Responses from the March 9th Town Hall meeting:
“Do you have an individual action that you’d like to tell others about?”
Permaculture
Cohabitation
Home garden, master gardener
Student run sustainable living house
Sold car and bought a bike trailer made in Eugene – didn’t replace car
Started to plant a vegetable garden
Had ducts sealed which made a huge difference in heating costs
Insulated attic
Eating local game
Wrote a book on natural landscaping techniques
Installed solar panel with a solar lease
Put in a clover lawn
Kids can walk to school
Got rid of two cars and got a hybrid vehicle to share
More walking to work
New vinyl windows
Garden – growing a lot of our own food
Composting
Neighborhood recycling
New heat system and appliances (more energy efficient)
Insulation
Renting a plot at the community garden
Cut electric bill down considerably
Home sharing
Low grass imprint to begin with, now going to no grass
Coho went through planning process – looked at conservation practices and plan to make action team to help people do conservation
Cut a camas field with a scythe to avoid a mower
Watering system to save water
Pruning trees to increase edible harvest
Turning thermostats down, let go of lawn grass and need for irrigation.
Try to combine trips and use 35 mpg car, hard to avoid driving living 13 miles from town.
Using cloth bags when shopping, increasing recycling – made easy in Corvallis.
Bought a bike, set up a worm bin, have lots of pet worms, buying more fresh and local foods.
Live frugally, examine relative impacts of purchases and actions, buy used clothes, cutting back on travel, converting land to native plants
Biking to OSU every day, burning surplus wood from arborists for heat, installing whole-house electricity monitor, growing much of our own food.
Installed a ductless heat pump system, using a local business.
Got mortgage at OSU credit union.
Neighbors gathered together to combine purchasing to get local food. Share produce during growing season.
Share tasks, tools, equipment in neighborhood. Make an online list.
Energy savings projects. Usee less. No plastic bags. Grow own food. Think of one more little thing every week!
Ride bike or walk everywhere.
Door-to-door canvassing in neighborhood; ask each neighbor to do 3 things for sustainability. Follow up later.
Add insulation, new windows and roof to old farmhouse.
Riding the bus and enjoying it! Downtown, to the coop, all around
Turn off lights and gas burning fire
Housemates, space sharing
Using used materials when building a new house
Buy very little
Shop at thrift stores and garage sales
Organic gardening
Buy used
o Often get better quality
o Good finds that aren’t available anywhere else
Get rid of lawn
o Put in low maintenance garden
Makes children ride bus and walk—no more kid carting! Saves gas money and time
Close blinds at night to avoid heat loss
Individual challenges- composting, purchasing local, influencing friends to be sustainable
Opened up food cart on OSU campus
Built manufacturing home- energy star home with energy star appliances
Put in garden
Collect rainwater
Grow 50% of own food
Solar panels, community dryer and line drying
Switched lawn to vegetable garden, compost
Teaches sprouting classes
Recycle clothes and goods, buy used local products
My wife likes animals, and has been requesting chickens for a while. That hit home for me – so I built a little chicken coop, we had a perfect spot in the yard for it. We have a lot of eggs and we’re giving them away. Chickens mow the lawns. 4 chickens, thinking about getting more – got original chick from the feed store – they all ended up being roosters. (Car alarms are louder than roosters!) Bribe the neighbors to
I’ve been riding my bike a lot ore this year. If your organization could find ways to coalesce employees into using alternatives to cars. I want to work on this during the year. Wants to ask congregations to figure out different ways.
I have my foot in a couple of different churches. At one church they use disposables. I’ve been taking forks spoons, plastic. Takes them to a place to get them washed through a commercial washer. Linn Benton Food Share will then use disposable cutlery after they have been washed commercially twice.
HP – big chairperson for the sustainability at HP. Got rid of all paper cups at coffee station. Everyone must use reusable cups. Gave out 350 reusable mugs. Eliminate Styrofoam earlier. Reusable mugs on “you wash” system. Eliminated paper waste – it is coated with wax which means that those cups were pure waste.
CH2MHill – when the company moved to HP – much better facilities to use recycling. Co-mingled recycling bin at every workstation! Moving to HP has made it so much easier for the company to be sustainable – the infrastructure was already there. We’re using our own plates and silverware now in the building, which has been really useful.
System for sustainability was there before.
CH2MHill has a green team before the move to HP!
Community Garden at HP – CH2MHill will soon be able to use the community garden. The garden was built 3 years ago.
Engineers at CH 2 M Hill are working in a leased building. They have designers that could fix the lighting but in leased space they cannot use.
A lot of produce goes to food share form HP Garden. Common table – produce can also be donated.
CSA at HP for employees. UU CSA – renting at parking spot.
Jeremy’s beer making at CoHo
Trade a giant rocket stove for beer; Rocket Stove Beer
Restore more land with pasture to sustainable agriculture
Buying at the Earth Smart Store (plates, cups, utensils)
Building a homeless house
Global-warming newsletter distributer
Buying local foods
Driving a Prius instead of a gas-guzzling truck
Biking to work
Carpooling to school
Composting
I take the train whenever I can.
Grow most of our own food, eat very little meat, but is a little conflicted about it
Buy seeds from local people.
Been an organic home gardener promoting biodiversity for 30 years – 14 fruit trees and more
Remodeling Bonus room into a bedroom, using low VOCs paint, green building materials
I’ve been in a car twice this year, and neither time was alone
Bike every day, started raising chickens, put in a wood stove.
Taking stock of what I throw away, getting rain barrels
Pick a lot of berries in the summer, line dry clothing in the summer
Not driving, riding with friends – carpooling
Food production in yard – apples, blueberries, gooseberries: sharing healthy food
Elderly parent at the Regent – collecting used medicine bottles to take to the co-op to recycle from all the interested residents at the facility
Home energy conservation – new windows, insulation, refrigerator, light bulbs
Ruby Moon started a community garden
Install programmable thermostats, adjust to 58.60 when no one is home
Clean warm air registers, radiators, make sure not blocked
Turn off kitchen fan or other exhaust fans within 20 minutes of showering or cooking and vacuum vents annually
Share your air conditioning thermostat if it gets direct sunlight, avoid having TV’s or lamps next to thermostat
Tape clear plastic film to the inside of your windows during the winter months
Improving sidewalks by removing obstructions. Working to get systems in place to enforce on-going maintenance.
Work to make the city council and planning commission comply with land use regulations. Currently there are too many variances and exceptions made.
Work to preserve Witham Hill Oaks – a beautiful natural area, close in.
Be a vegetarian.
Volunteer at Sunbow Farm in exchange for fresh produce.
Install solar panels, sign up for Blue Sky power programs, install energy efficient windows
Make recycling part of the work place to bring awareness to co-workers.
Become a master recycler.
Not have kids – reduce population growth and consumption.
Attend educational conferences on climate change.
Ride the bus.
Walk to work.
Work remotely
Drive a hybrid car.
Eat locally grown foods. Grow our own food.
Shop at the farmer’s market.
Buy CSA boxes which is eating locally AND investing in local businesses.
Share surplus harvest with friends, neighbors and Stone Soup.
Walking to work
Learning how to can foods
Re-learning to sew
Taking lawns out for people
Discovered a green biodegradable alternative to using bleach to clean mold and mildew. An enzyme based cleaner obtained at www.zymeaway.com
Participated in Plant a Row for the hungry and donated many, many pounds of kale and tomatoes
Shared “Karma Box” idea and it’s now being used in an OSU dorm. (a box to put useable stuff for re-use by another)
Founded Slow Food Chapter in Corvallis that supports tasting tables in the schools
Encouraged colleagues to reduce paper mailings and increase online/electronic sharing.
