Shades of Green

By James Fuller

Kay McKeen, Greg Stolzer and Heather Goudreau are the new cool kids in town.

They've lived by a set of principles for years, which only recently became in vogue. But on Tuesday, many of their friends and neighbors will change their lives to be just like them, even if only for a day.

McKeen and company are environmentalists of varying degrees. On Earth Day, and every day, they'll abound with life-altering tips to help casual recyclers and the "ultragreen" alike. All the tips are actions they already do in their everyday lives.

Ultragreen

Think you're already a hardcore greenie? Then match your compost heap against the likes of Kay McKeen.

McKeen was a greenie before green became the new black. Tips from the other greenies are measures McKeen took a long time ago. The canvas bags she takes to the grocery story are 18 years old.

McKeen has infused the mantra of reduce, reuse, recycle into her daily life so extensively that she only takes actual garbage to her curb about once every five weeks. That's less than a dozen trash pick-ups a year at the McKeen house in Wheaton.

"Reduction is really key," she says. "That's how I started."

She has no plastic containers in her house. There are only glass jars. The jars once contained mayonnaise and pickles. Now they contain leftovers and homemade salsa. Not only can McKeen reheat the food right in the glass jars with no chemicals leaching in, but she can store the food with no odors leaching out.

Plastic bread bags also get reused.

"Think before you buy," McKeen said. "Ask yourself what are you going to be able to do with this."

There are no disposable razors or shaving creams in McKeen's house. Only straight razors and shaving soaps (no can).

And just about everything that doesn't get eaten or reused gets recycled, loaded into her Toyota Prius Hybrid and donated to someone else, or composted.

Letting nature take its course is McKeen's action plan outside. She doesn't rake away her leaves and bag them up. Instead, she uses them to create natural fertilizer.

"Think about it," McKeen said. "Nobody rakes up a forest. Leaves fall. Apples fall. Branches fall. When you rake it up, you've just taken away the nutrients from the soil and a protective layer for tree roots. Bacteria can still do what it's done for billions of years. That's a pretty good track record."

McKeen may be the extreme example of living green, but anything that benefits the environment is a step in the right direction. There are plenty of small and simple changes anyone can make at any time, starting at home.

'Green house' effect

Living in a "green house" does not require dirt floors and stone walls, local environmental stewards say.

However, when it comes time to replace a roof because of leaks, or a rug because a pet has left his mark more than once, there are better options than asphalt shingles and Afghan.

Annemarie Rexroad chose steel roofing and bamboo flooring for her Wheaton home when it was time to make some changes.

Rexroad's new roof is made of recycled steel that should last for more than 100 years, and be cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

The steel shingles are laid with a space beneath and insulation to prevent that "pinging" sound rainfall would otherwise create. Unlike asphalt, which won't stick well in the cold, steel roofs can be put on during the winter, usually at a discounted price, Rexroad said.

"The cool part is that snow will melt in sheets," Rexroad said. "There are safety guards to prevent an avalanche falling on you, but to hear it whoosh down is kind of cool."

She also has bamboo wood floors. Bamboo in its natural state can be harder than some oaks. It's also a green option because bamboo isn't a tree. It's a quick-growing grass. So while it can take decades to grow an oak floor, it only takes weeks to grow enough bamboo for a floor.

Beyond the infrastructure of the house comes purchasing decisions for the amenities inside. That's where Greg Stolzer's green instincts kick in for his Mount Prospect home.

His refrigerator is Energy Star-rated. That means it uses less water and electricity to cool the food inside than a regular refrigerator does. It's a bit more expensive, but the cost difference pays for itself in lower water and electricity bills, Stolzer said.

He also invests in compact florescent light bulbs, which are available at any local hardware store. If Lance Armstrong's pedaling was the fuel powering the bulbs, compact florescent lights would be easy coasting versus the uphill, hot-pursuit pedaling required to power incandescent lights.

"The proof of energy savings is in the heat the bulbs generate," Stolzer said. "You put your hand on an incandescent bulb that's been on for a couple minutes, and you're going to burn yourself. Not so with a CFL."

Other tips include not cleaning with bleaches and ammonia. Lemon juice, baking soda and vinegar all are alternatives that don't put toxic odors in the air or chemicals in the environment. And clean with reusable rags instead of paper towels and use cloth napkins instead of the disposable kind.

Greening the green

Food that tastes good and doesn't make you sick in the long run was popular long before the green revolution. But with tighter living spaces, having a green thumb in the garden is harder than ever.

With or without a garden, there are ways to eat and grow plants that will make Mother Nature smile.

Heather Goudreau in St. Charles and Kelly Joslin in Oswego both have small gardens at home. That in itself is a nod to the environment. But there are little things they do to supplement those gardens to help keep the planet alive and well.

You'll never see Goudreau carry plastic bags out of the supermarket. You won't see her carry out paper bags either.

Neither of the traditional checkout options are a good choice in her mind. Instead, she totes reusable, canvas bags to and from the store. She doesn't even use the clear, plastic bags in the fruit and vegetable aisles.

For lunch, she doesn't use baggies or a brown sack. She uses washable plastic containers for sandwiches and metal spoons instead of their disposable, plastic cousins.

She also supports the local farmer's market, a step Joslin takes even further.

As the winter ices recede, Joslin hits the farm fields and greenhouses leased by the Green Earth Institute in Naperville.

The institute's farm grows crops as part of a community-supported agriculture program. The program connects area residents with locally grown food by having them buy shares. The shares support all the seeds, supplies, labor and growing costs of the crops. In return, the farmers provide the shareholders with weekly or bi-weekly boxes of fresh vegetables for about 20 weeks.

Because the veggies are grown locally, there is less need for preservative chemicals and less use of gas to transport the food. There are also the taste benefits.

"I don't like tomatoes, but I eat tomatoes now because they're fabulous from there," Joslin said.

At home, Joslin also has what amounts to a free irrigation system. The spouts that collect the rainwater flowing from her roof are diverted into a pair of 60-gallon barrels. So instead of turning on the hose, Joslin can just scoop out the free water in the barrels.

"The barrels are basically the easiest green thing you can do," Joslin said.

In a group setting, one easy thing by each person can turn into a big movement.

Where a little is a lot

If Kay McKeen embodies the potential impact of one greenie on the planet, then Joanne East and her fellow residents at the Wyndemere Senior Living Campus in Wheaton embody the impact of a group.

East leads a team of residents who work with staff at the retirement community to inject green forethought into just about every aspect of their daily lives.

The seniors recycle and compost, but again, it may be their efforts to reuse products in their current form that makes the most impact.

Old eyeglasses are donated for reuse. Empty pill bottles are donated to local veterinarian offices. Expired medicine is taken to Central DuPage Hospital instead of flushed down the toilet. Old clothes are taken to resale shops. Unwanted shoes are donated to the needy. Plastic shopping bags are taken back to the stores they came from. Metal hangers are given to local dry cleaners. Styrofoam packaging materials are donated to local UPS and Mailboxes, Etc. stores. Even pots and vases are donated to local flower shops and greenhouses.

"There's lots of old people here, so they get lots of flowers and plants," East said.

Retirement doesn't have to mean not making a contribution to society and the planet, East said. The reward is the effort itself.

"You feel like you're making a little inroads," East said. "It would be nice if other places would join us."