List of Environmentally Conscientious Actions Taken by the Delta Institute
"In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." (From the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy)
● All household cleaning products (e.g., dish detergent, laundry detergent, glass cleaner, surface cleaners) are made of non-toxic, biodegradable ingredients. There are many companies that offer such products, including Seventh Generation, Earth Friendly Products, and Natrics. They are available at whole food stores and are becoming increasingly available at standard supermarkets throughout the region. Consider:
- if every household in the United States replaced one 0.7 liter bottle of petroleum-based dish detergent with a plant-based product, it would save over 81,000 barrels of oil (which is enough to heat and cool 4,600 homes for a year).
- if every household in the United States replaced one 1.2 liter bottle of petroleum-based laundry cleaner with a vegetable-based product, it would save over 96,000 barrels of oil (which is enough to heat and cool 5,500 homes for a year).
- if every household in the United States replaced one 0.9 liter liter bottle of solvent-based carpet cleaner with a hydrogen-peroxide-based product, it would save over 11,000,000 pounds of petroleum-based solvents and glycol ethers from entering the environment.
● Use of the dryer has been reduced by utilizing a clothesline (during summer months) and a clothes drying rack near the wood stove (during the winter months). This significantly reduces the household demand for electricity.
● Dryer sheets, which contain carcinogenic chemicals in many brands, have been replaced with dryer balls. These small items replace disposable dryer sheets and help reduce total drying time (i.e., they eliminate waste and reduce demand for electricity in some dryer models). Click here for more information on alternatives for people who use clothes dryers for some or all of the year.
● All disposable paper products (e.g., napkins, towels, bath tissue) are made of recycled paper that are whitened using chlorine-free processes. Green Forest and Seventh Generation offer such products, which are available in many standard supermarkets. Visit here for more information. Consider:
- if every household in the United States replaced one roll of 120-sheet virgin paper towel with a roll of 100% recycled paper towels, it would save 1,287,040,006 liters of water.
● All paper used for general printing and report writing is made from partially or entirely recycled paper. Such paper is readily available at all office supply stores.
● Grocery and shopping bags are re-usable, cloth bags. These bags are available not only at whole food stores but also at standard supermarkets.
● Personal cleaning products (e.g., shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, mouthwash) are made of non-toxic, biodegradable ingredients. Many companies offer such products, including Nature's Gate, Tom's of Maine, and Jasön. These products typically support farmers (given the plant-based components), rather than large chemical corporations, and are not tested on animals.
● The great majority of the food purchased for the home is organic produce and meat raised in a cage-free/cruelty-free manner. This means that the food is as free of petrochemicals, antibiotics, and hormones as is possible in today's world and animals were raised with space to roam. Locally purchased food is also selected for to save on the amount of fuel used to transport food around the globe. This type of purchasing promotes local farmers and regional sustainability.
● A small garden produces some of the home's food and helps promote self-sufficiency. Vegetables grown there (including food and medicinal plants) are raised organically (i.e., no herbicides, pesticides, or chemical fertilizers are used at any time).
● All food waste from the house is composted. This compost enriches the soil and helps reduce landfill waste.
● Lawn care is performed without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, etc. Mowing of the grass is done biweekly or less frequently. Though this creates a yard that lacks the tidiness of a golf course green, it does limit the air pollution. Consider that Americans currently use 2,271,247,070 liters of gasoline to mow their lawns, and most mowers do not have any means of limiting pollutants discharged through the exhaust (i.e., emission controls are not incorporated into their design as in automotive vehicles).
● The home is partially heated with BioBricks, a pressed sawdust block that is made by reclaiming wood waste from local saw mills. BioBricks burn cleaner than split cordword, putting less particulates in the air.
● Batteries for small electronics (e.g., hand-held GPS unit, cordless computer mouse, head lamps) are powered by rechargeable batteries. Further, the batteries are recharged using small solar collectors. Such recharging devices are available from F.W. Horch.
● The delivery of unwanted mail-order catalogs has been stopped using a free web service called Catalog Choice. Currently in the United States, 53,000,000 trees are used to create paper for 19,000,000,000 catalogs (that's right 19 billion), many of which are delivered to homes who don't wish to order any products. The energy required to make the 3,600,000 tons of paper could be used to power 1,200,000 homes for an entire year.
FUTURE PLANS FOR ADDITIONAL ECOSENSITIVE ACTIONS
● A toilet facility requiring no electricity or running water will be constructed in the near future for class use. This toilet, which will utilize wood shavings for odor control, will collect feces for composting on the property.
● Plans are being reviewed for large solar panels to produce some or all of the home's electricity needs. The panels will be acquired with contract through the Citzenre program.