Energy Choices

Air Pollution = Water Pollution

Pollution in the air falls as rain on the land, rivers and oceans and pollutes all water. There is a 92% chance that the energy powering the computer you are using right now is coming from non-renewable sources. What's more, this non-renewable energy is the source of the vast majority of air pollution. “The production and use of conventional, fossil-fuel based energy accounts for 95 % of all air pollution and $50 billion in U.S. health care costs every year,” according to the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL.gov)

The single best thing a person can do to reduce air pollution is to use less energy. Current energy efficiency strategies, like turning off electronics, could reduce energy use by a third. If you get your electricity from coal, every compact fluorescent light (CFL) that replaces an incandescent light prevents 500 pounds of coal from being burned for electricity. That's a lot less pollution.

Not all of our energy needs to pollute. Increasingly, wind, solar, biofuels, geothermal, and other renewable energy forms of energy are being sold as “green electricity.” Buying a green electricity product for the typical American home reduces pollution as much as driving 12,000 fewer miles per year. The CO2 reductions are equivalent to planting 2 acres of trees.

Conserving energy and supporting alternatives to fossil fuels reduces our dependence on foreign oil, strengthens a growing sector of the economy, and substantially reduces air and water pollution.

Supporting water education and sustainable water use in Maine.

The Pathways office is the hub of Chewonki's leading-edge environmental sustainability, conservation, and energy curriculum. Pathways develops materials and demonstration projects on a wide range of topics and shares its expertise with educators and students. Pathways also oversees the implementation of sustainable practices on the Chewonki campus in Wiscasset, Maine.