Employee Pages

Green Pathways

Special attention on the environment

The mission of Green Pathways is to ensure that Pathway Homes is environmentally friendly, moving us toward a bright and sustainable future through education and positive change.

The Green Pathways Committee meets each month to monitor and encourage environmentally sound practices throughout the agency. Committee membership is open to residents and staff members. For more information, contact Alyssa Ford Morel or Lauren Pollet. You can make a donation to support these efforts at our "Support Pathways" page.

This site has general information that may be of interest to the general viewer, as well as information that is specific to Pathway Homes and will be of interest primarily to individuals served by Pathways, and employees and supporters of Pathway Homes. We hope to keep adding information over time, but currently, this site contains:

Green Ideas: Suggestions that will help the environment, including links to educational sites.
Pathways Greens Up: Environmentally friendly things Pathway Homes is currently doing.

Green Ideas

If you are interested in being more environmentally proactive, here are some ideas to consider:

Recycling

Recycling helps the environment in a variety of ways. America is quickly running out of landfill space. Recycling helps keep them from filling up. Recycling products means that there is less habitat destruction, non-renewable resource depletion and energy expended to created those products.

Recycle newspapers: Most homes are served by trash companies that recycle newspapers. Other ways of recycling newspapers include shredding them for compost, or using them under mulch in your garden to keep down weeds.
Recycle cans, jars and plastic: As with newspapers, most homes are served by trash companies that recycle cans and jars. Different companies recycle different plastic containers.
Recycle shopping bags: Plastic grocery bags show up in many wildlife areas and can hurt animals and sea creatures that get caught in them or try to eat them. Most grocery stores take bundles of bags back for recycling. Ask your store manager if you aren't sure. Even better: bring your own sturdy bag to the store to be reused. Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and other stores sell reusable bags and encourage customers to use them.
Find a new home for the stuff you don't want: There are many options of what to do with stuff you no longer need. Clothes, toys, appliances, books, housewares and much else can be donated to Goodwill, The Salvation Army or another local thrift shop where it will be resold. If you prefer to know exactly who your stuff will go to, Freecycle provides an online community of people who recycle within local neighborhoods. Also, think about repurposing items -- worn out bedding and clothing make great cleaning rags (cuts down on paper towel waste), jars make great vases and storage containers, soak winecorks in alcohol and use them as firestarters, etc.

Cut Down on Waste and Pollution

Recycling is one way to keep our landfills from filling up, but an even easier solution is simply to not generate as much trash. The less waste we put back into the environment, the fewer contaminants will pollute our air, soil and water.

Limit disposables: Using a mug instead of disposable coffee cups keeps trash out of landfills.
Start composting: Grass clippings, dried leaves, coffee grounds and kitchen waste all make for excellent compost material. The bonus is that in addition to keeping landfills free, you are creating the best possible dirt for your garden.
Adopt a houseplant: There is ample evidence that certain houseplants help fight indoor air pollution. Here are more details.
Get off the bottle: Find a great portable water container, and refill it from your tap. Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 U.S. cars for a year. Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 86 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States aren’t recycled. Incinerating used bottles produces toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals. Buried water bottles can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.
Dispose of florescent bulbs as hazardous waste: Florescent lights (including compact florescent lights [CFLs], or those "twirly bulbs") contain mercury, which is a hazardous material. Florescent bulbs should be taken to a local hazardous waste disposal site. At Pathway Homes, counselors and residents can bring burned-out bulbs to the Administrative Office -- once we have a collection built up, we will take them in.

Save Energy

Energy is created by tapping in to natural resources. While some of those resources are renewable (think wind and sun), many are not. Not only is there a limited supply of fossil fuels and coal, but accessing them and burning them create pollution.

Turn off the lights: If you're going to leave a room for 15 minutes or more, flip the switch.
Use revolving doors: Almost eight times more air is exchanged when you use a swinging door than when you use a revolving door. If 10,000 people used a revolving door just once, enough energy would be saved to light a CFL bulb for 640 days.
Control your climate control: Overuse of air conditioning in summer and heat in winter is a big energy (and money) waster. In the summer, wear light clothing and set the temperature at 78 degrees. In winter, put on an extra sweater and set the temperature at 68. On temperate days, turn the system off and open the windows.
Limit driving: Walk, bike, use public transportation or carpool whenever possible.
Purchase food grown locally: Many European countries track the "food miles" of produce in grocery stores. Food grown far away and trucked to you represents a lot of fuel and carbon output before you ever touch it. Purchasing from farmer's markets means that your food hasn't traveled as far. Bonus: local food is usually fresher. Super bonus: small local producers usually use fewer pesticides and have greater biodiversity on their farms.
Choose the hand dryer: It may surprise you, but using an electric hand dryer in a public restroom actually uses about a third of the electricity needed to produce paper towels. Plus, of course, no trees get cut down, and, by the way, paper towels put in trash cans don't get recycled.

Encourage Biodiversity

Biodiversity is a term that describes all the varieties of life forms on the planet as well as the complex ways in which they interact. Humans rely on other species and the ecosystems they create to provide food, medicines, natural products, fresh air and countless other resources (some of which we haven’t even discovered yet). However, the rate of extinction is at an all-time high, and we are in danger of losing the delicately balanced interactions on which we depend.

