Home Eco Party

A few weeks ago I had a home eco party, it's kinda like a Tupperware party, but instead you learn about how to make your home more ecologically friendly. I invited a neighbor, some friends, and my mom and sister came up, there were about 8 people there. A volunteer from the Center For Earth Leadership came over and we had an open discussion of the home survey/questionnaire that I had given everyone I'd invited.

The questionnaire asked people to think about:
*how much meat they eat,
*how often you run your clothes washer (do you use cold water cycles),
*if you are able to dry your clothes outside,
*if you've had a home energy audit and will implement the suggestions,
*do you grow your own food,
*do you compost and use your compost,
*do you limit toxic cleaners and toxic home products (weed killers, etc.),

We went through each section of the questionnaire talking about what other alternatives exist or are out there to use instead of window cleaner (vinegar & water), for instance. We went into my bathroom and measured the water output from my shower head, it's 2.5 gpm.

Some of the specific things I learned about taking care of my home and buying food:

*buy in bulk - save old containers from hand soap, oatmeal, granola, lotion, laundry detergent, honey, tea, peanut butter - these are staples that I need to get pretty often and at stores that sell stuff in bulk they let you tare the container at one of the check stands then refill them;

*put reusable grocery bags in your car and on the door knob to remind yourself to use them;

*disposable materials are never beneficial to the environment - if you can use cloth napkins, real plates/glasses/silverware you will save money and know that you aren't wasting resources on a one time use product;

*reduce the amount of meat you eat - meat is produced with a lot of resources going into it, cows have to have crops grown and irrigated to feed the amount of energy/resources that go into a pound of beef is many times that for a pound of wheat;

*I don't want to use pesticides so I'm using my weed popper to get the dandelions out then pour vinegar into the little hole to kill the roots;

*practice minimal flushing - "If it's brown, flush it down; if it's yellow, keep it mellow."

My minimal flushing sheet for your toilet:


http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddkncvj_12c4jtpvfv


It was also special because the 'volunteer' that came to facilitate the home eco party was Jeanne Roy, one of the founders (along with her husband) of the Center For Earth Leadership and the Northwest Earth Institute. Jeanne and Dick Roy Bio/Article:
http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC43/Roy.htm