What we can do today
by Vicki Wolf, June 2006

Nature has a way of healing itself. Sometimes, all we have to do is get out of the way. In the 1960s, fields in Cuba were heavily treated with pesticides and fertilizer to grow sugar cane. In 1990, Cuba lost its sugar market and could not afford the chemicals and fuel for tractors. When the fields were left dormant for five years, an impenetrable thorny thicket of nitrogen-fixing trees took over. These trees were difficult to clear, but they made the soil suitable for the organic crops planted when farmers reclaimed the land. Today organic farming thrives in Cuba.

Modern living on this planet is testing nature. “We are disrupting a lot of ecology,” says Carl Hacker, PhD, ecologist and attorney on the faculty of the School of Public Health at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston (UTHSC). “In a good ecosystem, somebody is eating someone else. We are producing things at a greater rate than nature can absorb,” he adds. No organism has evolved to eat up the carbon dioxide produced when fossil fuels are burned at the rate they are used today.

The footprint we leave behind
“We need to understand where our stuff goes to consume differently,” says Rives Taylor, architect and consultant for Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) “We need to understand the true ecological footprint of the stuff we build and use.”

To get a picture of the ecological footprint human beings have on the planet, Green Mountain Energy has compiled some facts regarding an individual households’ impact on the environment:

• According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average U.S. household is responsible for the emission of almost 60 tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) annually.
• Of this CO₂ footprint, approximately 32 percent (or about 20 tons of CO₂) is controllable:
• about 9.8 tons through electric choices
• about 8.9 tons through transportation choices
• about 2 tons through recycling, reducing and reusing

Taylor says getting into the practice of “life cycle thinking” can be a step toward controlling the impact we have on the environment:

1) Recognize the full or true cost of ownership for anything purchased. What was the expenditure of energy to produce this car, and how much energy will be consumed in operating it? What kind of noise and air pollution goes into the air when a leaf blower is in use?
2) Consider how much waste or pollution will be involved when a product is used or discarded. Will the pesticide used on the lawn eventually contaminate the water system?
3) Realize there is no “away” when throwing away an item. Will this video game be added to the land fill in the next six months?

The choices you make in the energy you use and what you throw away can make a big difference starting today:

1) Sign up for cleaner electricity. Producing electricity is the leading cause of industrial air pollution in the United States. Purchasing 100 percent wind power for a year will offset over 17,000 lbs of CO₂, as much as taking a single car off the road for one year (www.greenmountain.com).

2) Make smart transportation decisions. Plan your travel each day to minimize the number of trips you make and miles you drive. Take public transportation when possible. Consider a hybrid gas/electric car when you are ready to buy a new one. The most energy-efficient models get 57-60 miles per gallon in the city. Better fuel economy means lower Co₂ production – a five miles per gallon difference is equal to about 2,800 pounds of CO₂ a year (www.epa.gov/greenvehicles).

3) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rebuy. According to Keep Texas Beautiful, Texans throw away enough trash to fill the Astrodome in less than 10 days. Each ton of recycled paper saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space; 7,000 gallons of water; 17 trees and 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity (www.texasrecyclesday.org).

Businesses can make a big difference: a case in point
In 1997, The University of Texas Health Sciences Center (UTHSC), led by John Porretto, executive vice president of Administration, and Brian Yeoman, chief facilities officer, embarked on an initiative to make the operations of UTHSC more ecologically sustainable. They focused first on the Support Services Department. A core group received training from The Natural Step, a non-profit environmental education organization that works to build an ecologically and economically sustainable society. The goal was to “educate, train and inspire” every member of the university to conduct their activities in a sustainable way.

Implementation of the initiative included about a dozen projects that involved reducing waste and use of energy including:

• lighting retrofit projects
• a sustainable ceiling tile initiative
• reusable bags provided to vendors for deliveries
• a comprehensive energy management program
• an expanded recycling program

Lessons learned during the project included:

• Do not do things blindly.
• Baby steps are okay.
• Don’t be afraid to take your first few steps toward your goal.
• Have a culture that allows mistakes and views mistakes not as failure, but as part of the process of learning.
• Learn from others who are exploring the same issues.
• Don’t be afraid to call other institutions and find out what they are doing.

In the two years (FY 1997 & 1998) the project was implemented, resources saved or reduced include: