Minutes from Sustainability Meeting, Next Meeting August 2

“Minutes” from Summer Solstice Gathering 6/21/14

We opened with discussion about what individuals/CSA members could be doing in their own homes (or businesses) to reduce their 1. water use and 2. energy use.  See list of ideas below.  We concluded that we would like to have a water and energy reduction challenge within the CSA throughout the rest of the season so that members can monitor their water and energy use and try to reduce it.  We will create a Facebook group where people can share numbers and ideas, as well as a Google spreadsheet open to everyone who is participating where each person/household can report their energy and water use and watch the numbers go down.  We hope to have this all up and running in the next few weeks.  Prize for the participating household with highest % reduction.

Ideas for reducing water:

capturing water for reuse when waiting for water to heat up or cool down (often up to a gallon of water), can be used for cooking or watering house plants

only using dishwasher when full, otherwise washing dishes by hand in a way that conserves water

using water-efficient appliances

planting drought-resistant grass/clover and plants in your yard to reduce watering needs, watering only early in the morning and only when needed (not just on a timer), mulching to reduce water-loss

rain barrels

reducing shower time 

fixing faucets that drip

is there a gadget that measures water use at each sink?

Ideas for reducing energy:

putting all gadgets, devices, etc. on power strips and turning off whenever not in use

turning off lights when not in use, consider having at least one no-tech night a week (more in summer?) where you use no forms of technology or lights for entertainment

go to bed and wake with the sun

use only energy-efficient appliances

composting

recycling, reusing, only purchasing items when you really need them (consider 2nd hand)

purchasing locally, especially food; reducing internet purchasing (and thus shipping)

carpooling or doing all errands in one trip

purchasing energy efficient vehicle when you are faced with purchasing a new car

using CFL lights (replace 5 in your home), dispose properly

keep thermostat low in winter and high in summer to reduce use of HVAC unit (68/86), keep off when not at home for significant time

This is just a start.  We thought Facebook page could be used for sharing reduction ideas as well.

We then moved to discussing climate change adaptation and mitigation at the farm.  I opened up with general ideas offered by the FAO, then moved into specific projects that Lalo and I would like to address.  The specific projects include: making the greenhouse more sustainable, water capturing from wash water and rain, high nutrient pasture and cover cropping, pig for food waste, woodland/watershed rehab, perennials, introducing “New Climate Diet” to members, organic certification?.  

As a group, we prioritized the projects, so that the first project would be making the greenhouse more sustainable.  This would include water barrels for temperature control (and possible water capturing), shade cloth, and solar panels.  We would do this project in stages, focusing first on the water barrels.  There are also several other places on the farm where rain barrels could be installed.  This would be our first “weekend” project.  We will set a time and date once we have materials ready.  

Out of this discussion came two other discussions.  One, we concluded that we need a fundraising committee (please let me know if you are interested), as most of the sustainability projects that we would like to pursue cannot be funded from the CSA.  Two, we discussed CSA composting.  It is something that we have tossed around several times and even done on a small scale.  We could definitely make it work.  We would need 5 gallon buckets with lids for everyone who wanted to participate, a list of approved items, and volunteers to bring compost out to the farm (preferably people who already come out to the farm to eliminate extra travel).  From the farm perspective, we need a source of dry material (leaves or woodchips).  Libby Stancell is going to look into this.

Finally, we discussed the topic of the next meeting, which will be “The New Climate Diet.”  We would like to share with you our list of worst offenders when it comes to water and energy needs, and discuss how eating locally-sourced food and especially in a CSA greatly reduces your carbon and water-use footprint.  We would also like to discuss how we use factors related to sustainability to determine planting and harvesting dates, as well as vegetable selection and variety selection.  We would like to do the meeting the last week of July/first week of August.  Please let us know if there is a day and time that works better for you.  Otherwise we will do it Sat, Aug. 2 in the afternoon.