by Ron Hall, Office of Communications

To citizens in many parts of this planet, the word "sustainability" means ""Where is my next meal going to come from?" or even "How am I going to survive?"

In the U.S. we're a lot more fortunate; to us, the word "sustainability" may mean "How can we conserve this country's natural resources?" or "How can we minimize the ecological footprint that we humans are leaving on Mother Earth?"

"That may sound ponderous and heavy-duty--and also pretty intimidating," acknowledged Ruth McWilliams, the National Sustainable Development Coordinator for the Forest Service. "But at USDA we're breaking this down into small, manageable steps."

"Specifically, we're focusing on our individual USDA workplaces--both at headquarters and field locations around the country. We're looking at what each office site can do--and has already done--to conserve natural resources while maintaining other social and economic benefits."

What follows are some examples of specific initiatives USDA employees have implemented recently in their individual work places around the country to conserve natural resources.

First, as background, over the years USDA officials have developed and implemented a variety of policies--as spelled out in numerous Secretary's Memorandums, Departmental Regulations, Memos of Understanding, reports, and studies--to promote the sustainability of natural resources at the Department.

But after that, the next step needs to be that employees translate those various documents into concrete action at USDA office sites around the country. Or alternatively, the approach may be to experiment with an innovation at a selected USDA office location--and then, depending on the degree of its success--implement that experiment USDA-wide.

The examples that follow reflect those approaches.

For instance, FS employees on the Bighorn National Forest in Sheridan, Wyo., have installed a device called the "VendingMiser" on the soft drink machines located in their office buildings. Bruce Kjerstad, an FS civil engineering technician on the Bighorn NF, who installed the devices, said it's a motion sensor and a controller that attaches to the back and top of a vending machine.

"After 15 minutes of inactivity," he explained, "the 'VendingMiser' shuts down power to the vending machine. But if someone walks by the vending machine and thereby 'alerts' the motion sensor, the device sends power to reactivate the machine. The device also makes sure that, even if there is no office foot traffic for extended periods of time--such as during the weekend--the soft drink machine turns on every one to three hours so the sodas stay cool."

Lexie Carroll, an FS civil engineer on the Bighorn NF who purchased the VendingMisers for FS offices in the agency's Rocky Mountain Region, said that last fall she purchased 30 Misers at $140 each. "We sent the Misers directly to the offices that agreed to install them," she said. "We calculate the Misers will pay for themselves in just over nine months, at current energy rates, with an energy savings of about 63 percent."

As a second example, in many USDA offices, when the office printer wears out, it is being replaced with a printer--with 'duplex capability'--that is, it's capable of printing on both sides of the page. "I know many offices already have duplex printers," acknowledged Anna Jones-Crabtree, the forest engineer on the Bighorn NF and the Sustainable Operations Coordinator for FS's Rocky Mountain Region. "But the key is that, when several employees have their individual work station computers plugged into that single printer, the individual computers need to be set up with the command that activates two-sided printing. Often they are not. That's what we've been busy adjusting when possible."

Glenda Wilson, Director of Engineering for the Rocky Mountain Region in Lakewood, Colo., added that they try to ensure that a stack of white paper, with one side already used, is located near their office printers. "That way," she explained, "if someone needs to make a copy of some item--and that particular item doesn't need to be copied on unused paper--there's an option easily available to avoid using unused paper for copying purposes unless it's necessary."

She noted that the name of that stacked paper is 'GOOS'--or "good on one side."

Third, as an example of the Department's effort to procure, for USDA office use, "biobased products"--that is, products made from renewable resources that come from farms or forests--from April 2005 through April 2006 the Agricultural Research Service's Grazinglands Research Laboratory in El Reno, Okla., purchased biobased products which included 275 gallons of biobased hydraulic tractor fluid, two cases of biobased two-cycle engine oil, and a case of biobased cartridge grease. Mike Downing, the Procurement and Realty Officer for ARS's Southern Plains Area in College Station, Texas, said the lab purchased those biobased items for farming operations, grounds-keeping, and facilities maintenance at the lab.

He added that ARS's Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center in Weslaco, Texas purchased two boxes of biobased hand sanitizer, five boxes of environmentally friendly toilet bowl cleaner, and four boxes of environmentally friendly foam cups.

Fourth, USDA is experimenting with the concept of a "Low-Impact Development" technique know as "the green roof." According to Ed Murtagh, Acting Deputy Chief of the Washington Area Service Center in the Office of Operations, the principle behind "the green roof" is to retain rainwater which would typically run off roofs of buildings into rain gutters, into the street, and ultimately often into local bodies of water.

In areas with hard surfaces like roads and rooftops, instead of rainwater slowly entering streams as cool, clean groundwater, it rushes into waterways all at once as hot, polluted runoff--where it can cause flooding and environmental damage.

"Especially in urban areas," he explained, "as rainwater falls through the air, it picks up nitrogen and other airborne pollutants from auto emissions. If it falls on hard surfaces like tiled roofs or concrete streets--instead of onto a natural area containing trees--it not only retains those chemicals, but also picks up additional pollutants from the streets, and can carry them toward the rainwater's destination--like, in our case, the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay."

However, Murtagh said, a "green roof" typically consists of plantbeds growing in containers of soil that are placed on the roof itself. When it rains the plantbeds absorb much of the rainwater. The plants serve as a filter for the chemicals the rainwater was carrying. In addition, by capturing and retaining rainwater, the plantbeds cool off the roof--thereby saving on the amount of air conditioning needed to cool that office building.

