ABOUT US

Reducing and Reusing

To reduce and reuse human waste is one of the primary actions to begin to live sustainably. In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus calls us to live in a mindful state of total dependence on God, thereby reducing our “stuff” and our anxiety over protecting our stuff. Waking up to all the stuff we’ve accumulated in our lives can begin to reflect back to us stuff's ability to distract us from a deeper spiritual satisfaction. Too much “stuff” also keeps us from living in right relationship with the rest of the earth. The creation of stuff hoards and uses up precious natural resources from other plants, animals, water, soil and human beings.

What we are doing

The CAC is currently looking at a long term goal of Near Zero Waste. While we have no idea where this will take us, we think the best place to begin is to reduce our energy guzzling habits. Some things we are exploring and have begun to implement are:

• Lo-flo toilets. Toilets are up to 40% water usage.
• Another issue is water usage for irrigation----use of city water vs. acequia
• Shades for Brother Sun meeting room and moving thermostat so it won’t be in full sun and thus kick on the central air, wasting energy.
• Liner on water heater and possible solar heater in the future.
• Replacing incandescent bulbs with CFB’s (compact florescent bulbs).
• Refrigerator was swapped out with a rebate and replaced with an energy star appliance.
• Weatherizing, closing doors, turning off lights.
• Reducing our waste of virgin pulp paper by replacing it with post-consumer recycled paper products.
• Re-using one-sided copies in our printers.
• Minimizing printouts by using electronic mail.
  

What you can do

Albuquerque Water Conservation office----“How to Save Water at home”

Resource Links:
Earth Day
The Story of Stuff
Zero Waste
University of New Mexico Sustainability Program