12 Ways to be Green on the Eastside in 2012

As this 2011 year draws to an end and we look ahead at the fresh new year, it's that time to make some Eastside Resolutions for the New Year.   Here are 12 Green ways listed with descriptions further below:

1. Energy Management

2. Water Conservation

3. Adding Redesign, to the traditional Reduce, Reuse, Recycle triangle.

A great time to increase recycling bin sizes as prices for regular garbage disposal goes up in 2012!

4. Participating in Meatless Monday

5. Joining a local CSA-farm

6. Growing your own food

7. Being an informed consumer

8. Encouraging your favorite business to join the Eastside Green Business Challenge

9. Joining a local green group, green discussion or green event on the Eastside

10. Planning your own Earth Day Celebration at your organization or business.

11. Involving youth into Green Concepts and Initiatives

12. Checking back here for continuous Eastside Green Coverage in 2012!

The first two (1.) and (2.) have been around for decades packaged as efficiency and now have a big role in resource conservation management.  Organizations now have software and professionals available to establish baselines and use metrics and find out how much is saved by a few degrees here and setting programs efficiently there. Energy Star baseline programs have been put into effect in Seattle businesses this year and have general training webinars and programs for businesses elsewhere too.

Making recycling containers as accessible as garbage bins makes recycling easy!

Jack Johnson sings about 3 being the perfect number when it comes to Reduce, Reuse and Recycling.  Redesign has been linked on to this triangle to represent that "habit part" of this combination.  Which makes (3.) the perfect number for Redesigning home and business operations to maximize green efforts.

As an example of this, Stephanie, a resident of a condo community in Redmond has redesigned her kitchen recycling routine after her association began a community-wide Food Scrap Recycling program this past year.  Now, not only are her husband's Venti Mocha cups recycled, but they also double as the daily food scrap collection container.  She says that stepping up her recycling efforts has also increased her awareness in other environmental ways, like paying attention to what type of food containers the meat she buys comes in and whether they can be recycled afterwords.

And as more attention is being brought to climate change, the notion of Meatless Monday (4.) is becoming more popular as a way to reduce one of the greenhouse gases, methane  (aka cow flatulence.!:^)  Households and organizations take one meal a week to eat vegetarian.

Chef Desmond prepares his final entree for his weekly vegetarian night's meal.

Regular customer Sebastian, pictured here with guest Jordan of Kirkland and Chef Desmond, has been a regular weekly diner at vegetarian night for the past four years since it has been offered at the Sixty-01 clubhouse.

One of my favorite ways of being greener is number (5.) in the countdown.  For the last couple of years our family has been part of the Jubilee CSA farm.  The influx of healthy local and fresh vegetables has upped our nutrition at meals and impacted our knowledge of how food goes from farm to us.  My kids now eat a number of vegetables because they have tasted them on Farmer Erick and Wendy's farm school tours straight from the fields.  The Eastside is rich in nearby CSA farms with a variety of options to tailor to each household's needs.

A similar way to connect to the environment and the food we eat is the number (6.) way.  Connect with the environment by tending one's own garden, composting table scraps on-site, perhaps raising chickens and in general have some regular nature time and very fresh food to enjoy.

Jeff adds some food scraps to his kitchen container.  Later these food scraps will be composted at Cedar Grove composting and redistributed as nutrient soil back to the community.

The (7.)th way is keep a continuous stream of green information your way via social networking sites.  Some favorite local twitter accounts with regular tweets are Ecoconsumer, Kirkland Enviro and my own twitter account at darsif.

The (8.)th way includes the Eastside Green Business program starting right away in the New Year.  Similar programs have run in cities including Chicago and have had the co-benefit of saving their businesses and communities a bundle of money as well as reducing their overall carbon footprint.

There are some great groups (9.) on the Eastside that are already planning and discussing green concepts.  Sustainable Redmond will be having a meeting this upcoming January 23rd in the evening at REI.  Other's include Cascadia Green Building Council, Cascade Land Coservancy and a group that meets in different locations over drinks to name a few.

(10.) Earth day is April 22nd in 2012!

(11.) Recent teacher and youth happenings to inspire in the New Year....