The significance of this is that since April 2005 the Office of Operations has been experimenting with a 120-square-foot plot of "green roof" on top of a utility building that is part of USDA's Whitten Building in Washington DC. That "green roof plot" consists of hardy, low-maintenance plants growing in a special soil mix specifically designed for "green roofs."

"So far," Murtagh said, "our observation is that our 'green roof' has successfully captured rainwater, has filtered that water, and has cooled off that particular portion of the roof."

He said future plans call for expanding the OO "headquarters green roof project" to other buildings in the headquarters complex.

Fifth, in order to cut down on water consumption in USDA offices, waterless urinals have been installed in some field office sites. For instance, Bill Dauer, FS's forest engineer on the White Mountain National Forest in Laconia, N.H., said that a new combined national forest headquarters and ranger station office "is at the 90 percent design level"--and is to include three waterless urinals, nine composting toilets, and water-reducing fixtures in the bathroom sinks.

"The significance of this," he pointed out, "is this is not just some remote, rural campground facility that'll have these waterless urinals and the other features; it's our forest headquarters office. And an estimated 100 permanent Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service employees will be working there." Construction on the facility, to be located in Campton, N.H., is scheduled to begin in FY 2007.

Sixth, when slate roofs need replacement or repair at ARS's Beltsville (Md.) Agricultural Research Center (BARC), they're now being done using "recycled content roofing tiles." "Those tiles look like slate, they're less expensive than slate, and they meet historical preservation standards," noted Ron Korcak, Associate Director for BARC. He added that this became policy after a tornado struck in that area in 2001, requiring the replacement of roofs on four BARC buildings.

ARS Engineering Project Manager Sandy Morgan added that ARS's BARC facility has installed carpeting, in some of its offices, which has a soy-based padding--a biobased product.

Seventh, many USDA offices around the country require the use of government vehicles to carry out their mission on a daily basis. "We have about 4,000 vehicles to service the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Region and Northern Region, covering a total of nine states," said Missoula, Mont.-based Willie Boyer, FS's fleet manager for those two regions. "75 percent are SUVs or trucks. But we're trying to save their use for when we really have to travel over rugged terrain."

Accordingly, during FY 2006 Boyer purchased 358 vehicles for use in those two regions, and 86 of those purchases were alternative fuel vehicles, such as ethanol-based vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles. "This added to the 83 alternative fuel vehicles which we already use," he said.

That's why for the last two years the Bighorn NF has had access to a hybrid electric vehicle. "We call her 'Rhonda the Honda'," quipped George Williams, the NF's fleet manager. "We use her for those official trips where we simply don't need the use of a truck or an SUV to get the job done."

Eighth, in 2005 USDA conducted a three-month pilot program using biobased cafeteria-ware in the Whitten Building cafeteria. Mike Green, the Program Manager for USDA's Biobased Procurement Program who is in the Office of Procurement and Property Management, said the pilot included totally replacing the currently-used polystyrene and plastic food service items with biobased products such as bowls and plates made from sugarcane fibers; biodegradable trays; cold-use cups, cup lids, and straws made from corn; bio-coated hot cups; and heat-stable utensils made from modified cellulose and limestone. "We also gave guidance to the cafeteria patrons," added Marian Romero, the building concessions supervisor in OO. "We showed them how to dispose of their food and cafeteria-ware discards in special recycling bins in the cafeteria so those items wouldn't get contaminated with non-compostable items."

The reason for that, explained ARS research microbiologist Pat Millner, is that, as part of the pilot, ARS compost site operator Randy Townsend picked up the collected biobased cutlery on a daily basis, transported it to ARS's BARC Composting Facility, mixed it with appropriate leftover and discarded food from the cafeteria which he had also picked up, and made compost out of it. "I mixed that material with grass clippings, leaves, straw, and water, and composted the mix for six weeks. Next, I cured that 'enriched' mix for several months and then screened the mix to make it more useable," Townsend said.

Then in July USDA's groundskeepers delivered nearly eight cubic yards of the compost back to the Whitten Building, where it was spread around the produce growing in the USDA Vegetable Garden located on the side of that building. OO quality assurance specialist Ron Chunik noted that after harvesting the produce as it matures, it will be donated to a local soup kitchen.

"This pilot may be repeated at selected USDA field sites around the country," Green said. "We may also be able to apply the lessons learned from this pilot to Forest Service firefighting field sites, where firefighters could conceivably discard biobased, biodegradable food utensils as they pick up camp."

Finally, presumably most if not all USDA offices around the country are recycling soda cans and bottles, newspapers, and other paper. Those offices presumably have boxes and bins conveniently located nearby that are officially designated, within the office complex, for depositing those recyclable items.

"When I do my rounds around the Whitten Building to pick up trash from employee wastebaskets," observed Greg Champion, a custodial staffer who services that building, "on occasion I'll see that some employees are still throwing their bottles, cans, newspapers, and white papers in their wastebaskets, instead of in those 'recycle containers'--usually just down at the end of the hall."

"So sometimes I'll lift those items out of that employee's wastebasket. And then I'll drop them off myself in the nearest recycle bin, when I'm pulling my trash barrel around the building."

"These creative actions," affirmed McWilliams, "show that USDA employees are concerned about our collective consumption and its impact on the environment."