A free workshop offering tools and tips to save 50 percent on energy bills and cut people’s carbon footprint in half without sacrificing comfort or convenience will be held Nov. 16.
Junior Marcia Wilcox will be teaching inexpensive energy saving projects to cut back on energy without changing the comfort of the average lifestyle.
Wilcox said the majority of projects won’t take longer than 20 minutes and the supplies for the projects can be found in junkyards or for free on craigslist.
Some of the projects offered will be utilizing attic heat to dry clothes, turning a chest freezer into a low-energy fridge, and making solar water heaters.
The key point of the workshop is that people can reduce their carbon footprints and save significantly without sacrificing their lifestyles.
“We all work hard to have the comfort we do and we deserve to enjoy it,” said Wilcox. “I want people to be able to save money without having to give anything up.”
She was inspired to become handier and teach herself how to be self reliant after watching her mother provide for her family after losing everything completely by self-started projects.
Beyond teaching people to be more conscious of their footprint on the environment , Wilcox wants to teach them how to rely on their own skills and make them feel empowered.
“We live in a society where people buy things and throw them away when they break,” she said. “It scares me to think about what we are going to do when we lose that luxury.”
Enrollment was originally limited to 20 participants but Marcia increased the limit to 30 and said she would like to fit everyone she can fit.
This is the first of a series of workshops Wilcox is conducting for her civic engagement project and her senior capstone projects.
The project runs hand-in-hand with her self-designed major: Education for Sustainable Communities.
Wilcox was the first student to take part in the opportunity to design her own major, a service recently offered by the university.
After an entire summer of creating a proposal, her major is now under revision in committee. She said the goal is to focus on educating the adult, which is why she is excited to conduct the Energy Saving Workshops.
The Workshop will be held at the B St. Living Museum. To register, email Wilcox at wilc8232@pacificu.edu.
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