Global Cooler Challenge

1-2-3 Steps to carbon reduction

Summer 2009, the Peace and Social Concerns Committee encouraged Multnomah Meeting of Friends to sign up for a 1-2-3 Steps to carbon reduction to reduce our contribution to global climate change.

I/We pledge to do the following for global warming (check as many as you can commit to):

1. Reduce the thermostat setting at home by 1 degree (or by ____ degrees) during the heating season. If you have air conditioning, increase the setting by 1 degree during the cooling season.
2. Reduce driving speed by 2 miles per hour (or by ____ m.p.h.) from the speed I/we would normally drive, when traveling 60 miles per hour or more.
3. Replace 3 regular light bulbs (or ____# bulbs) with compact fluorescent bulbs in extensively used lighting fixtures at home.
   

Measuring your progress toward carbon reduction

Spring 2010: we looked at our progress. So far 23 households of Multnomah Meeting had signed up for the 1-2-3 program.

We plan to measure the success (or failure) of our 1-2-3 program by asking all participants to determine the energy they used in the year before September 1, 2009. We will use the resultant total from all participants as a baseline to compare with the total of the same households when we repeat the calculation next year.

Carbon Footprint Data Collection

1. NUMBER OF PERSONS IN THE HOUSEHOLD ______
2. DATE RANGE. Choose a 12 month period __________________
3. MILES DRIVEN and MILES PER GALLON: Estimate for each car for the last 12 months. (Don’t know? Go to www.fueleconomy.gov. In the lower left-hand corner of the page select “MPG estimate from Users,” then select your make and model and choose the EPA combined average.) (The average U.S. resident drives 15,000 miles per year.)
   Car #1: Make, model, year _____________________
   Miles driven ______
   MPG (miles per gallon) ______
   Current odometer reading ______
   Car #2: Make, model, year __________________________
   Miles driven ______
   MPG (miles per gallon) ______
   Current odometer reading ______
4. FLIGHT MILES: Estimate of the miles flown by each member of your family for the last 12 months. Don’t know how far you flew? Go to www.webflyer.com/travel/milemarker/. Select cities flown to and from to get miles traveled. Count each flight for each family member separately, even if they flew on the same flight.
   Total for all family members: ______
5. UTILITY INFORMATION:
   Electric Company (circle one) PGE, Pacific Power, Other ______
   Energy usage totals for the last 12 months:
   Electricity (kWh) ______
   Natural Gas (therm) ______
   (If listed as mcf then multiply by 10.3 to convert to therm)
   Heating Oil or Propane (gallons) ______
   Don’t keep your bills? It is easy and free to get a 12 month record of your utility usage. You can check your billing history on-line, or call your power company to request a listing of the amount of energy used over the last 12 months. A paper record will arrive by mail within two weeks.
   PGE (503-228-6322) www.portlandgeneral.com
   Pacific Power (1-888-221-7070) www.pacificpower.net
   NW Natural (503-226-4211) www.nwnatural.com
   If you can’t get your actual data because you live in a multi-unit building and do not pay an individual bill, use the following estimates:
   Space heating* 130 therm (gas heat) or 2,000 kWh (electric heat)
   plus Water heating 180 therm (gas) or 2,900 kWh (electric)
   plus Electric lights and appliances 2,250 kWh
   *Note: Values based on a two-bedroom, 880 sq. ft. garden apartment. If you live in a block apartment building rather than a garden apartment, use 90 therm or 1,400 kWh for space heating.
6. GARBAGE (Total gallons per week) ______ Kitchen bags are 13 gallons; large garbage bags are 33 gallons. If you have garbage pick-up, the size of your container may be listed on your monthly bill.

New Step 4: Reduce your family's meat and dairy consumption

Summer 2010: we are adding “Reduce your family’s meat and dairy consumption.” to the Global Cooler Challenge because every step you take away from meat eating helps to prevent pollution of water, air and land, and the destruction of forests for grazing. All of these are important for controlling global warming, but we’ll focus on the decrease in size of our carbon footprint.

According to Oregon Interfaith Power and Light a person who switches from a typical American diet to a vegan diet lowers her/his effective carbon dioxide emissions by 3,720 pounds a year; cutting meat and dairy from just one meal a week lowers effective CO2 production by 156 pounds a year per person. This reduction in CO2 was based a study results from Pacific Institute.

For many more reasons to eat vegetarian, visit Northwest Veg.

Current Global Cooler Challenge: 1-2-3-4 Steps to carbon reduction

Last Update 15-Oct-2010