“Actions to reduce the environmental impacts in our community” “Participation Results in saving $$$$$$”

Energy Efficiency Wood Stove Change Out Fluorescent Lights Radios, TV’s, & Computers

Transportation Tune Ups Idling Engines Biodiesels CO Emissions Biking and Bussing

Water Conservation Shower Heads Leaking Toilets Washing Autos Leaking Faucets Rain barrels

Waste Reduction Recycle Clothes Utilities Plastics Glass & Aluminum Cans Paper Cars Tires

Wood Stove Change Out This is an ongoing project implemented in 2008 on the Makah

reservation.

Nearly 300 homes use wood fires as their primary source of heat. The tribe has an Air Quality program department within the Makah Fisheries and with the help of EPA funding offered the wood stove change out to eligible tribal applicants.

This program has been very successful for the Air Quality Monitoring program and more change outs will continue with additional funding resources.

Covered wood sheds for the seniors and eligible tribal members is the latest update to this program.

InsulationEven if your home is a mobile trailer, having a good insulated barrier beneath the trailer will block out any drafts of cold air or loss of heat.

Frame a skirt enclosure around the base of the trailer enclosing the lower base completely around.

Central heating air ducts can be wrapped and checked for proper connections and good ventilation.

Even a good roof will help insulate your home.

There are programs and grants available to the disadvantaged or elderly so take advantage of this funding.

Fluorescent LightsFluorescent bulbs are made in a wide range of sizes and voltages from 1.5 volts to about 300 volts.

They require no external regulating equipment and have a low manufacturing cost, and work well on either alternating current or direct current.

As a result the Fluorescent lamp is widely used in household and commercial lighting, for portable lighting, such as table lamps, some car headlamps and electric flashlights and for decorative and advertising lighting.

Check Wikipedia for more.

Radios, TV’s, & Computers These are essential for all of us to have but we need to break the habit of leaving the television and computer turned on for any more time than needed.

If you leave the TV on day and night you reduce how long the picture tube would last, as well as overheating the set and the power cord which could then be a potential fire hazard.

Radios are in less demand compared to televisions but they can be used with batteries instead of electricity.

The computer can be configured to hibernate, just like the screen saver set your system to hibernate after so many minutes have passed so you don’t have to remember to turn it off.

Tune UpsIt’s always great to have a good running car.

Having good transportation is a necessity for getting by these days, and it really pays off doing some of the wrenching yourself.

The real point is you save at the pump and you don’t have a really bad problem with emissions.

There are lots of responsibilities in owning or even using someone’s car. Think like a mechanic a regularly maintained vehicle is your ticket to emission control.

Idling EnginesOnly on winter days would you need to start up the car and let it idle until you can use the heater or drive without stalling.

Having your engine idle isn’t really necessary at all it’s a waste of gas and creates lots of carbon monoxide (CO)

A good engine could run all day but you don’t need to idle away in the driveway.

If there is a problem with starting your car check back with the tune-up maybe it’s time for another one.

BiodieselsReducing emissions from diesel engines is one of the most important air quality challenges facing the country today (EPA)

More than 11 million diesel engines in operation today do not meet EPA’s new clean diesel standards, yet these engines can continue to operate for 20 to 30 years.

This does not mean that all diesel engines are bad but the times are changing and running your motors on biodiesels would make a whole lot of sense in the next 20 to 30 years.

Creating biodiesels is turning into the next best hobbyist trend, but getting the whole nations fuel industry to recognize the need to change to biodiesels isn’t such a feulish idea.

CO EmissionsNot to be confused with CO2 emissions. If a person has bad breath they may be the only one that doesn’t know it, but if you have carbon monoxide (CO) emissions we all know it.

That’s the smoke that comes out of the tail pipe of most all cars. Only the electric cars can get away with no CO emissions, but they are very expensive.

Technology needs to bring the manufacturing cost down to the average family’s affordable price tag.

Research and development is attempting newer transportation strategies and in our lifetime we will see lots of emission changes.

Biking and BussingIn those much younger days we all had a bike or two. The same could be said about

taking the bus everywhere until we got our first car.

Having a bike can be considered a minor luxury because you can just get up and go which is still better than taking a bus. Consider if our destinations were all the same we would be on some type of mass transportation together and it would be cheaper to leave the driving to someone else.

Only our different schedules would keep us from really using the bus. Sharing a ride isn’t a new thing anymore but you tend to share your personal time anew every time.

Biking, Bussing, or sharing a ride are all easy habits to start or keep doing and it’s been said before it’s better than walking.

 

Shower Heads You would be surprised to know just how many different

shower heads are out there.

The ratings are in gallons per minute (GPM) for shower heads and the real conservation is in the oxygenation or aeration of the water coming out of the head.

There are high pressure and low flow rates, and there are different styles of spray settings.

So the next time you need to replace your shower head you can pick from a handheld or select the standard shower wall mount.

Leaking ToiletsThis could be called the worst water waster in the country. Understanding how this works will help you understand what can go wrong.

It’s really fairly easy to fix and you never need to rattle the handle any more. Check the float mechanism to see if it’s stopping at the fill mark.

Check if there is a fault in the filler valve and it’s not stopping with the float mechanism.

If you are smelling sewer gas check at the base of the toilet on the floor if it is wet you have a leaking flange or pipe beneath the floor and this will require extra plumbing savvy.

