By Adam Blust
Sustainability efforts are going on all around us in Dane County. At the 2023 Sustain Dane Summit, five community leaders updated the attendees on their ongoing sustainability projects.
Nearly a decade of sustainability – Reynolds Transfer and Storage
Ben Reynolds, Director of Operations at Reynolds Transfer and Storage and Sustain Dane board member, spoke about his company’s eight years of sustainability projects, beginning with two solar arrays installed in 2015. Reynolds said those arrays, which provide $3,800/year in savings, are almost paid off. But that was just the start at Reynolds.
The company has replaced 1,900 traditional light bulbs with LED bulbs in the last five years. Reynolds said heating upgrades to the company’s 270,000 square feet of storage space in the Madison area have had quick payback as well.
Reynolds said the company makes an effort to reach out and serve the community.
Reynolds Transfer and Storage has worked with Road Home of Dane County to “to gather furniture that would otherwise go to the landfill and instead donate it to individuals in need. The company also works with Open Doors for Refugees, providing storage space for donations that then go to refugees.
Sustainability in shared housing – Linden Co-Housing
Cynthia Moore from Linden Co-Housing, a community of 80 individuals of all ages on Madison’s east side, said sustainable living is a central concept at Linden.
Sustainability initiatives at Linden include
- Shelves in the garage to encourage reuse and recycling of common items, including tools, paper bags, newspapers, and plastic containers and bags
- Composting, 1,000 gallons of food waste during the summer months
- Reducing residents’ energy costs through partnerships with MG&E and Focus on Energy
- A giveaway shelf for excess products from shopping and community gardens
- Minimizing the use of toxic cleaning chemicals by providing information about alternatives
- Hosting community events centered on sustainability
Moore said Linden is also exploring the potential benefits of heat pumps and car sharing.
“Sustainable living is something that we strive for every day,” Moore explained.
Immersing children in sustainability- Madison Children’s Museum
“We use sustainability as a thread in everything we do,” said Cheryl DeWelt, Environmental Education Manager at Madison Children’s Museum.
One centerpiece of the museum’s focus on sustainability is the green roof, with pollinator gardens, organic gardens and live chickens.
“Throughout the museum we try to immerse children in sustainability,” DeWelt remarked. “Our hope is that as children are exploring the museum and they become just immersed in the sustainability and all the threads of what we do, that then they can go home and adopt those behaviors in their in their life and grow up and be conservationists.”
DeWelt explained when the museum builds exhibits, it works with local natural materials, things that are reused or recycled, whenever possible.
The museum is also doing a carbon reduction audit, and aims to go carbon neutral in the next five years.
Teaching students about air quality- Latino Academy & EcoLatinos
Cristina Carvajal, founder of Wisconsin EcoLatinos, was a facilitator of the Latino Academy of Workforce Development’s student air quality project earlier this year.
The project had three phases:
- Learning: What are the contaminants that are most affecting air quality, the sources of air pollution and who are the vulnerable populations most affected by the air quality issues
- Measurement: Students installed seven purple air monitors with real-time reporting and mapping on the web.
- Outreach: Students went into their communities and passed on what they had learned including how to protect health during times of poor air quality, which we experienced over the summer due to the Canadian Wildfires.
“All this was happening when Wisconsin was the affected by the wildfires of Canada, and the students saw how the monitors went from green to purple. They experienced firsthand the urgency to take action to reduce exposure and to reduce air pollution,” Carvajal said.
Most students who took part in the project had no idea about the issues surrounding air quality and how it affected their communities. It was a real eye-opener for them, Carvajal said.
“This is an environmental justice issue,” she said.
Sustainability and co-op housing – Sunny Side Development
Paul Schecter, Executive Director of Sunny Side Development started the organization because he saw a need within the affordable housing industry.
“It’s a multi-billion dollar industry across America,” Schecter said. “And it does create affordable housing and that’s great. But there’s also a lack of community engagement and sustainability. And that’s one thing that I really want to see more of.”
Out of that concern came Zapata Cooperative, a project to bring cooperative housing to the Latino community on Madison’s south side.
Sunny Side was approached by a brother and sister from Mexico who live in one of the downtown co-ops who said that they loved the co-op lifestyle, but didn’t have much representation and wanted to find a co-op in an area of town with a thriving Latino culture.
Sunny Side found what Schecter described as a partially-completed “McMansion” on Moorland Road that they are in the process of converting to a very low carbon use 12-unit housing cooperative.
“We’re changing what would be a very inefficient McMansion type house into housing for immigrants and those who don’t traditionally receive housing in the community,” Schecter said.
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Do you have a sustainability project idea for yourself, business or organization?
Sustain Dane is a resource to assist. Consider attending the upcoming Accelerate Sustainability Workshop on Friday, April 12 2024. The Accelerate Sustainability Workshop is a half-day professional development gathering that connects you to the tools, people, and case studies you need to prioritize and take action around sustainability. In addition, feel free to reach out to Program Manager Lorenza directly at lorenza@sustaindane.org