environmentalism – Water Water Everywhere

Surprising Benefits to Reusable Grocery Bags

I made a recent discovery that has kind of rocked my world, in a small way. Many of you have already figured this out, and I realize I am totally late to the game. I have discovered that I really do LOVE using reusable grocery bags! (Like the one pictured here, along with some other products I received as a blog promotion by HEB and Con Agra Foods) Even though I am an environmental engineer and I believe in taking steps towards green living, I had shied away from using those cloth bags for a long time, especially when you had to buy them. Now it seems everyone is giving them out, especially at local neighborhood festivals. So after awhile I had collected about five good sized bags, and one day I decided to try using them on one of my big grocery store trips.

Low and behold, I LOVE these things. Because they are usually big, structured, with a flat bottom they hold MORE food per bag than any stupid plastic bag does. Plus they don’t roll around in the back of my minivan the way food in plastic bags often does. And the extra long handles make it so that I can sling one or two over my shoulder, thereby carrying twice as many groceries from the car into the house at once!

This is all beside the fact that I’m not cluttering up my house or the landfills with those cheap plastic bags that aren’t good for much, or those paper bags that trees had to die for. It’s not only green, it’s convenient to use them. As an added bonus, when I use them at Target they take five cents off my total bill per bag that I use. It’s not much, but it’s a great way to promote responsible, sustainable living.

So start collecting those free reusable bags and remember to bring them with you INTO the store. I find I have to leave them in the front of my car so that I will remember to take them. That’s what works for me.

Here’s a short video I made last spring when I was driving a Malibu for awhile and blogging for Chevy about it. This shows how well the reusable bags work in a trunk.

Grocery Shopping In the Chevy Malibu from Sarah Hubbell on Vimeo.

Giving Back to the Community in Katrina Ravaged New Orleans

I’m fortunate to be a part of a really great non-profit educational organization called the Water Environment Federation. Three years ago the WEF Student and Young Professionals committee decided to start a community service project in conjunction with our annual convention, WEFTEC. This year our service project was incredible, taking place in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, a low income neighborhood that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. We teamed up with a local group called Global Green to construct a bioswale, which helps abate flood waters with efficient drainage at the same time creating a community garden. Here’s the local CBS news covering our event with my good friends, Haley and Bob.

Laying pipe in the bioswale ditch.

It was back breaking work for the 75 volunteers who showed up to dig and move gravel and plant for eight hours straight. But the end result was gorgeous, and a beautiful spot amidst an ugly community.

My friend Dan Dair digging the bioswale.

Concurrently we held a water carnival, with about a 16 booths from sponsoring companies hosting hands on water related educational activities. Girl scouts, boy scouts, Brownie troops and just kids from the hood came by to pick up a passport, go through the activities and receive a pin. The most profound activity from my point of view was a race up the grass levee with buckets full of water, which demonstrated what it is like for people in the third world who have to walk miles to retrieve their daily supply of drinking and washing water.

Girl scouts learning about transporting water.

I have never been so proud to be a part of a community of water engineers as I was last Saturday during the Bioswales in the Bayou project. Next year’s tentative plans have already begun, which may involve transforming an abandoned bus depot in South Central Los Angeles to a natural wetlands community park. Looking forward to being there!

Here’s a slideshow of lots of photos from the event.