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Eastern's
5,000 Pound
Challenge |
We are starting a Low Carbon Diet Workgroup!
Please join us for the Eastern 5,000 Pound Challenge. You can be an attending member or join us as a virtual member. You can come from the Eastern Connecticut State University community, or as our guest!
Our physical meetings will be held in the ECSU Student Center on Thursdays from 11:30 to 12:30. Members may come and go as needed. You can sign in as a virtual member and participate via the web.
We will be using the book
Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5,000 Pounds
It is available at the ECSU Bookstore or other book outlets (including Amazon.com online) for less than $13. It is a great workbook to help you make the choices and changes we will be discussing.
Introduction Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008 ECSU Lunch and Learn
Meeting One Thursday Feb. 14, 2008 ECSU Student Center
Seating near the Book Store
11:30 - 12:30
Bring your lunch!
Meeting Two Thursday Feb. 21, 2008
Meeting Three Thursday Feb. 28, 2008
Meeting Four Thursday Mar. 6, 2008
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See the Week One Update
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Download and review the Week 1-2 LDC Watch List
- Check out your Carbon Footprint
We will be working on our Lifestyle Practices, going over the Week 1-2 Watch List and discussing changes we can make.
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Take a look at your laundry this week-- and maybe try the fun quiz by Sierra Club at http://www.sierraclub.org/howgreen/laundry/
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Take a look at the lighting used in your home. Go room to room and make a list of all the bulbs, their wattage, and how many hours you use them on a daily basis. If a bulb is used more than 3 hours, changing it to a compact fluorescent (CFL) will definitely save money (and carbon!). Click here for a worksheet to use in your home lighting audit.
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For more information about the carbon impacts of everyday actions, check out these documents: Ecological Footprint Facts, and Residential Energy Use.
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Sometimes lifestyle changes are about what you don't do, rather than what you do. Think about your purchases-- do you really need a bag to put that purchase in? Go without and save. Better yet, get yourself some tote bags, keep them in the car for handy use and really add up some carbon savings:
How many plastic bags and natural resources will be saved by using your own tote? (from http://www.shop.greensak.com/)
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Number of Bags |
Potential |
Potential |
Oil and |
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Plastic Bag |
Plastic Bag |
Natural |
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Reduction |
Reduction |
Resources |
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(per year) |
(5 years) |
Saved |
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(per year) |
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5 |
1,000 |
5,000 |
4.2 Gallons |
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bags |
bags |
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10 |
2,000 |
10,000 |
21 Gallons |
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|
bags |
bags |
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1 |
200 |
1,000 |
0.85 Gallons |
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(per bag) |
(per bag) |
(per bag) |
What some more interesting facts?
If 1 out of 4 Americans used a reusable shopping sak we could save 3 million barrels of oil (105 million gallons)
If each American family used one less plastic shopping bag each week, its estimated that would save 3.8 billion bags per year. Consider reusable bags. (Calculated with average family = 4 members)
These single-use, high-density polyethylene bags are manufactured from petroleum, a nonrenewable resource. It's estimated that nearly 12 million barrels of oil are required to make the 100 billion plastic shopping bags Americans go through annually. Plastic bags have captured more than 80 percent of the supermarket and convenience store packaging market at a cost of $4 billion to U.S. retailers annually. http://www.daviscoop.com/grocery_bags.html
- Download and review the Week 3-4 Watch List
We will start on Household Systems.
We will look at our gains and count up our loses, and discuss how we can continue to make carbon reductions.
US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration had a great resources about all things energy.
For the numbers for Carbon Emissions for different fuels try: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/coefficients.html
Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs can save you a lot of money in energy use over the life of the bulb. All CFLs contain a small amount of mercury. Are they safe? What do you do if you break one? How do you dispose of used bulbs? Read the Connecticut Department of Environment CFL Factsheet.
You can purchase carbon offset to reduce your carbon footprint. There are many ways to do so. You might want to research what carbon offsets by checking out Clean Air - Cool Planet's Consumer's Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers.
You can reduce your paper trash by opting out of junk mail. By refusing credit card offers, you reduce the trash and improve your chances of becoming an identity theft victim. If you have already applied to the national "No Call" list to avoid the telemarketers , then this is the natural next step!
Opt out of Junk Mail (from Money Magazine, Oct. 2007)
Write "no mailing lists" on product warrantees and rebates you send in.Email the catalog services to get off the lists.To get off the credit card offers lists visit www.optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-567-8688.
To date we have 16 members on our team.
| Member | Initial Carbon Footprint (lbs. CO2) | # in Household | Carbon Savings to Date |
| Laurel Kohl | 50,791 | 5 |
12,150 Pounds Saved!
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| Karen Schroeder | 53,652 | 4 | |
| Steve Kenton | 55,824 | 2 | |
| Linda T | 37,306 | 4 |
13,764 Pounds Saved!
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| Trudy Hyatt | 59,905 | 4 | |
| Giselle Stancil | 57,938 | 3 |
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