Washing AutosA nice clean looking vehicle is always an attraction but you could be using more than four-times the amount of water to do this as you would having a shower.

If you prefer to hand wash be organized about it. Have a bucket for the soap and then to rinse so you don’t have water running the whole time. Go to a car wash and have the other guy do the wash.

Some of the newer car wash business has recycled gray water so even they don’t waste too much water.

Even when all is said and done be sure not to try and wash your car if there’s a water shortage or watering restrictions.

Leaking FaucetsThis may not be a problem you’re having in the kitchen or bathroom but have you checked every single faucet you have.

The outside faucet could even be dripping a little water after you did that speed wash on the car.

The kitchen or bathroom faucets sometimes only need a small inexpensive washer that has worn out.

Replacing just that much could solve the problem and save you water.

Rain Barrels

We can all share a common interest here and realize the importance in sustaining our earths most precious resource…..water.

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-build-a-rainbarrel-platform/index.html

Many thanks to this web site for their How To section.

Recycle ClothesWe all know about food banks but how about clothes banks.

Clothes donations or hand me downs are just good to do for one another.

Places like churches, community halls, yard sales or even bringing them to the Goodwill is doing nothing more than thinking of each other’s wellbeing.

Although if you have younger siblings you may want to check with them first.

UtilitiesYou know these things we take them for granted they are those furnishings you have to check for when you looking for that nice apartment, they are part of the major investments when buying stuff for your home.

All the latest models have energy saver stickers on them showing their ratings and power usage. Pretty much if you’re going to need to buy one of these you will do the comparison and get the best for your buck, but it’s inevitable stuff breaks down.

You just need to keep up to date with the places that exchange old for new and the places you can recycle them safely. Safely meaning and primarily those refrigerators because they have

Freon gas, methyl formate, and even the very old refrigerators had sulfur dioxide so they need be safely disposed of.

PlasticsRecycling isn’t what it used to be. All of your recyclables needed to be completely separated and even cleaned or washed and labels removed.

It was really an act of love to be an avid recycler, now there’s nearly as much to do and it’s winning more people over to recycling.

The biggest improvement is about the plastics currently giving up your plastic shopping bag and bringing your own reusable bag when you go to the grocery store.

Start asking the store to give up asking would you like paper or plastic and start asking if you have your own bag.

There are some stores that do recycle your old plastic bags just look for their recycle containers and bring your own shopping bag.

Glass & Aluminum CansIt used to be you could earn money collecting beverage bottles and returning them to the store you would get money but that’s long since forgotten.

Although you still can collect aluminum cans and by the hundreds of pounds get a rebate that really could add up maybe you won’t want to recycle the cans after all.

There’s brown glass, green glass, blue and even clear glass. I think all but the blue glass has separate recycle bins.

You could even make your own glasses out of the bottles and then return the cut or broken portion to the recycle station, they won’t mind anyway because all the glass gets broken in the bins.

PaperJust like the other household recyclables you can put a cardboard box or little tote in your home or office and throw all the old bills, letters, newspapers and ads into the box and sort them all out when you get to the collection station.

You save big time because seeing the recycled paper labels on other products means you are saving a tree and helping create more jobs for people who like and know a lot about recycling.

CarsThere have been only a couple of times I remember someone actually donating a drivable car to a charity or organization but it really does happen all the time.

You can get a receipt from the group you’ve given up your prize to and with that receipt you have a taxable write off.

If this doesn’t suit you then you try and make a sale on your unwanted vehicle and usually if you’re asking a reasonable price somebody may buy it for the parts.

Tires Although it may be harder to find an outlet to dispose of unwanted tires it can be done and it has before in this county.

Tire collection sites take tires without the wheels on them and with no water in them and offer the community the time to clean up and send the tires off to be recycled.

As they say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure like selling your car you also can just sell your tires.

Make a check list of the things you want to pay less for on the bills, and ways to conserve energy.

Your refrigerator is on all the time but it needs to be on so it can keep our foods fresh.

So why not make sure that you refrigerator is in good working order. Maybe first check and see how much freezer ice has built it could be time to defrost.

Allowing too much ice to build up reduces the effectiveness of the freezer.

Do a check on of the temperature of the water heater.

Open the panel at the bottom of the water heater and check its temperature setting.

If your water heater is set at 140⁰ Fahrenheit that is too hot and could really be dangerous if children are accidently turning on the hot water.

Turning down the temperature will at least prevent first or second degree burns and saves a little more money by keeping the hot water tank heating at 110⁰ F.

The television sets and computer monitors we want to throw out have very special recycling issues.

Computer monitors contain cathode ray tubes (CRTs), which are the video display components of televisions and computer monitors.

The glass in CRTs typically contains enough toxic lead to require managing it as hazardous waste under certain circumstances. Color computer monitors contain an average of four pounds of lead.

CRTs may also contain mercury, cadmium and arsenic. CRTs are subject to regulation under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (EPA)

The lists go on and on but you know once you’ve started making the changes you feel like you’re really accomplishing good things

for yourself.

“Engage People Who Value Environment & Biodiversity”

“Foster Sustainable Behaviors”

Makah Tribe 2009Water Quality 360-645-3162

http://makahwater.comhttp://makahsustainableresources.net