Local STEM teacher Mike Town earned the inaugural Green Prize in Public Education from the NEA foundation:  http://redmondcity.blogspot.com/2011/09/school-board-journal-q-session-with.html?spref=tw

The Cedar River Watershed project where high school students narrate through film include stewardship and sustainable principles: http://www.cedarriver.org/programs/watershed-report

(12.) And finally, check back in 2012 for some coverage on how some local businesses have gone green.  Here are some topics coming up: How green can a local Organic Coffeehouse be?; A peek-in at our local recycling sorting facility; The green ways of a local Book Exchange shop; How a local Co-op preschool has added a green program to its core operations; A local transportation company leading in green initiatives and more!

Darsi's Eastside Holiday Guide

Green is the color of the season!   Well, green and red, but why not make that green a really rich colored green.  Green for the wreaths and evergreen garland, green for the environment, green for the local economy and green for your pocketbooks!

Here are a few tips to get you started, and started soon, as Thanksgiving is quickly approaching!

• Purchase some of your gifts from local stores and craft fairs!  Help spread the word of good places to shop and share your favorites below. 

Buy Local

• Purchase now to maximize your recycling vs. garbage output later on.  For instance, buy the type of wrapping paper that can be recycled afterwards. In King County, this includes all wrapping paper except the shiny and metallic.

Buy Environmentally Smart

• Make a date in lieu of the traditional gift exchanges.  It helps to agree on this plan before Black Friday, so ping your friends this week to see if they would be interested in attending a local holiday theatrical production or movie together instead!

Buy the Experience

• And for those gift purchases, consider buying less but of higher quality.  Toys made of natural materials, items that hold their resale value like Legos and books - and clothing that can be resold or handed down later make great gifts.  One of the brands leading this theme is Patagonia and to the extent that they are offering an easier way for their customers to resale the items later on eBay!

Buy More of what will be valued Longer

And finally, as an advocate for the Food Scrap Recycling programs on the Eastside, I couldn't go without writing - make it a priority this season to keep your habits going strong in sending the food scraps to the appropriate bins and keep it out of the landfill.  There is no better time than now, as King County disposal prices are going up in 2012.  Click here to find out how much!

Save Money!

Comment below your Eastside favs.  Local Businesses?  Craft Fairs? Great Gift Certificate Places? Future productions and more?

Gold is in the Grain

When it comes to sustainable building for retired NW carpenter.  

With a nail notched into place, he extends his tape measure up high to latch on to it and reads the other end to measure where his next rafter cut will be.  Del Adams is the master of reuse!  Back in the day he was a finish carpenter for Walsh Construction in Portland.  His final working days were spent at a refurbished job in the Pearl area, what previously had been a horse barn has now become the Ecotrust building.  He points out the picture showing the 8’ doors and windows he had set.  His career at Walsh spanned 15 years.

Now he concentrates his trade on his 6 1/2 acre home in The Dalles, OR.  Most of his finished and current projects contain either a significant portion of reclaimed wood or have modifications so that he can use the lumber he has on hand.  

His latest project includes redoing a barn structure, tearing out part of the old barn and putting back a new structure in its place.  The new section includes a wrap around shed roof.   It comes around three sides and contains two hips to give the sleek look of what he calls an “eyebrow.”   The current amount of 20 to 30% reused wood will increase as it nears the finishing stages.  All of the 4x4 and 2x4 braces, over 50% of the 4x6 cedar posts and most of the shorter rafters are reclaimed lumbar.  In addition, the two beams in the barn structure were reused or modified lumber.

Dowel in brace to add structure and heritage look.

The first step in his reclaiming and reuse of lumber is making sure it is sound.  To that he can add some modifications to maximize the amount of lumbar he has on hand and still come up with the strongest structure that will last the tests of time.  Some examples of modifications recently done in barn:

• Resourcefully modified used TGI beams plus additional ¾ inch plywood to be strong enough for the center supports.
• With the use of engineering tricks, he designed the barn to take a 14’ span to 10’ span to use material he already had on hand.  The braces he used to make this possible were then given the heritage touch and added structure of dowels.
• Predrilled nail holes to maintain structural integrity in lumbar by keeping it from splitting and thus the structure will last longer.
• Instead of the traditional hangars, he made use of a roll of strapping material to reinforce some rafters onto the backside of the ledger.  This also happens to be similar to heritage methods of toe nailing onto the main structure.  Here he has the strapping for extra support.
• The beams that were in the original barn’s feeder were moved and now reused for structural beams.

