Perspectives
KELLY LUCILLE CUTCHIN
KELLY LUCILLE CUTCHIN attended Berea College, graduating in 2004. She was instrumental in designing and building the SENS House and was one of its first residents. Today, she is employed as Environmental and Energy Efficiency Consultant in Washington, D.C.
What was the impetus behind the development and design of the SENS house?
Dr. Richard Olson led the way with the entire Berea College Ecovillage Project. The College was planning to build more housing for married students and students with children, and Dr. Olson insisted that as an organization, Berea walk the talk of sustainable development.
Ecovillages are more than an assembly of well-built buildings. They include programs for residents to learn, grow and live together in ways that are environmentally mindful. We wanted a place where students who were passionate about running such programs could live within the Ecovillage, and so the SENS House was born.
It houses four students who hold labor positions in the Sustainability and Environmental Studies (SENS) Program. These students are part of the daily operations of the Ecovillage, host educational sessions, are on-hand to address resident concerns, and generally lead by example.
In the design stage of the Ecovillage, the SENS House also gave us an opportunity to go a little farther toward zero-energy and natural, local, non-toxic building materials. It let us get a little funkier.
The idea with the rest of the Ecovillage was to demonstrate that people could live with a smaller ecological footprint without huge changes to their lifestyle. In the SENS House, we knew we would have residents who were willing to make lifestyle changes, so we got to incorporate a composting toilet to reduce wastewater, a woodstove for heating, rainwater collection and a graywater system that require monitoring and upkeep.
Also, because it was just one house, we got to do things that might not have been feasible for the entire village- like incorporate a timber frame and a straw bale wall.
What environmental practices did you find easiest and most difficult to maintain after living in the SENS house?
The SENS House makes it easy to live lightly. It’s easy to drastically reduce your municipal water use when you have rainwater collection, all low-flow fixtures, a composting toilet and an on-site graywater system. Same with electricity – it’s easy to minimize your dependence on the power grid when you have a passive-solar-designed, super-insulated home with a photovoltaic array.
My personal habits haven’t changed much in years. I turn off the lights when I leave the room, am mindful of my water use, and if I need an appliance, I buy the energy efficient version. I dress appropriately to the season and keep heating and cooling costs to a minimum. I live in an apartment now and my average electricity bill has been under $10 a month for the past year.
So, I guess the easiest practice to maintain is general resource efficiency.
The most difficult? Finding a way to avoid pooping in fresh, drinking-quality water
How has your experience at Berea affected your professional and personal decisions?
Berea College opened my mind in so many ways.
Professionally, my years at Berea instilled in me the value and the nobility of physical labor. I think many graduates leave college thinking that the next logical step is into the more professional or academic realm. I went the other way and decided to get more hands-on experience building ecologically-designed homes. That experience continues to provide value in my life as I work with builders, architects and building managers to improve the performance of their buildings.
I think my personal decisions have been better for being informed by the knowledge, integrity and tolerance I gained in my years at Berea.
What would you encourage colleges and universities to do to raise awareness among their students, faculty, and community of environmentally conscious decisions?
Make their impacts visible. Install sub-meters in the dorms and classroom buildings so people can see how much water and electricity that they are using. Measure everything – then go about trying to reduce consumption. Hold dorm competitions and offer a prize to the dorm with the lowest per capita water or electricity use.
Incorporate environmental themes into course work. Learning the basics of atomic mass? Practice that lesson by calculating the weight of the greenhouse gases emitted by driving 100 miles in your car.
Environmental Chemistry was one of my favorite courses at Berea. This can work with every single entry level course, and many upper-level courses. Give everyone the Knowledge of Place quiz as homework so they learn where their water and energy comes from, and where their waste goes when it leaves their sight.
Host lectures and invite guest speakers to talk about environmental issues and initiatives.
Make it local. Reach out to the community and find out what people are already doing. Is there a Buy Local movement? A group fighting mountaintop removal? A transfer station that could expand to recycle more materials if only they could coordinate with your Facilities Management?
And, most importantly, reward those on campus and in the community who are taking strides in the right direction. An awards banquet for local environmental heroes reinforces positive behavior and garners media attention. Provide faculty the resources they need to support students who want to pursue environmentally conscious projects.