Climate Change and Project Drawdown
Climate Change can be very overwhelming and we believe that Project Drawdown (drawdown.org) which is a list of 80 solutions to reduce greenhouse gases is a great place to start.
Solutions have been categorized into 7 sectors:
- Electricity
- Food, Agriculture and Land Use
- Industry
- Transportation
- Buildings
- Land Sinks
- Coastal and Ocean Sinks
- Engineered Sinks
- Health and Education
Top solutions to drawdown greenhouse gases are (these are all easily addressed in the D.C. Metro Region):
- Reduced Food Waste
- Health and Education
- Plant Rich Diets
- Refrigerant Management
We believe that this framework gives a solid structure for businesses and individuals to "start somewhere". Here is a link to their table of solutions, which is sortable by sectors, most to least GHG, etc.
Intro to Project Drawdown
August 29, 2019
Project Drawdown (drawdown.org) is a framework consisting of 80 solutions organized into 7 industries.
For instance the #1 solution for reducing greenhouse gases is Refrigerants in the Materials sector. Refrigeration uses chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) to keep things cool. HFC substitutes are already on the market including natural refrigerants such as propane and ammonia.
#3 Solution is Reduced Food Waste. From what this author understands, at least in the U.S., approximately 30% of waste that goes into a landfill is food!! This is a solution that can be incorporated by the individual, businesses all the way back to the production end.
As you look at your lifestyle find the "solutions" that you think you or your business can incorporate.
The Pachamama Alliance offers workshops and intro webinars to Project Drawdown. There is also a book, Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming; Edited by Paul Hawken; copyright 2017; The Project Drawdown website, is more about the solutions, but implementation can be done by anyone, it is not a framework that has to be paid to use, it's open source so to speak.
We believe that this framework is the best to work with and solutions can be chosen to work with based on a business' products and/or services and even on the individual level.
As we structure our site here on Your Business Our World, we'll be using Project Drawdown's industries and solutions as a foundation to work from and organize documents by.
Pachamama Alliance has graciously given us permission to put their PD reference sheets on our website, which can be found here:
https://www.yourbusinessourworld.com/learn/resources/documents/category/7-project-drawdown
Talking with our Customer, Comfenergy, LLC of Sterling, VA on Climate Change and Home Performance
August 7, 2019
C.D. Guillaudeu, Your Business Our World
Crystal Mullins, Comfenergy Marketing Director
Madison Parse, Comfenergy Marketing Intern
Climate Change Impacts the Comfort and Energy Efficiency of a Home:
Our climate is warming at a fast pace and every year brings hotter summers, higher pollen counts, more intense storms, and more extreme temperatures. As temperatures reach new extreme heights, so does your tolerance for living uncomfortably. To live uncomfortably is to live with unnecessary allergens in your home, lose sleep due to the temperature of your bedroom, or spend too much on your fuel and electric bills. Lighten the load of your allergy medication, HVAC systems, and your wallet by learning about why your home functions the way it does and how that impacts your health and the planet.
Any building, whether it’s commercial or residential, is a network of lighting, plumbing, heating, cooling, and airflow systems in combination with how a person lives in a space, how a person moves through the space, as well as a system of airflows. Most buildings are not airtight and air flows into the building, bringing with it some of the dust and pollen from the outside world.
In our homes we pay for desirable air quality conditions and sometimes there are variables that we cannot see that also have control over these conditions. Inside the home, airflow is responsive to blockages and leakages you cannot see. Examples of this may include more insulation in one area than another, small openings around light fixtures that let conditioned air escape out of living spaces, drafts, or noticeable temperature inconsistencies.
C-PACE is available in Loudoun County, VA!
Thursday November 7th, Virginia PACE held a workshop introducing the application process for Loudoun County commercial properties.
PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) is a financing tool for commercial property owners to put energy, renewable and/or water conservation improvements on their buildings. Virginia at this time only allows for Commercial PACE programs, thus the acronym, C-PACE.
Currently, C-PACE programs are available in Arlington and Alexandria, and expectations are that it's coming to Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Richmond, Norfolk, and later on into Lynchburg, Roanoke and Albemarle county.
Congratulations to Gerry Gurgick who's persistence in getting PACE implemented in Virginia and Loudoun County came to be. Thank-you Gerry!!
Resource Links:
Watermark Woods Nursery:
Who doesn’t love watching butterflies? They flitter from flower to flower, wings opening and closing, just doing their thing as they feed off its nectar, it’s no wonder people are fascinated with them. You can create your own butterfly garden, by using plants native to your area. Plants have developed over time, so to speak, to work with the insects and birds and butterflies for your region.
Native plants are part of an evolution of a whole foundation of systems and interactions that support a region’s butterflies, birds, insects, bees, etc., who rely on to grow and live.
Here in the Virginia Piedmont area, one example of how to use native plants is to help feed the Monarch Butterflies during their migration each year. Their populations have decreased dramatically over the last twenty years due to loss of habitat through development and pesticide use. Monarchs have a special relationship with milkweed. Milkweed is the only plant a monarch larva(caterpillar) can survive on. Without milkweed we have no monarchs.
Reduce Single Use Plastics Where You Can, One at a Time
Reduce single-use plastics where you can, for instance use paper lawn bags instead of plastic. Plastic lawn bags are a one way trip to the landfill, and they don't break down. What a waste of grass that could be used for composting, instead it'll just sit in the plastic bags for ages.
As an employee, in your workplace, do one thing, bring your own utensils or your own coffee mug (depending on COVID conditions). Business owners, if you give away single-use plastic bags, what can you replace it with? Or can you give them out less? There are bills in the Virginia legislature working towards reducing plastic use, through charging customers if they ask for a bag, or offering compostable take-out containers instead of styrofoam.
What ways can you reduce your plastic use? Start with just one type.
Single-use Plastic is convenient and cheap, one can't deny that, but the costs at the end of its life are very dear to us ALL. Fills up our landfills, pollutes our streams, rivers, bays and ultimately the ocean, and animals will also eat the plastic thinking it's food or get twisted up in it.
Please reduce single-use plastics where you can, one at a time.
