A Flush For Whatever You Do! Number One Or Number Two

When i was using the restroom one day on campus, I noticed that the flush handle on the toilet was a bright green color. The color caught my eye, but i really didn't think much of it. I flushed the toilet and went on with my day.

In my past post, I talked briefly about the world water crisis and how we need to conserve our water. On the ETSU campus, the Department of Sustainability has installed double flush toilets in all of the community bathrooms in the on campus residence halls. You can distinguish a double flush toilet by the green flush device on the commode as you can see in this picture.

So How does a double flush toilet work? If you go "#2", then you would push the flusher down just like normal and the toilet would get rid of the waste. If you go "#1" however, you push the handle up and the toilet removes the waste just like normal, but it uses less water and therefore is more sustainable than a normal toilet. According to the ETSU Director of Sustainability, these toilets can save up to 30% of the water that is used by a normal toilet.
I think that these toilets are an amazing idea. However, I don't feel like enough people actually know what they are. I didn't recognize one when I saw it and I think thats probably true for most others as well. I think that the campus should work on adding signs like the one above so that these sustainable toilets are actually doing their jobs.

Pictures Found at:
http://community.seas.columbia.edu/cslp/project.cgi?id=589 and http://pointriderrepublican.typepad.com/pr/2008/04/index.html

Saving Water One Barrel At A Time

More and more these days I am hearing about the world water crisis which is scary because we all need water to live. Lately, I have been hearing a lot of talk about a new trend using rain water barrels. What this is, is when people buy large barrels and place them under their gutters and house ledges. Instead of water running off into the ground, it is caught in the barrels and then is able to be stored for various uses like watering gardens, washing cars, etc. Basically you are storing and using water that the Earth is already naturally giving to you instead of using even more water by retrieving it from your sink or hose.

Many people, as you can see in this picture, attach a hose to their barrel for even easier access. This rain that is "caught" would otherwise just be lost due to runoff. Many people are saying this is a new and "greener" way to use and save water. I have somewhat mixed feelings about it. First of all, I have to wonder exactly how clean the water is if it is sitting for an extended period of time, therefore lessening your options of what it could be used for. Also, while I can see the argument for it helping with the water crisis, I also have to wonder if it is somewhat adding to the water crisis. In the water cycle, runoff is a vital step before the water is evaporated back up into a cloud. If we are keeping the water from running off and thus evaporating into the sky, are we not putting a slight disruption into the water cycle?

On the flip side, I do think there is also an argument for the fact that rain water barrels can help to save more water because we are using what we already have as opposed to the rain being wasted and we use more water out of our sinks. You just have to outweigh the costs and decide for yourselves which is a bigger water consumer. Either way, people do need to take into consideration the world's growing water crisis because it does exsist and is becoming more and more dangerous. If you would like to hear more, the movie Thirst is a great documentary that I highly recommend. It covers the water crisis from many different backgrounds and shows how it effects people from different areas of the world.

Also, if you are interested in having a rain water barrel system in your home, they seem fairly easy to make or you can buy one that is already put together. I just googled "rain water barrel" and found more information on it than I needed to know. I urge all of you to check it out and see what you think.

Thirst The Movie

http://www.thirstthemovie.org/index.html

Eco-Nuts

East Tennessee State University wasn't always a green campus. After the student body voted on the ETSU Green Fee, money used to bring sustainability efforts to campus, there was more and more steps towards being a greener campus. This year, the sustainability office created a new student position called an Eco-Nut. This job/organization was open to any undergraduate student who was passionate about sustainability on campus. Fifteen students were hired and each assigned one of the twelve residents halls on campus to work in. Duties include keeping up with the recycling bins inside the establishment, raising awareness with residents, and researching sustainable living ideas for the halls. So far, these Eco-nuts have made a good start on campus by having students sign sustainability pledges on recycled CDs. They also have many ideas in the works for the campus. They are hoping to hold many campus wide events to raise awareness not just to the residence halls, but to the student body as a whole. If you are interested in learning more about this group of students and what they are doing for their community, visit the website at...
http://gogreen.etsu.edu