Look at little things
New Years resolution: try not to buy anything in plastic bottles – oils in glass, soda in cans, even shampoos, personal products, things in bulk (but Co-Op buys in gallon containers),
Carpooling when convenient
Challenging to use less water
Developing consciousness
Double-siding paper
Got rid of car!
Taking bus public transportation across country, 11 gallons of diesel personally rather than driving
Composting
Using natural Barn Owl pest control (for rats) rather than using pesticides
Understanding connection with garbage disposal in sink and the meaning of the name – GARBAGE, goes to same conclusion
Using clothes line rather than dryer, racks inside during winter
Turn down house temperature, continue to decrease – movie Gasland
Bought energy star washer & dryer
Reduced trash to a fraction by fervent recycling
Grow more food
Drive less
Buy new furnace – reduced energy by 50%
Net zero on electricity; hope to get there on thermal too
Repurposing old houses
Moving into growing local food
Big recycler and re-user of material rather than buying new
Goal of real world application of electronics for a more efficient, greener world
Switch to renewable energy
Avid recycling and composting
Need to switch to power purchasing on cat litter!
Planning to switch windows, adding insulation
Want to get electric vehicle that can haul large stuff with a decent range
Bought a brand new furnace, moved from 60% to 98.5% efficient
Installed heat pump water heater and many other measures
Busy life- new years res- no plastic bottles not just water but any plastic- oil food, shampoo
Carpooling save on auto use, use less water double sided printing
Car free, splits time between east and west coast. Has bike in each place. Bus takes 11g diesel and 3 days
Start buying Lockmeade milk again
Composting in kitchen- curbside (student living at home influencing family)
Church building barn owl nest boxes, will also help deal with rat population in town, help reduce poison usage too
Info from Allied waste- not putting stuff down disposal. This can cause water treatment to increase, and uses more water. Electric dryer- line drying even in winter saves energy and prolongs life of clothes
Also no dryer. Natural gas keep temp at 63 in home.
I bicycle commute to work ¾ of the year.
I shower every other day (pheeew!)
Buy local . . . duh!
We don’t use paper towels . . . we use cloth towels
digging up front lawn for a food garden
Cut up t-shirts for rags to replace paper towels
Rainwater collector . . . I want one!
Digging up the backyard for a garden
Replaced our old chest freezer, washer/dryer, refrigerator with energy efficient models for $1200
Go to the Re-Store
Raised ducks
Made a car battery charger out of an alternator and upright bicycle
(we digressed into how to keep grass out of your yard . . .)
(and then we digressed onto pizza . . )
Order pizza from Cirello’s Pizza . . . enter their pizza recipe contest
Recycling block captain in city
Set up composting system in dorm
Made energy efficiency upgrades to home
Unplug your microwave
Removed condiment packets from summer camp
Master Recycler course
Jeremy’s beer making at CoHo
Trade a giant rocket stove for beer; Rocket Stove Beer
Restore more land with pasture to sustainable agriculture
Started Gardening
Put Solar Panels on roof
Took on ‘Pay as you go car insurance policy’
Sold dryer
Recreate locally
Plant a garden
Make local mead
Stopped watering parts of garden during summer
Plans for future:
Share a car (for rent) once it becomes legal to do so
Solar panels
Plug in Electric car
More local recreation
Take train more
Plant more edible and native plants in yard
Started Gardening
Put Solar Panels on roof
Took on ‘Pay as you go car insurance policy’
Sold dryer
Recreate locally
Plant a garden
Make local mead
Stopped watering parts of garden during summer
Plans for future:
Share a car (for rent) once it becomes legal to do so
Solar panels
Plug in Electric car
More local recreation
Take train more
Plant more edible and native plants in yard
I have 3 chickens
I make compost tea
I have meadow instead of grass
I use a push mower
I often think a neighborhood goat would be a good idea to eat blackberries
We collect rainwater for use on outdoor plants and grass
Plastic bags are a problem
Use of too much hot water creates problems for waste water disposal (raising temp of rivers)
I use Corvallis’s story of sustainability to tell others
I would like to see a billboard in Corvallis with sustainability issues displayed every month, i.e. “how to conserve” and “did you know?”
Volunteering in gardens – a great way to meet people, learn about gardening, and a fulfillment in helping others
Bought a new energy efficient water heater with on-demand gas power
Cancelled trash service and used on-call only twice/year instead
Hasn’t used the clothes dryer in over a year – uses drying racks and clothes lines in basement all winter instead
Commuting more by bike
All kids (3!) walk to the bus every day, even in the rain
Keep the heat down as much as possible and wear a sweater when it’s cold
Reuse plastic bags at grocery store over and over again, washing them out after use
Getting rid of non-fuel-efficient truck and buying a small ‘commuter car’ instead
Never use plastic bags from grocery store
Building a 0-net-energy building at workplace
Combining trips when use of the car is necessary
Rebuilt old microwave instead of trashing old one and buying new
Shop at consignment/goodwill/reused stores
Initiating sustainability conversations with kids at home
Planning a zero-waste event for a big national conference in 2013
New wood burning stoves – to look into all goes out C02 and 02 free-standing
Break down old materials for houses
Food waste and composting at OSU, upgraded efficiency, got rid of deep-freeze, bought house and making a home garden (salads, fruit trees).
Blue Sky 0 garbage in bins, own bags at grocery store
EcNow Tech – Manufacturing has zero waste – everything reused or composted; using sugar cane stalks as feedstock; working with area farmers to keep products made here in community.
Continue recycling efforts, get down to zero waste
Compost/recycling downtown to make accessible to public
People living downtown don’t know where to compost – businesses don’t have anywhere to compost.
Recycling Styrofoam at the Co-op, compact as much as you can.
Styrofoam – university is collecting this week.
Book Bin – Takes Styrofoam pellets and uses them to pack books, supplies.
Take dog for walks, plastic flower pot to scoop up poop, but re-use.
Take plastic bags to Allied Waste to recycle
Winco takes plastic bags
Bought an electric car a year ago and don’t have to go to the gas station.
Are working on using bath water to wash clothing, dry clothes on clothes lines in the living room from the woodstove, cook broth and chai tea herbs on the woodstove (instead of on the stove).
Are working on a demonstration permaculture garden at OSU, his backyard and at Oatmar’s house.
Grow their own food and can tomatoes, etc. Amazed at how well a rocket stove boils water. A rocket stove (designed by Approvecho in Eugene) is a high efficiency stove designed to burn sticks. Are metal/ceramic stoves that burn sticks at high efficiency. Can tomatoes in the field (Approvecho).
Gradually doing one thing at a time…..bought house 2 years ago. One step after another. Insulated (replaced siding and insulated the house), replaced the windows; this sumer will do permaculture plantings, looking at solar and rainwater harvesting. Compost as much as they can of the paper waste in their office. Are composting latex gloves.
Purchased locally made furniture, made from locally grown sustainable, certified wood. There’s a place that gets their wood from Zenner forest near Salem (oak, good quality wood, from local Willamette River Oak….too many knots). Her name is xxx Johnson. Buy certified wood, with good management progress. The city of Corvallis has been harvesting wood out of the watershed at Mary’s Peak. From the time you cut it until it gets milled, it has to be tracked. Have sold the wood from these forests!
Never use a clothes drier
No gas
Kept driveway from being asphalted
Installed photo voltaic cell
Insulation work to conserve heat
Double paned windows
Put in ductless heat pumps
Insulated crawspace
Purchased CSA
Purchased energy efficient refrigerator, washing machine
Took 100 fewer baths
Reused everything possible
Lowered amount of garbage
Don’t go to Trader Joe’s because of packaging
Ask “do I really need that”
Purchased used clothing
Using reuseable sandwich wrappers
Purchasing reuseable produce bags
Reuse ziplock bags – wash
Ride bike
Use cardboard to mulch out sections of lawn and replace with garden or native plants
Building green buildings
Community sharing of garden space
Making your own food instead of buying prepacked
Using peer pressure to move away from plastics
Promote using glass containers
Increase sense of community by waving, smiling, and greeting others. Reawaken the connections and community spirit
Local business know you by name
Work towards net zero home energy use
Upgrade to energy efficient appliances
Buy bulk food
Use solar
New gas furnace and heat pump, Prius, buy local, local restaurant like Block 15.
Down to one car, purchase water efficient dishwasher, toilet, church went green one Sunday, 1 small bag of garbage a week.
CFLs
New toilet, some insulation, needs new refrigerator, son is an ecologist does not drive to work
Wants to install rainwater collection and new washer dryer.
I converted my work truck to veggie oil and buy it from the biofuel folks.
We bought a house that is located in a place that allows us to walk and bike everywhere we need to go.
I learned how to ride the train and bus when I lived in Portland for a few months, and ride the train between Portland and Corvallis.
We installed a heat pump water heater.
I carpool a lot.
Stopped buying water bottles.
Buying rechargeable batteries more and more now, replacing one-time use batteries as we can, fun to teach our child that it’s the norm to do this
Compost bucket now sits by the sink, surprised by how little is in the yard debris cart, thinks may ask neighbors if want to contribute their organic materials to the cart
Groups car activity as much as possible
Keep heat at reasonable temp (68-69) during day, programmed thermostat to turn down to 64 at night
Worm bin and chickens are taking care of most of his organic scraps—chickens are so easy to take care of, the eggs are delicious, creating a terrific cycle where we eat the food, they eat the scraps, they fertilize the land, this helps us grow more food to eat
Stopped using car for a few months when lived in Portland, now lives here in Corvallis on Peoria Rd and has become car-free for last month and really loves it
Curbside composting not available in part of town where she lives, rents so cannot start pile of rotting food out back, so puts her food scraps in a bag and takes it with her on her bike, composting it at her boyfriend’s house
Does Corvallis have a Zip Car rental option? Not yet.
Enterprise Rent-a-car is hoping within a couple of months their “We Car” on campus will become available to Corvallis residents
Persuaded his wife to wait 2 more years to replace their 15 year old car, to get more life out of it first
Bachelor, most of the food he buys is at restaurants where he can do trades for his services and THEY buy organically
Helps people build chicken coops with scrap wood; has built one with wheels and a solar powered door
Installed a ductless heat pump system, using a local business.
Got mortgage at OSU credit union.
Neighbors gathered together to combine purchasing to get local food. Share produce during growing season.
Share tasks, tools, equipment in neighborhood. Make an online list.
Energy savings projects. Usee less. No plastic bags. Grow own food. Think of one more little thing every week!
Ride bike or walk everywhere.
Door-to-door canvassing in neighborhood; ask each neighbor to do 3 things for sustainability. Follow up later.
Add insulation, new windows and roof to old farmhouse.
Single Payer Health Care
Waste Oil Powered Vehicle
Make Compost
Riding Bike More
CSA Food Box
Campaign for Change
Public Commitment
Composting Food Waste
Turn off Lights
Producing more of my own food/gardening.
Improving sidewalks by removing obstructions. Working to get systems in place to enforce on-going maintenance.
Work to make the city council and planning commission comply with land use regulations. Currently there are too many variances and exceptions made.
Work to preserve Witham Hill Oaks – a beautiful natural area, close in.
Be a vegetarian.
Volunteer at Sunbow Farm in exchange for fresh produce.
Install solar panels, sign up for Blue Sky power programs, install energy efficient windows
Make recycling part of the work place to bring awareness to co-workers.
Become a master recycler.
Not have kids – reduce population growth and consumption.
Attend educational conferences on climate change.
Ride the bus.
Walk to work.
Work remotely
Drive a hybrid car.
Eat locally grown foods. Grow our own food.
Shop at the farmer’s market.
Buy CSA boxes which is eating locally AND investing in local businesses.
Share surplus harvest with friends, neighbors and Stone Soup.