Once the new section of the barn is finished, it will complement the other craftsman projects around the home that he has completed since retirement.  

Patio Pergola

The other projects lead the way out to the barn, starting with the large back-area pergola.   Then moving a few steps further is the deck and side pergola, which is soon met by the gate and owl house.   Once on the other side of the garden is the barn.  He envisions chickens and cows taking up resident in the lower part and an art studio and hay loft in the upper portion.

Gate

	% Reclaimed Wood	Comments
Red Door on Patio Shed	100%	Original door to home built near the turn of the century.
Patio Pergola	60%	Wood refurbished from a cedar deck.
Back Deck near Patio	40%	Railing cap and lattice from refurbished cedar.
Gate	100%	Refurbished wood and metal.
Owl house	100%	A Screetcher owl just took resident.

Owl in house.

Looking around the place, one can see many other sustainable methods that are practiced as well.  In his gardening and pastures, Del spreads horse manure with his antique refurbished manure spreader.  He spreads about 10 tons a year.  After a few years of doing this, he says there appears to be healthier and thicker grass in the pastures.  He has a cistern at the top of the hill that supplies his garden and plants with summer waterings.  He reuses metal by welding it into useful designs for his projects, including the barn supports.  He uses filtered reused motor oil that he mixes with diesel to fuel his tractor.  Also he keeps a worm composting bin in addition to his regular garden compost bin.

Del works on the barn as his grandchildren play nearby.

With the new rafter in place he maneuvers the ladder around his reclaimed “to be used” pile to take the next measurement.  This “hipped” type of roof takes more measurements, but in the end the efforts will be aesthetically worth it.  Just as the efforts to reuse the wood he had on hand will mean that he didn’t have to go out and buy fresh lumber.  This adds up to the advantage of the environment as well as his pocketbook.  This theme is running central to carpenters and construction companies alike in today’s economy.  Two companies in our area with growing green divisions are Gly Construsction and the Seattle’s Walsh branch.  

Feel free to leave comments highlighting sustainable construction efforts and green built or retrofitted housing and business developments in the Seattle’s Eastside!    

What are some easy ways to 'Green' a business and see some instant savings?

The easiest way to 'Green' your business is to engage your employees in resource conservation!  Here are some examples:

1.  Save money in garbage output, by setting up a composting center.  Look at Whole Foods Dining Recycling Center for the best model.  Visual is key.  Within a plexiglass, or even simpler two laminating strips of paper, add what items can be recycled in each container.  For example, the Food Scrap Recycling visual aid would include not just pictures of food scraps, but also a napkin, paper cups and a teabag.

2. Turn down the heat to 65 degrees F at night.  Reduce the daytime temp by a degree.  Remind employees that temperature is a shared concept.  There are a range of temperatures that a given amount of people prefer.

3. Enable your computers to automatically turn on Energy Saving Mode at certain hours.

4. Have appliances that are used infrequently plugged into power strips.  Use the power strip to turn off the power when not in use to decrease phantom energy consumption.

5. Start a Green Story, initiate a Green Team and let the momentum for Resource Conservation begin!

Eastside Green Business Challenge

The Eastside Green Business Challenge has officially been launched!  Hunter Lovins was there at the Bellevue City Hall on Tuesday, along with Major Don Davidson and program coordinator Paul Andersson, to present the program formally and kick-off this Green Wave that will be coming through the Eastside in 2012!

This challenge is through the local business alliance group called ESBA.  Click on .ESBA for more info.

Check out how much cities who have already taken this challenge have saved in $$$ amounts and at the same time significantly reduced their carbon footprint!   Challenge Info

Super Kids to the Rescue!

Check out this humorous "home-made" video where kids are driving the home food scrap recycling efforts.  They bring on the super recycling heroes to change their parents habits from emptying the food scraps in the garbage to taking them to the food scrap container instead!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgTwDOckvoo&feature=player_embedded