The writer Alice Walker has the short story from her collection In Love and Trouble, entitled “For Everyday Use.” And in this story, she talks about a mother, getting on in years, who has this handmade quilt she is thinking of bequeathing to one of her two daughters. One of the daughters has gone up north and has become a professional woman with sophisticated sensibilities. She immediately sees the immense aesthetic value of the quilt and wants dearly to hang this heirloom up on the wall. The other daughter, a simple type who has lived all these years with her mom, just wants to use the quilt as a bedcover, as it has always been used.

We are hoping to use this website generally, and this particular newsletter page particularly, to tell some very basic stories of everday, sustainable practices. Short vignettes and practical facts that enable you to make little adjustments immediately in how you do things. Sustainability writ in small letters, for everyday use,

What kind of things did we have in mind? Well, for instance, if you shut the water off while you’re brushing your teeth, that will save approximately 1400 gallons of water in a year.

Or, how about this. We spend 90% of our time indoors, and the EPA estimates that indoor air quality if 5 times worse than the air outside. Probably not a bad idea, next time you have a simple interior paint job, to make sure the paint you use is one with low VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds – it’s marked on the can). As one of my colleagues, Randy Peacock is fond of saying: “We’re not about getting all preachy about big issues you can’t get your arms around. We’re about things like creating a healthier space for our kids, families, neighbors.”

OK, one more tidbit: In just three days, there is more solar radiation that reaches the earth than all the known supplies of fossil fuel. So maybe we ought to consider doing in the US what they’ve done in Israel for decades: put very simple, inexpensive solar collectors on every roof to provide hot water. The system is augmented with an electrical back-up for the colder, cloudier winter months. But, hey. The technology is there, it is very simple, and it’s cheap – perfect for use most every day.

Martin Melaver
CEO, Melaver, Inc.
Q1, 2005