Resolve to Evolve

Its traditional to start the new year off on a diet, right? You've been consuming lots of carbon with all those holiday lights, travel, and excessive amounts of wrapping paper. Why not start 2010 off right by pledging to lose some weight?

You could lose 5000 pounds in 30 days! All you need to do is join the Low Carbon Diet Club. Here is how it works:

Step 1: Weigh-In

Figure out your current carbon footprint by using the carbon calculator. Think about how much you could lose, and pledge to do it here.

To do this you will need the following information for the past year:

• Number of gallons of trash per week (tall kitchen bag = 13 gal)
• Total kWh usage
• Total therms natural gas
• Total gallons propane
• Total gallons fuel oil
• Miles and miles per gallon on each vehicle (up to three)
• Air miles

Tip: Rather than calculating all these numbers from the past year’s bills, you can call your utility companies to get the most updated information.

Step 2: Get together

Optional but fun: Find a group of 5-10 friends, family, or co-workers to take the plunge with you- everything is more fun with friends, and a little group competition makes things lively!

You can diet on your own, as a household, form your own club, or find a group to join here.

Step 3: Start the diet!

Here are some things you can do at no cost (see the tracking sheet for more):

• Eliminate the need for one dryer load per week - dry clothes outside
• Set thermostat at 65-68 deg when active in home & 55-58 deg at night
• Reduce shower time to 5 min. or less
• Reduce dishwasher use by one load per week
• Minimize hot water use in hand dish washing (Bonus Credit for an Energy Star front-loading washer)
• Switch one load of laundry a week from hot to cold water
• Set water heater thermostat at 120 deg.
  

Step 4: Track it

Record your progress on the following spreadsheets:
(courtesy of Montezuma Climante Action Network, or M-CAN)

Household Carbon Loss tracking sheet

Individual Carbon Loss tracking sheet

Step 5: Share

Upload your group's progress here. See the progress of other groups, and share ideas too.

Guidelines

Meetings

Regular meetings should be held monthly over a period of three to six months. Ideally, these should be held during the first week of the month to gather the previous month’s information. A potluck is a great way to do this!

Recommended club size is five to ten persons.

Members

• Choose a club leader
• Initially and finally, calculate carbon usage by using the carbon calculator at www.empowermentinstitute.net * under Low Carbon Diet Climate Change Program.
• Print this information and keep for your records.
• Discuss new ways to reduce carbon emissions with other club members.
• Create a personalized plan to reduce carbon emissions.
• Report specific changes made to leader during monthly meetings.

Leader

• Maintains contact with individual club members
• Disseminates information as provided by M-CAN
• Provides M-CAN with contact information for club members
• Collects records of individual household carbon reductions monthly
• Collates information or assigns someone to do this
• Sends club carbon reduction totals to simma.w@gmail.com by the 10th of each month.

M-CAN or 4CORE will provide (at your request)

• orientation meeting and starter materials
• regular updates on ways to save
• informative articles and resources
• events - including films and workshops
• report on monthly total carbon emission savings on this web page

Note: Club carbon savings are based on information from the book, Low Carbon Diet by David Gershon. It is recommended that your club use this book as a reference.