Making our community resilient by making choices

What can individual families do to make a difference? Not all families have the resources to purchase solar panels nor can they buy them because they do not own their home.  Sometimes little things/changes can make a huge difference. 

Light bulbs:

For starters, families use electricity. Light bulbs are simple and often overlooked in most homes' total energy consumption. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that if every household in the United States replaced just one standard incandescent light bulb with an energy-efficient one, the nation would annually save about $600 million in energy costs - enough to power 3 million homes for a year. Changing light bulbs to LED, using solar outdoor lights, and stringed LED lights indoors and outdoors saves individual electric costs along with using less as a whole community.

Recycle:

Recycling is also easy to forget as we get caught up in our busy lives. Many can feel overwhelmed with the idea and act of it. As a society, recycling can have a high initial set up cost and sometimes may not be cost effective. However, the positives far outweigh the negatives. Recycling helps protect the environment, reduces energy consumption, reduces pollution, helps reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2 and CFCs, promotes judicial and sustainable use of resources, conserves natural resources, reduces amount of waste to landfills, and helps create green jobs.

Gardening:

Grow your own veggies. Not only does this help a family budget but it also helps build pride in providing food for your family. A pack of herbs from the grocery store can cost anywhere from $3 to $6 and you use the pack for one, maybe two meals. Growing your own herbs with seeds cost $1 to $2. Also, getting children involved – learning how to plant, water, and take care of the plants – is educational, exciting, and positive for their future. Learning how to be in control of what you put in your body is empowering. 

I also stated in a different article about the benefits of having your own chickens/eggs.

Rainwater Harvesting:

There are many pros and cons to collecting rainwater. I’m mostly focusing on small amounts and used for gardening. Living in the desert area, keeping a garden from drying out can be challenging. Since it doesn’t rain a lot nor is it consistent, having a barrel to collect water is beneficial. Rainwater is healthier for plants, according to Harvesth2o.com - there are no chemicals in rainwater, other than possible pollutants, your plants will respond better. Also, watering with your well water or city water for gardening uses drinking water. With areas like California drying due to climate changes, we need to be resourceful and responsible with water.

(photo of taos plaza – photo credit: taos.org)

Shop Local:

"Going local does not mean walling off the outside world. It means nurturing locally owned businesses which use local resources sustainably, employ local workers at decent wages and serve primarily local consumers. It means becoming more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports. Control moves from the boardrooms of distant corporations and back into the community where it belongs."

- Michael H. Shuman, author of Going local: Creating Self-reliant communities in a Global Age

Choosing a greener alternative is important for sustainability and resilience but where you shop in many cases is the most important factor - shopping locally is significant for environmental and economic sustainability. When you shop locally you are supporting members of your own community who are also vested in the heath and success of the community.  Also traveling less and requiring fewer things to be shipped means less carbon, pollution and traffic congestion.

Contributed by January Sadler, April 2015