Water Harvesting Workshop / Green retrofit workshop

Empowering Local Communities, Inc. and Watershed Management Group (WMG) are joining together on the day, to host free workshops that teach people cost effective ways to reduce the carbon footprint of their home, and save money on utility bills.

Empowering Local Communities, Inc will focus on weatherizing and, insulating the homes.

Founder Tres English states that “The average Tucson family produces about as much CO2 in a year as their house and cars weigh – almost 30 tons. On October 10, you can be part of one small step for Tucson and the World by demonstrating the solutions available”

WMG will build landscape features that harvest rainwater, and plant trees to shade the house and yard.

Catlow Shipek explains “40% of the city of Tucson’s energy expenditures are for transportation of water, and the Central Arizona Project (CAP) is the single largest user of electricity in the state”

He claims that “Typically 40-60% of household water use is for outside use. By using water harvesting techniques to grow trees we reduce carbon emissions from water transportation. The trees will then capture carbon and as they grow reduce the urban heat island effect as well as reduce inside cooling needs by shading buildings”

Karin Have host of one of the events states that "I just bought a fixer upper in Barrio Hollywood and 10-10-10 was a great way to meet my neighbors" also "350 is a global idea and it was nice to act locally".

All work parties will be lead by fully trained instructors. To register for the WMG workshop email co-op@watershedmg.org. To register for the home retrofit contact Tres English, tres@sustainabetucson.com.