earth day - earth day 2016

earth dayinspire act educate

2016

b a i n b r i d g e i s l a n d r e v i e wn o r t h k i t s a p h e r a l d

a s p e c i a l s u p p l e m e n t t o t h e

2 | EARTH DAY 2016 | TREAD MORE LIGHTLY

Ihave always loved being outside in Nature. Salt water, giant cedars, mossy ceilings, and barnacle-y rocks were an integral part of my childhood.

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Random acts of green-ness

I have raised my children to love trips to the beach at low tide and walks on dirt trails which, in my opinion, are part of growing up in the Pacific Northwest. I always considered myself a lover of the environment and nature but not neces-sarily in an active “I’m an environmen-talist” way.

I became involved at Stillwaters Environmental Center in Kingston through a Watershed Camp that my son Charlie and his best friend Ben attended, where they thoroughly immersed them-selves in the science, the beauty and the environment of Stillwaters. A couple years later, in 2006, I joined the staff at Stillwaters as an AmeriCorps intern. It

was then that I started calling myself an Accidental Enviromentalist.

As I learned about environmentalism, conservation, and sustainability at Stillwaters, I began to realize that, with-out trying, I was an environmentalist. For example, as a busy single parent of two young boys, we had a lot of dirty clothes in the hamper. And, mostly because of time and energy limits, I always did large, full loads of laundry. I was saving water and resources — how GREEN of me.

I grew up experiencing environmen-talist strategies without knowing it. When I was young, my dad was a frequent shopper at secondhand stores around the city. He brought home a lot of excit-

ing finds before it was cool to go thrifting or before the term “vintage” was used in a way other than to describe wine. To this day, I still like to lurk around Goodwill or an antique mall in the hopes of finding a treasure to repurpose. Reduce, reuse, repurpose — sounds like an environmen-talist to me.

I suspect other people may be doing accidental acts of environmentalism as well. Do you use cloth napkins because they are aesthetically more pleasing or cost less than paper napkins? Are you compul-sive about turning out lights? Do you scoop your pup’s poop (please say yes)?

BY KARI PELAEZ

See PELAEZ, Page 3

T he average person generates 4.3 pounds of waste per day, up from 1.6 pounds in 1960, according to a

Duke University study. And according to the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency, approximately 55 percent of the 220 mil-lion tons of waste generated each year in the United States ends up in one of the more than 3,500 landfills.

Solid-waste landfills are the second-largest source of human-related methane

emissions in the United States. You can reduce your contributions to landfills by making a phone call or clicking on a mouse. The Kitsap County Public Works Department website, www.kitsapgov.com/sw/recycle.asp, lists places that accept:

Ammunition, explosives and fireworks; appliances, audio equipment, automotive equipment and vehicles; batteries, bicy-cles, bilge water; cameras and camera film, common household recyclables, con-

struction and demolition debris; electron-ics, flourescent lights, fixtures, glass; grease and oil, hazardous waste, metals; outdoor household items, pallets, paper, plastic; sharps, Styrofoam, tanks, and tex-tiles.

Many of these items can be recycled, restored or repurposed. Make the call and help keep these items out of our landfills. The earth that sustains us will appreciate it.

Reduce our planet’s burdenTREAD MORE LIGHTLY | EARTH DAY 2016 | 3

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Maybe you don’t keep your lawn per-fectly manicured and plush in the sum-mer — that’s OK, you’re saving water.

Do you attempt to fix things rather than replace them? Do you long to find the perfect cobbler to re-sole your favor-

ite shoes? Does the thought of wasting kitchen scraps send shivers down your spine?

I think you might be an Accidental Environmentalist.

The thing is, regardless of your moti-vation, you are already doing something wonderful for the environment. If any of the above sounds like you, perhaps, you may want to take your quirky habits a

step further and make some conscious decisions to do better for the environ-ment.

You can create a small compost area for the kitchen scraps, or save them for a friend with chickens. Turn some of your grass lawn into drought-tolerant plants. Find a tutorial on how to fix the broken toaster.

It can be simple to be an Accidental

Environmentalist. You may already be one.

— Kari Pelaez is program assistant at Stillwaters Environmental Center. For more information on how you can lighten your impact on the environment — and volunteer opportunities at Stillwaters — contact her at 360-297-1226 or kari@still watersenvironmentalcenter.org.

PelaezContinued from page 2

CARDBOARDRecycling one ton of cardboard saves

390 kWh of energy, 1.1 barrels (46 gallons) of oil and 6.6 million BTUs of energy. When recycling cardboard, prepare by removing all other materials in the box, such as plastic wrap, polystyrene peanuts and other packing materials. Then, break down cardboard boxes to save storage space. Try to keep cardboard dry and free from food waste.

