Buddy system: Environmentally sustainable habits rub off on friends, students, co-workers

Published November 8, 2011 in the Commercial Appeal

Kalki Winter, who worked in the landscaping business for 11 years, was a firm believer in insecticide pellets and Miracle-Gro. Landscaping had him focused on immediate benefits, but he knew that it wasn't the healthiest long-term approach. A friend convinced him to try organic gardening.

Winter met potter Melissa Bridgman in 2001 while organizing the Midtown Artist Market Holiday Show. Shortly thereafter, he joined Bridgman's book club, and they became friends.

"Kalki and I started talking gardening in 2003 or 2004. I remember being aghast when he told me that the reason his tomatoes were so large was his blue synthetic fertilizer habit," Bridgman says. After that conversation, the two started talking compost and pesticides.

Whether at home, in school, or at work, relationships among the environmentally conscious are making an impact in the community at large.

Bridgman says that when she was growing up, her mom always gardened. Even though she used Miracle-Gro and fought bad pests with Sevin Dust, her mom always had a compost pile. Her mother's youngest sister had cancer at an early age and had learned a lot about nutrition and the bad effects of chemicals. That experience made an impact on the extended family.

Now years later, at her Midtown home, Bridgman collects rainwater, composts, raises chickens, avoids synthetic chemicals, and has hundreds of healthy plants in her yard. Winter says he'd go to Bridgman's house and see what she was doing, and be inspired to try new things on his own. "She was the first person in my peer group that

was really walking the walk," he says.

Now Winter has taken his love of organic gardening to the next level. He recently started his own landscaping business, E-scape -- Landscaping Solutions for a Greener Memphis. Through his new work, he hopes to improve the environment visually and resourcewise. E-scape focuses on xeriscaping, which means incorporating native and low-maintenance plants to reduce the amount of water needed.

"My idea is to make gardening friendly for the environment, the budget and the gardener. Gardening really is easy when you aren't forcing a plant into a new environment," he says.

Winter's mantra is "The less time spent watering, the less money spent." At his Midtown house, he now catches rainwater off of the roof in a barrel as well as condensation from his air-conditioning unit. The water that would typically go to the sewer instead goes to his laundry or his garden. He says he collects 30 gallons a day in the summer.

Teachers Jen Wood-Bowien and Brittany Clark, who met at Middle College High School, use their mutual interest in environmental issues and their friendship to further the knowledge of their students.

They've done several projects together, one of which involved making bags from old T-shirts. "We let the kids decorate the T-shirts however they wanted then showed them how to create a bag," Clark explains. They took the bag T-shirts to a national student conference, and they were such a hit that others asked if they could buy them.

Clark and Wood-Bowien also took the students to a recycling plant, the University of Memphis' Terra House, and an interactive, experiential tour of the BRIDGES Center for a firsthand investigation of green building design, sustainability principles and leadership.

"It's really important to expose the kids to these ideas because they are so wasteful anyway," Clark says. "The amount of trash at school is ridiculous. The amount of paper alone is unbelievable."

The two also try to lead by example. Wood-Bowien has developed quite a reputation for reusing everything. "As a theater artist, I am very conscious of budget," she says. "I have none. Because of that, I'm always looking for ways to make something out of nothing."

She has found lots of things at the school -- the usual pens and coffee mugs and old books, but also clothes. "I guess over time people just lose things," she explains. Wood-Bowien has a big box full of sweaters and hoodies, shoes and backpacks that have landed on her doorstep. Whenever anyone rips something or spills something on their shirt, they come to her.

Her big finds come during the last week of the year when they hold "locker cleanout." "I must have 5,000 sheets of unused notebook paper that I have collected from that," she says, adding that she also has gently used binders in every shape, color and size and enough plastic protective sleeves and dividers to outfit the entire school. "Last year I got these great ACT study cards and three or four nice scientific calculators," she says. "I didn't know what to do with them myself, but the math department was sure happy."

Wood-Bowien says it's funny how the kids know what she does now. "They come to me for things and they bring me stuff," she says. "I don't know if I have necessarily inspired other teachers to be more responsible, but I think the kids get it on a very basic level."

To her, it's about not throwing a bunch of reusable stuff in a landfill. To them, it's about not throwing away money. "I guess that's OK -- as long as they get the idea that repurposing is a good idea," she says.

Clark agrees, "The kids don't realize the impact that they are having. They need to learn now, or the world won't be the same when they grow up and have children."

Becoming a mother inspired Danielle Youngblood to do something about the waste at her office. She's a national account manager with J. Hunt Home, a provider of lighting, furniture and home accessories to many national retailers. She travels all around America and to several other countries as part of her job.

"During my travels, I started to realize how much waste we produce," she says. "Since it doesn't just magically disappear, I wanted to make sure to do my part in keeping my waste as minimal as possible. I also see the ecological and environmental effects we are putting on this world and taking no responsibility for it."

She saw recycling as an easy way to get started at her office. She began recycling all of her own paper and cardboard at her desk and in the copy room. "I also set up garbage cans in the kitchen for everyone to recycle their aluminum, glass and plastic," Youngblood says. Once a week, she takes all of the recycling to a recycling center.

"So many people don't recycle because of the inconvenience, but if my 80-year-old grandmother can recycle and doesn't have curbside recycling, then anyone can," she says.

Since she began the recycling program at work, a few others at the office have stepped up to assist in getting it all to the recycling center since her job keeps her on the road at times. Co-worker Brad Chang says Youngblood's efforts have been effective. "Our coworkers used to just throw their recyclables in the trash, but now there's a conscious effort by all to recycle."