Volunteers: John

For some time now retiree John Parsons has been concerned that the world has not been going into the right direction environmentally. He believes that everybody’s small contribution can make a difference.

Living in a low set home in Urraween, with wife Trudy and their little friend Ashley (the Chihuahua), John has modified his house with the following environmental contributions:

• Installed solar hot water, together with 1kw solar grid (first year’s saving was $700 on power), had the roof insulated with cellulose fibre, installed a whirly bird in the roof, and changed all light bulbs to the CFLS. Lifestyle modifications have included using a front load washing machine and cooking with a bench top oven.
• The garden and veggie patch is self sustaining with many plants requiring minimal watering and a small water tank harvests rain water for the garden.

In September 2009, John and Trudy participated in the Sustainable House Day and opened their house for interested people to take a look.

One of my motivations was to be within a group of similar minded people such as Transition Town Hervey Bay, and as a group I felt we could offer advice and show examples of how the community can improve and change to better their ideas concerning the environment.