GLASSRecycling one ton of glass saves 42 kWh

of energy, 0.12 barrels (5 gallons) of oil, 714,286 BTUs of energy, 2 cubic yards of landfill space and the release of 7.5 pounds

of air pollutants. Prepare glass containers for recycling by rinsing out with water. Labels on glass containers do not have to be removed because they are removed during the crushing process and/or burned off during the melting process. Avoid breaking the glass and mixing bro-ken colors together, as this may make the glass unacceptable for recycling.

PAPERRecycling one ton of paper saves 4,100

kWh of energy, 9 barrels (380 gallons) of oil, 54 million BTUs of energy, 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, the release of 60 pounds of air pollutants, 7,000 gallons of water and 17 trees. Recyclable paper

includes magazines and catalogs, tele-phone books, direct mail, brochures, pam-phlets and booklets, in addition to cereal, cake, chip and cracker boxes.

PLASTICRecycling one ton of plastic saves 5,774

kWh energy, 16.3 barrels (685 gallons) of oil, 98 million BTUs of energy, 30 cubic yards of landfill space. Remove plastic tops

from the plastic containers being recycled and rinse containers with water. Crushing containers will help save space while stor-ing them.

ALUMINUMRecycling one ton of aluminum saves

14,000 kWh of energy, 39.6 barrels (1,663 gallons) of oil, 237.6 million BTUs of ener-gy and 10 cubic yards of landfill space.

4 | EARTH DAY 2016 | REDUCE YOUR FOOTPRINT

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Recycling paper, plastic and other products obviously benefits the environment, but it’s important to look at the tangible data to see just what kind of difference it

really makes.

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Benefits of recycling

HGTV recommends a few low-cost ways to get started.

HIGH-EFFICIENCY SHOWER HEAD

A high-efficiency shower head can save as much as 3,000 gallons of water per person per year. You also can save $50 in energy costs. These shower heads are specially designed to conserve water while still providing a water flow that matches a traditional head.

Many systems work by dispersing the water more evenly, while still using less water. Sink-aerator attachments are also an

inexpensive addition that can save money and water.

HIGH-EFFICIENCY LIGHTSA typical 100-watt floodlight

can consume up to $40 of electricity over the course of a year and produce as much as 400 pounds of carbon dioxide, depending on where you live.

Outside, replace older floodlights with compact-fluorescent versions. They should be just as bright but will use one-fourth the amount of energy. Low-wattage halogen landscape bulbs also can be replaced with

LED models, which can cut energy use by as much as 80 percent while lasting for 10 or more years.

Another way to lower usage is to install motion sensors on existing lights so they’ll only kick on when you need them. After-market kits can be installed fairly easily on existing lights.

Inside the home, replace older lights with dimmable compact fluorescents. The sticker price is higher than typical bulbs, but they use less energy and are designed to last for years.

CHECK YOUR WATER HEATER SETTINGS

If you’re not up for installing a tankless or solar water heater, you can make a few tweaks to your existing set up that can cut carbon emissions by as much as 25 percent. Reduce the temperature of your water heater to 120 degrees, then wrap it in a water-heater insulating blanket and insulate the first 3 to 6 feet of hot and cold water pipes.

YOUR HOME | EARTH DAY 2016 | 5

Though you can buy a new home sporting a ton of high-tech energy-efficient accessories, there are affordable changes you can make to get your existing home closer to a green lifestyle.

© FOTOLIA

Energy-efficient home

Windermere Real Estate offices on Bainbridge Island and in Kingston, Poulsbo and Silverdale, will host an Elec-tronic Recycling and Docu-ment Shredding event 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 23.

They will accept desktops, laptops, monitors and TVs for recycling. They will also ac-cept gently used clothing and small household items.

Buy a hot dog lunch at the event and benefit the Windermere Foundation, which assists low-income and homeless families in our communities.

An event you should not miss

The U.S. Census estimates that about half of all Americans live within five miles of their workplace. If all those people opted to bike to work every day instead of drive, total household emis-sions would be reduced by approxi-mately 6 percent.

According to National Geographic, motor vehicles produce more than 30 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emis-sions, more than 80 percent of the nation’s annual carbon monoxide emissions and about half of the nation’s annual nitrogen oxide emissions. Much of those emissions are created when a vehicle is warming up, meaning those emissions could be avoided by walking or biking.

Public transportation is another option to help reduce the carbon foot-print created by driving.

BIKING CUTS HEALTHCARE COSTS, MAKES YOU HEALTHIER

Along with a healthy diet, proper exercise is one of the most important

things a person can do to live a healthy life. Cycling fits nicely into that formula and could potentially save billions in healthcare costs.

