Poor air quality for tribes in rural Alaska

Air quality in many Tribal Alaskan towns and villages represents a serious health threat to its residents.   The main challenges for many native villages are diesel emissions, poor indoor air quality, solid waste burning, and wood smoke:  

• Diesel is used extensively in rural Alaska.  Continued exposure to diesel fumes has been linked to lung disease and aggravation of asthma.  
• Most rural Alaska homes are constructed to keep warm air inside and have little ventilation during the cold winter months.  This can keep indoor air pollutants from fuel sources locked into homes.  
• Garbage cannot be buried in many parts of Alaska because of permafrost so it is often burned.  Burning garbage can create dangerous toxic smoke which contains dioxins that can cause cancer.  
• Wood smoke also creates health hazards.  Inhalation of wood smoke can cause several dangerous health conditions like pneumonia and asthma.

Tribal communities across the state have created the Alaska Tribal Air Tool-kit in an attempt to help reduce poor air quality.  The tool-kit is free of charge and has many helpful tips for helping improve the air we breathe.

 http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/TRIBAL.NSF/programs/tribalairalaska

Wood exchange program hopes to lower emissions in Alaska

The Environmental protection agency (EPA) has given the city of Fairbanks Alaska, $70k to start a wood exchange program.  The program will allow residents to exchange a cord (128 cubic feet) of wet wood for a cord of dry wood.  Dry wood burns much cleaner then wet wood and could potentially help reduce the amount of fine particulate matter in the interior Alaska city.  The city proposed a large scale program which would cost a half a million dollars but was awarded only a small portion of that from the EPA.  The borough assembly will need to create an ordinance to accept the money, which could happen sometime in December.  Fairbanks is looking at creative ways to lower its emissions because millions of federal dollars have been tied to the city’s air quality.

http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/16254359/article-Fairbanks-North-Star-Borough-gets-money-from-EPA-for-wood-exchange-program?

Laundry Makes a Difference

Make your laundry count!

Most of us have become accustomed to wearing our clothes once before each wash, throwing them out before they are actually worn out and washing our clothes when it is unnecessary.  Ninety percent of the energy used when washing laundry comes from heating the water and most clothes can be washed in cold water and come out just as clean if you buy detergent for cold water.  This will reduce your gas bill tremendously, not to mention your water bill.  The average load of laundry uses an astounding forty-seven gallons of water a load.  When drying your clothes give air drying a chance.  The average household spends over a $100 a year just on drying their laundry and it is completely unnecessary.  If your clothes appear clean, wear them again! Obviously wash your undergarments but there is no reason to wash your jeans, skirts and sweater after every use.  It uses more energy, more money, more water and takes more time.

Before you toss your wardrobe out, ask yourself, is this worn out?  If not, donate it! This goes both ways try buying something used.   You may find that you save a ton of cash and your are stopping the production of an unneeded item and preventing the item you bought from ending up at the dump.

http://www.chnep.org/moreinfo/water_conservation_facts.htm

Green Alchemy: Sewage into Bricks!

Here's a creative way to cut carbon emissions and reuse waste: turn sewage into bricks for construction purposes. That's right, incinerated sewage sludge is being combined with a vegatable oil based binder to be used in masonry. Normally traditional bricks are made out of concrete, made from cement, which when produced releases carbon dioxide emissions, 5-10% globally. The bricks made from sewage are completely CO2 free, meaning that they will greatly reduce emissions if they are widely used, replacing traditional bricks.

"The blocks and bricks do not smell and have been tested for and passed industry standards for heat, freezing, and strength."

Learn more at: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/design-architecture/bricks-made-from-sewage-cut-carbon-emissions/932
--David Honey

Solar Highway

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is still working on their solar highway project. It will be the largest solar highway in the nation. This is a good way to off set all the carbon emissions from the automobiles on the highway. It will have 7000 solar panels, enough to power 165 homes each year.

check this link for more information:
 http://ecotrope.opb.org/tag/oregon-department-of-transportation/
--David Honey

SUSTAINABLE TIPS & TRIPS for HOME

BY

José G. Jiménez

Ever wonder what YOU could do to conserve where you live? Do you even care of your place? 

Let consider our environment as OUR home, HOME where you can make a mess as you please or keep it nice and tightly. Here are 10 TIPS YOU can easily do to keep your HOME nice & shiny:

10) ENVIRONMENT COST w/ DECISIONS & PURCHASES

Could you imagine walking to work due to you living that close! Energy star appliances are a must to keep that low energy input.

09) OLD PAINT, CHEMICALS, OIL

Get rid of them the right way! Properly dispose these toxic items in to their proper toxic disposal sites provided throughout EVERY city.

08) THERMOSTAT in WINTER & SUMMER

Wearing a sweater doesn’t hurt anyone nor YOU but your HOME in winter! Show that skin & expose it! Doing this can save energy & reduce pollution yearly.

07) EAT LESS & LOCAL ORGANIC

Tropical forests are CUT to raise beef and making them become a product. When’s your NEXT local market visit in your neighborhood?

06) INDOORS CAT

Domestic cats kill over 1 BILLION small birds and animals yearly. Upset natural predator & prey balances and eliminate ground-nesting birds.

05) PESTICIDES / HERBICIDES

NO! Along with nitrogen fertilizer they runoff and ARE major water pollutants.

04) NO SMOKING

2^nd-HAND smoke IS a major INDOOR air pollutant & health hazards. LIVE longer & HEALTHIER!

03) H20

CATCH faucets running away with YOUR gold! Midday water lawn, NO!

02) REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, & COMPOST

Another friend to your pockets! This will save LOTS of money while being more environmental friendly to your HOME. Most of the yard & kitchen waste are 30% of trash.

01) BIKE, PUBLIC TRANSIT, CARPOOL

1/3^rd of traffic is commuters. Getting from point A to point B in a more efficient way will be saving you money and time plus a HUGE dash of your HOME.

These little things that we typically don't really think about could change YOUR life along with EVERYONE's around it.

more tips can be found here:

ECO TIPS

CARBON & ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

BY

José G. Jiménez

What is Carbon Footprint? What is Ecological Footprint? We all can come to an understanding that it’s our human emission trail that contributes to the earth’s atmosphere through carbon emissions gases. More specifically Greenhouse Gases (GHG), which contain carbon dioxide and methane. Any person, product, or event passes on these types of gases into the atmosphere, damaging our environment. 

Image above, dictating our contribution (Carbon Footprint) has increased where our own Ecological earth (non-carbon Footprint) can’t & won’t be able to maintain our maintenance. Humans exceed their carbon footprint allowed by our only livable & habitable planet.

On the other hand, Ecological Footprint is the human demand we have on our earth’s ecosystem that can supply to our demands. Consisting of the productive land and sea area, in which, it’s necessary to supply to us, humans to consume. Given the image above, we have exceeded that this planet is cable of maintain and provide.

We need to do a change NOW before there is no tomorrow…

A helpful site that we ALL need to be aware of is:

FOOTPRINT NETWOK 

ALL INFO FOUND FROM THERE