Decorah Unitarians complete 30-day experiment in reducing their impact on the environment

20 members of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northeast Iowa have completed a 30-day experiment of making changes in their lifestyles to benefit the environment.

Each volunteer was given a list of 40 things to pick from, many of them having to do with water conservation.  A person could pick one or more items from the list and pledge to make those changes in their daily life for 30 days.  The list can be found at http://uuministryforearth.org/2011-ED-40/40SampleActions.

One person stopped buying bottles of plastic water.  Another person drove more slowly for the month and saved a lot of fuel.  Two people bought rain barrels to use to water gardens instead of using treated tap water.  One person bought a hybrid car, estimating he would save 300 gallons of gas per year.  

17 people in nine families changed their water consumption habits.  Some turned to washing their vegetables in a large bowl instead of running water; some took shorter showers; some captured the cold water coming out of the faucet while they waited for the water to warm up; and most flushed the toilet less.

During the month, the 17 people diverted an estimated 3,385 gallons of water from the waste stream.  If each of Decorah's 8,000 residents were to do the same, in a year's time over 19 million gallons of water would not need processing by the Decorah Wastewater Treatment Plant.