 2025 project to remove
all alien invasive plants and plant 1500 native plants (from Lady Fern’s Native
Plants)
3000-gal rainwater
collection cistern that supplies sprinklers, dock water, hoses and toilet flush
Compost most food and yard
waste
Minimized lawn area
No chemical fertilizers or
herbicides etc on yard or garden beds
Mulch-cut lawn instead of
bagging clippings
Natural weed spray:
home-made of vinegar, Dawn & salt
All electric lawn equipment
Maintain natural wetlands
buffer
Garden for growing some of
our own food (small)
Buy organic & local where
possible
Eat low on the food chain– I
am now a pescetarian (vegetarian plus fish)
Use
Eco-nuts for laundry detergent (natural reusable soap nuts)
Use
non-petroleum, non-phosphate dishwasher soap powder, in cardboard
Started healthy snack
program at my kids' school where we buy all organic whole-grain snacks, and
serve fresh produce (bought from http://www.organicfooddepot.com/)
Participate in soup kitchen
for homeless (donate cases of fruit, sometimes cook eggs); save holiday candy
for that rather than discarding (or eating!)
Grind own flour, use natural
sweeteners
Prepare food fresh, rather
than canned, frozen, or pre-packaged
Buy bamboo products rather
than wood or plastic (many sold at Target)
Use all recycled paper
products, including toilet paper, paper towel, napkins, copy paper, sticky
notes (many available locally at http://www.organicfooddepot.com/,
http://www.greenalternativesstore.com/
or order from http://www.treecycle.com/). We strive for 100% post-consumer recycled for
everything – our copy paper is 100% post-consumer recycled, non-chlorine, and
made from 100% wind energy.
Use tree-free compostable
paper plates (don't use often, available at http://www.biodegradablestore.com/)
Use recycled toothbrushes
that we send back for re-recycling into plastic furniture (Preserve
toothbrushes from http://www.preserveproducts.com/)
Grocery shop (and other
shopping) using cloth and string bags
Recycle all feasible
materials
Save and re-use, or take to
packing store, all bubble wrap and Styrofoam peanuts
Re-use plastic grocery bags
Re-use egg crates (take back
to store for re-use by poultry farm)
Recycle all home appliances
and electronics at e-cycle days (rather than throwing in trash)
Use rechargeable batteries
(saves lots of $)
Use reusable water bottles
instead of disposable plastic, see http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-bottled-water/
and work hard to eliminate plastic water bottles at events I am part of
Use scrap paper where
possible
Print double-sided
Helped get our kids’ school
to compost all food waste at their 2010 Field Day event; now they compost
lunches year-round
Finance home and commercial
solar for others (installers Convert Solar and Tiger Solar)
Led the installation of 600
kW of solar PV on our kids’ school by a group of parents
Invest in companies and
funds that are sustainable
Have a huge lending library
and reading list of environmental books
Member of Virginia Distributed
Solar Alliance to fight artificial restrictions on solar
On the board of Solar
Village Project to install solar at schools and clinics in rural India
Part of the CCAN 757 action
team
Participate in, and plan,
events for invasive vine removal
Submit shareholder's
resolutions at Dominion Energy to try and get them to use more renewable power
sources
Invest in socially and
environmentally conscious funds, invest in community notes, give to Heifer
International, Ryan’s Well and similar groups
Give blood
Give environmentally related
lectures to various groups (Girl Scouts, NASA LaRC,
garden clubs, Sierra Club, etc.)
Clean the Bay Day – cleaning
up our local waterfront!
Hosted party for Mothers Out
Front, http://www.mothersoutfront.org
Work with organizations like
Virginia Community Capital to do no-interest loans for organizations to install
solar
2013 CCAN documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kYWnhCEyKM&list=UUn1t4IxMy5XmS5D3zFpIQqg&feature=c4-overview (at 18 and 28 min) Sea of Change
Home
solar on low income https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/10/21/in-norfolk-loosened-state-solar-laws-open-up-chance-to-put-panels-on-low-income-homes/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjkkgh34xG4
general green living
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiDKH-8pOoc Earlier solar tour
2020 HR solar tour of our home: