Many students using our footprint calculator said that they could not pledge to reduce their home footprints because they were not making the decisions for the household. Here is your chance to design your own sustainable virtual household!
If you had your own home, what would you do to make it more energy efficient? Where would you get your electricity from? Where would your house be? Would you live near to your school or work or local transit options? Where would you get your food from?
MY Family Footprint >
Gray Water System, Insulation, Solar Panels, Local & Organic Food
This is an issue I clash with my parents about quite often. As the leader of the Sustainability club at my school, I feel the responsibility to be as sustainable as I can, but I often feel helpless at home. There are so many ways of making our house more eco-friendly, that it kills me not to be able to persuade my parents to take action. Although, I do understand that many of these systems are extremely costly. Yet in a perfect world, these are the main aspects I would implement in my ideal household. First off, and currently most importantly due to the drought in California, I would use a gray water system for all the toilets. Instead of using new and potable water in out toilets, we would use recycled rain water. Second, in California the weather is never so extreme that any heat or air conditioning is vital. I think as long as my house has good insulation, we could use extra blankets in the cold and portable fans when its hot. For electricity, I would have solar panels all over my roof. Lastly, in terms of food, I would do everything I can to buy locally grown food, t o help my community and get the freshest produce out! I would also want to buy any meat and animal products cage free and free range, no hormones, and organic. This would fulfill my ideal home and my ideal self, knowing I am doing the best I can to benefit the earth, our communities, and the animals we eat.
Great ideas! Keep working on your goals. Solar is a no-brainer in most of the US.'
Your ideas are great; for anyone wondering, gray water is "gently used water from your bathroom sinks, showers, tubs, and washing machines. It is not water that has come into contact with feces, either from the toilet or from washing diapers." - Greywater action.org (http://greywateraction.org/contentabout-greywater-reuse)
It's a great way to cut down on water usage; why bother running all the sinks and the sprinklers when you can kill two birds with one stone?
Here's an NPR article that talks more about it
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor … =105089381