Encinitas Resident Conserves Every Drop To Combat Climate Change
This is the first in a two-part series on local homes designed to minimize environmental impact. Tomorrow, we visit a couple living completely off the grid.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Above: As government leaders debate new laws to combat climate change, it can be easy to feel little responsibility for your own carbon footprint. But not everyone sees it that way.
Aired 10/2/14 on KPBS News.
As government leaders debate new laws to combat climate change, it can be easy to feel little responsibility for your own carbon footprint. But not everyone sees it that way.
It's been hot in San Diego. Record temperature hot.
Our utility grid is taxed, and water is in short supply. Scientists predict all of this will continue thanks to climate change.
Many people are doing what they can to reduce their impact on the environment, but some take it much further than others.
Take Dadla Ponizil. In the past 10 years, the Encinitas resident has transformed his home into a green building wonderland.
"My motivation is primarily to stop climate change," he said. "I'm very concerned."
But Ponizil, 56, doesn't let this concern weigh him down. He calls himself an Energizer Bunny, and he seems to move even faster as he excitedly shows off his home. It's clean, comfortable and tastefully decorated. The many, many green building innovations he's added aren't immediately obvious, but if you look closely you'll see them.
Photo by Katie Schoolov
A switch next to the shower in Dadla Ponizil's Encinitas home lets water flow down the drain or be stored for use in his garden.
In the bathroom, next to the shower, a small switch is labeled "garden" and "drain."
"We have gray water from this shower," Ponizil said. "So when I put this button down, now the water in the shower is going to the backyard."
All shower water can be used on the garden as long as he and his wife use biocompatible soap. And each shower uses about 30 gallons of water, he said.
Photo by Katie Schoolov
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