by The UCCH Sustainable Household Challenge Group
Discernment. Mindfulness. Justice. Sustainability. What do they mean? How do they apply in my life? Will anything I do (or stop doing!) actually make a difference in the life of a Sub-Saharan child, an Iraqi child or my future grandchild?
We may never know — at least not empirically. But, there is hope. We have hope that by creating less pollution in our lifetimes, the world may still be habitable in our grandchildren’s lifetimes. We have hope that by using fewer petroleum products, we can lessen the need for a war of dominance in Central Asia and save an Iraqi child. We have hope that by living more simply, a Sub-Saharan child may simply live. So, with hope and in faith, we step out each day trying to be mindful of our resource consumption, to use discernment regarding our lifestyle habits and their social justice consequences. Each step along the way, we ask “Is this a sustainable activity? Can my lifestyle scale to include every human on our planet without fouling our collective nest?”
Greetings, once again, from the UCCH Sustainable Household Challenge. For three months, we have been asking ourselves questions like these and challenging ourselves to amend our lifestyles in ways that will sustain hope and create the change we wish to see in the world. Here is what we are thinking so far:
Jill and Rick: We stopped using the dryer last fall when Ruth and Hannah came to live with us and never looked back. It’s funny how when something becomes a habit, you feel funny not doing it. So, it feels funny to not hang the laundry. That, together with Using Duke Power Load Control on both the air-conditioning and the hot water heater, led to a power bill last time of $26.63: a reduction from $64 the previous year! So, CFLs, using power strips to turn off TVs and computers, Load Control and giving up the clothes dryer really added up to big energy savings for our family.
Abraham: Our family embarked on the household challenge knowing that we had done a lot of the easy things and so we were likely to have trouble seeing a big improvement quickly. (i.e. one time changes that can make a big difference like buying a bunch of CFL’s, sealing air leaks in the house, energy efficient windows, or putting our heating/AC on a timer). For instance electricity usage was higher than the previous year for May and June, but lower for July and August despite putting phantom loads on power strips and hanging as many as 3 dryer loads/week on the line. The easy thing is that these behavior changes become old habit quickly - hang a load of laundry after the kids are in bed and turn off the stereo at the power strip rather than with the button. Tracking your resource consumption also lets you ask the questions and have the conversations that we might otherwise not have - was our gas bill up in Feb. because it was cold or for some other reason?
Susan: Overall, our first experience with a CSA has been positive. It has taken a while to get into the rhythm of waiting for Wednesday (our pick up day) to come around before we buy our vegetables. This also means waiting to decide what to cook, at least for side dishes. I have enjoyed looking up new recipes and/or incorporating our vegetables into what we’re already serving. My favorites are the cherry tomatoes–like candy! Least favorite–radishes (I admit tossing them into the compost). Also, like Barbara Kingsolver’s daughter said in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, “Fresh fruit, please!” There hasn’t been too much of that, with the exception of wonderful strawberries early in the season. All in all, though, $16.00 per week for a box of locally-grown organic vegetables is a great deal, and I’m committed to organic, local food shopping, both for health and justice reasons.
Jon: We installed a solar water heater in 2004. It produces 140 degrees F, which must help. Two years later, I compared each month’s electric bills year-to-year. But I could not discern an improvement because there was too much yearly variation in the weather. We tried setting our programmable thermostat higher at night, but very degraded sleeping was a health hazard. And the electric meter indicates that consumption rate doubles during the cool-down phase in the evening; some comparison tests are needed to see if there’s a saving after all. The biggest success was the Prius. A trip to the NC mountains produced 47 mpg going up and 56 mpg coming down!
Melanie: Our family had already replaced the HVAC system, committed to walking and busing to work, put the water heater on a timer, sealed the crawlspace, insulated the electric outlets and switch plates, weather-stripped the windows and doors and switched to CFL’s. Our challenge has been to find new ways to diminish our consumption. We set our programmable thermostat to 80 and left it there and stopped using the clothes dryer. Our electricity consumption dropped from 33 KWH day to 25 KWH day on average. We switched to laundry and dish detergents that contain plant based surfactants instead of petroleum based surfactants. We were already buying Maple View milk and local eggs. Now we have added local beef and chicken. The deer ate our garden but we will try again this fall with stronger netting. Reducing our car mileage remains a struggle: we seem to be stuck at about 150-175 miles per week. But, at 33 miles to the gallon, it is not as bad as it could be and tomorrow may bring new insight.
Michael and Bonny: When we began the Sustainability Challenge, we were concerned that it would be hard to significantly reduce our carbon footprint, since we had previously implemented the low-hanging fruit (CFL, programmable thermostat set at relatively high or low settings, energy-efficient appliances, living near work and school). We adopted several new lifestyle changes, including hanging clothes to dry, completely shutting down electronics with power strips, walking and riding the bus to work when possible, telecommuting more frequently and tracking our resource usage and carbon footprint in a spreadsheet. We were pleasantly surprised to find that, as of early August, our electricity usage is actually down 30% this summer relative to last summer (basically saving us $1/day)! Clearly the hang drying makes a big impact, but more importantly, the tracking has changed our behavior and decision-making process. We are even more vigilant about the small things and are more aware of the choices we make, now thinking twice when we’re tempted to choose for convenience’ sake. Another pleasant discovery is that many of these less “convenient” options are actually more relaxing. Walking to work has helped to relieve stress, improve perspective, increase connection with neighbors and the world, and is generally a pleasant way to start and end the workday (except for the extreme heat, of course!). Drying clothes on a rack has meant we only do one load at a time, which has turned out to be much less stressful than the huge, multi-load laundry sessions. In a culture where we’re expected to move faster and faster, it’s a blessing to be reminded to slow down!
“My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance…Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him…You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” James: 1:2-4; 1:12; 2:24. (NRSV)
UCCH- Sustainable Household Challenge
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