According to Discovery, a recent study focused on the upper Midwest noted that if half the residents chose to take their car trips by bicycle, health care costs would drop by $7 billion. Air quality also would improve, which would be another contributing factor to a healthy region, leading to 1,100 fewer deaths each year.

Jonathan Patz, a public health scien-tist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, told Discovery, “If you have a city with good biking infrastructure, the potential gain in health benefits compared to risks could be, like in Europe, quite significant.

“Our study, which shows the incredi-ble health benefits that are possible, gives that much more impetus to make our cities safer for biking.”

6 | EARTH DAY 2016 | HEALTHY PLANET, HEALTHY YOU

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There are an estimated 253 million vehicles on the road in the United States, and the carbon footprint left behind is massive. How can that

be reduced? The first step is to drive less.

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Walk or ride your bike

earth dayinspire act educate

2016Specialty publications editor : Leslie Kelly

Regional advertising director: Donna Etchey

Sales representatives: Sharon Allen, Tawna Grisham, Jessica Martindale, Marleen Martinez, Bill McDonald, Ariel Naumann

Creative services: Bryon Kempf, manager; Mark Gillespie, Kelsey Thomas, John Rodriguez, Vanessa Calverley, Johanna Buxton

Cover photo: Courtesy of Stillwaters Environmental Learning Center

Copyright 2016 Sound Publishing

One way to stop the cycle: Give an item a second (or third, or fourth) life by reusing or repurposing it.

LIBRARY OR USED-BOOK STOREMost people love to read, but what

about after you’ve finished that dog-eared paperback or hardback? If you don’t like to keep books piling up on a bookshelf, donate them to your local library or sell them to your local book-store.

On the other side of that coin, if you’re looking for something new to read, take a chance on a used edition. It gives that book a second use and is usually quite a bit cheaper than picking up a new copy.

Local libraries are also excellent sources for new hits and old classics. Your tax dollars typically pay for that library; why not get your money’s worth?

THRIFT STORES AND YARD SALESAs for clothes and other household

items, before heading to the big box or

department store, check out thrift sto-ries and yard sales. You can potentially save an item from the trash bin and save some cash in the process. From vintage or little-worn clothes to inter-esting furniture, thrift stores have grown into an excellent shopping option for a variety of items.

REPURPOSE OR UPCYCLEIt’s amazing how an old item can

become something new again, with a completely different purpose.

n Empty toilet paper rolls can be used to store and organize cords.

n Old ketchup bottles can be used to dispense pancake batter.

n A bent wrench can become a wall hook.

n Old doors and windows (and even suitcases) can be turned into new cof-fee and kitchen tables.

n Old bottles can be turned into light fixtures.

n Old lightbulbs can be turned into candles.

DO YOUR PART | EARTH DAY 2016 | 7

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We continue to fi nd ways to improve our environment through better recycling and waste management.

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Rethink home yard projects to protect Puget Sound.

See our new guide about rain gardens, cisterns, permeable paving and much more.www.CleanWaterKitsap.org

Rethink home yard projectsto protect Puget Sound.See our new guide about rain gardens,cisterns, permeable paving and much more.www.CleanWaterKitsap.orgbit.ly/enhanceyouryard

Data shows that Americans can be among the most wasteful people on the planet, buying new things while

tossing the old higher and higher into landfills.

New life, new uses for older items

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8 | EARTH DAY 2016 | DO YOUR PART

Pope Resources19950 7th Avenue NE, Suite 200

Poulsbo, WA 98370www.orm.com

50 Square Miles and Counting…Thank you to our partners! With your help we have put an additional 415 acres

of land into conservation since the last Earth Day, preserving special places and maintaining working forests. That brings our total to over 50 square miles since

1998. Stay tuned for more good news from 2016!

Kitsap Forest and Bay Community Campaign, coming in 2016This summer, the Kitsap Forest and Bay Coalition, a partnership between Pope Resources and 30 community organizations, will be mounting a major campaign to raise money for the acquisition of the Port Gamble Forest. The forest, encompassing an area three times the size of Central Park (nearly seven times the size of Discovery, Blake Island, or Gazzam Lake Parks) is one of the largest lowland forests in the Hood Canal watershed. This low elevation allows bikers, hikers, birders and equestrians, year round access to trails. It will preserve public access to the popular trails that are on private timberlands and add a 200-acre family friendly mountain bike park, as well as long term plans for the Sound to Olympics Trail. The community fundraising effort will be led by a diverse local coalition and managed by Forterra.

Tarboo Slopes240 Acres

Jefferson CountyDepartment of Natural Resources

& U.S. Navy, Partners

Grovers Creek175 AcresNorth Kitsap CountyGreat Peninsula Conservancy, Partner

Photo by Don Willott

Photo by Greg Preist

Photo by Jefferson Land Trust

earth day - earth day 2016

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