Turn your backyard into a wildlife habitat: Visit the National Wildlife Federation's "Garden For Wildlife," and see what you can do to attract songbirds, butterflies and native species.
Plant more native plants in your garden: Native plants serve as the foundation of the food chain for native insects, amphibians, birds, predators, etc. Instead of relying on non-native landscape imports, suburban American gardeners can support many threatened species simply by increasing the use of native plants. Not sure what plants are native? Here's a great database that lets you search for natives based on several criteria.
Eat healthier fish: Not only do certain fish species contain high levels of mercury but many of the world's fisheries are either farmed destructively, severely overfished or under threat from invasive species. The Green Guide has a guide that you can print and take with you shopping to know which fish are safe.
Grow your own veggies: Nothing tastes better than a freshly picked vegetable seasoned with a little sweat of your own brow. Even a little effort can yeild lovely lettuce for your healthy salad, or a juicy tomato for your summer sandwich. Unusual varieties are generally not harder to grow than the typical grocery store selections, so have fun and broaden your culinary horizons. The cost outlay of seeds is minimal. Check out Seeds of Change, Amishland Heirloom Seeds, Renee's Garden or Google for one of the other many excellent seed sources.

Keep Water Clean and Available

Water is necessary for the survival of most living things. In addition to sustaining life, people use clean freshwater for personal hygiene, irrigation, industry and recreation. With all of the demands humans place on their water sources, as well as climate changes which have led to droughts, the amount of available freshwater is decreasing. In addition, much of the available freshwater is being contaminated with harmful elements such as sulfuric acid, fertilizer, and gasoline which are carried to streams, rivers, and eventually into the groundwater, lakes, and oceans of the world.

Don't litter: Trash anywhere other than in trash cans is likely to end up being swept into the storm runoff system, which in Northern Virginia, will lead eventually into the Chesapeake Bay.
Chill out: Keep a pitcher of water in the refrigerator instead of running the tap for cold drinks, so that every drop goes down you not the drain.
Dispose of automotive oil properly: It only takes just one cup of used motor oil to put an oil sheen on a one acre pond. Put your used oil in a clean plastic container with a tight lid and do not mix it with anything else. Take your used oil to a recycling center that collects used oil, a service station, quick lube, or any location that accepts used oil.
Use water wisely: Turn off the water while you brush your teeth. You'll save four gallons a minute. That's 200 gallons a week for a family of four. Take that principle to the next step by turning off the water in the shower after getting wet. Shampoo and soap yourself, then turn the water back on. In drought-stricken areas, people put a bucket in the shower to catch water as it heats up. The water in the bucket is then used to water plants that would otherwise go dry.

Educate Yourself

Make sure you understand the many issues involved in being environmentally savvy. There are many websites that have helpful information. Some of the ones we like include:

American Water & Energy Savers -- Forty-nine ways to save water.
An Inconvenient Truth -- The follow-up site from Al Gore's Academy Award winning documentary about the climate crisis.
Arlington: Environment -- Official Arlington County site.
A to Z List of Ideas to Go Green -- Yes, they even have something under "X" and "Z."
Biodiversity Project -- All about the importance of biodiversity and how to protect it.
Climate Change -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's site.
Consumer Consequences -- An interactive game that helps you determine if your lifestyle and choices help or hinder global sustainability.
Eat Well Guide -- Locator for local, sustainable and organic foods.
Energy Savings Trust -- "What I can do today" energy saving ideas.
Extreme Ice Survey -- Visual evidence of retreating glaciers.
Fairfax County Recycling and Trash -- Official Fairfax County site.
Farmers Markets Guide -- A list in the April 16, 2008, Washington Post food section of local farmers markets and links to their websites. Some good websites to visit include the Arlington Farmers Market, Fairfax County Farmers Markets, and Smart Markets.
Freecycle -- A network of grassroots groups devoted to reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills.
Green Festival -- Celebrations across the country.
Green Living -- A guide to help you make your own, low-cost, earth-friendly cleaning supplies.
How to Compost -- At the risk of redundancy, this site explains composting. As a bonus, here's a great list of things you can compost.
Ideal Bite -- A fun and sassy site offering a daily green idea by email, and a library of previous "bites."
Paper or Plastic? -- A terrific graphic from the Washington Post comparing the environmental impact of paper bags vs. plastic bags.
The Power is in Your Hands -- Full of energy saving information and tips.
Recycle Now -- Ideas and how-to information on recycling.
Recycling Fun Facts -- Full of tidbits and facts that astonish and encourage more recycling.
Reduce Your Rubbish -- More ideas and how-to information.
Sustainable Table -- Healthy eating and sustainable food movement site.
TreeHugger -- General info on how to "go green" in a number of ways.
Trees 101 -- Virginia Department of Forestry's guide to choosing, planting and caring for trees.
Water Use it Wisely -- One hundred ways to save water.

If you have a favorite site that you think we should link to, or a favorite tip we should add, please let us know by emailing Green Pathways.

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Pathways "Greens" Up

Pathway Homes has started on its journey to being more environmentally-friendly, and is actively looking at additional steps. Here's some of what we're doing:

All appliances we purchase for replacement are "Energy Star" rated. (Agency-wide)
The agency is replacing incandescent lightbulbs with compact florescent lightbulbs (CFL) as old bulbs burn out. (Agency-wide)
Paper, cans, plastic and glass are recycled at all Semi-Independent Program homes, 24-hour support Group Homes, Stevenson Place and the Administrative office.
Printer and copier cartridges are recycled at the Administrative Office.
Letterhead and envelopes are printed on recycled paper.
We purchase 35 percent recycled content copier paper.
Both Stevenson Place and the Administrative Office have stopped purchasing Styrofoam cups and are encouraging staff members to use mugs instead. More earth-friendly disposable cups are provided for visitors.
Coffee grounds at the Administrative Office are composted.
Extra paper is made into scratch paper at the Administrative Office.
Toilets at Stevenson Place are "low flow."
Many residents use public transportation.
Pathway Homes is building a library of books and DVDs about environmental issues. If you would like to contribute to it, please see our Amazon.com Wish List.

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