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Sawtooth Botanical Garden Shifts Focus to Wellness
the weekly
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Register Now for Next Sunday’s Horseshow
Bow Bridge Designer, Leslie Howa Adds Finishing Touches Before Saturday’s Celebration read about it on PG 7
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Turn Fresh Market Veggies Into Vegetable Strata Page 12
O c t o b e r 3 , 2 0 1 2 • V o l . 5 • N o . 4 0 • w w w .T h e W e e k l y S u n . c o m
Hailey woman, Wendy Pabich…
BY KAREN BOSSICK
W McClain sports some heels for the cause. Will you? courtesy pHOTO
Don Your Heels, Walk the Walk BY KAREN BOSSICK
T
he Advocates for Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault are staging a free community-wide march and rally get walkin’ to speak out Want to Walk the against domesWalk? tic violence in Then, head over honor of Domestic Violence to the Farmers’ Market lot on Main Awareness Street in Haliey at 11 Month. a.m. this Saturday, Shoes are Oct. 6. optional as The Activities include Advocates will T-shirt dectorating. have high-heels Q u ar te r- p o u n d available for gourmet hotdogs those who dare. w/drinks and chips “See if you for $6; Kiddie dogs really can walk w/chips and drink in her shoes!” for $4. challenges Tricia Swartling, executive director of The Advocates. The 5th Annual Walk the Walk will start at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Farmers’ Market lot in Hailey north of Sturtevants on Main Street. Businesses, clubs and teams will receive recognition for participation on The Advocates’ website and Facebook group page. Craig Campbell will provide live music. There also will be T-shirt decorating and other family-friendly activities, along with quarter-pound gourmet hotdogs with drinks and chips for $6. Kiddie dogs with chips and drink will be available for $4. Walk the Walk was started with the idea that we can’t fully understand someone else’s experience until we have walked in their shoes, said Jan Super of The Advocates. Family violence is a learned behavior. The facts: • Children are likely to be physically assaulted in 86 percent of homes with partner violence. • In Blaine County, there are approximately 5,000 children under the age of 18 and, statistically, 22 percent, or nearly one-quarter of them, are likely to be living with domestic violence. • In Idaho, there were over 6,000 cases of family violence last year. • In the U.S., between $3 and $5 billion is spent on medical expenses related to family violence. Businesses forfeit another $100 million in lost wages, sick leave, absenteeism, and non-productivity due to domestic violence. • Domestic violence is the No. 1 cause of homelessness for women, children and teens. Each year, The Advocates helps more than 500 women and children build safe lives, and reaches more than 4,000 students and community
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endy Pabich considers herself a “water diva” or “water keeper.” An environmental scientist who has taught for MIT, Pabich makes her living as a consultant on sustainable water use. So the Hailey woman was beside herself when she got a monthly water bill for 30,000 gallons of water after installing an irrigation system in her yard to remedy a yard that she acknowledges “was a disaster.” “I thought: if I can’t conserve water in my own house with all the training I’ve had, how can I expect others to?” the Hailey woman recalled, shocked over how her consumption had increased ten-fold. Pabich began systematically attacking her water waste, installing drip irrigation and low-flow fixtures, cutting down on the food she wasted, and more. She installed water meters so she could understand how much she was saving with each step she took. And then she wrote a book: “Taking on Water: How One Water Expert Challenged Her inner Hypocrite, Reduced Her Water Footprint (Without Sacrificing a Toasty Shower) and Found Nirvana.” The book, in the line of “Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash,” is $23.95, available at local bookstores. Pabich will discuss her book in a free presentation at 6 p.m. Thursday at The Community Library in Ketchum. Marie Kellner, water associate for the Idaho Conservation League, will also be on hand to talk about what the ICL is doing to change water policy in Idaho. Far from a dry treatise, Wendy Pabich’s book brims with personality. Pabich, who traces her love of water back to growing up on the East Coast where she imagined herself a mermaid, writes of streaking across the lawn, risking being exposed to a neighbor as she took solar showers. She describes how she emptied her cupboards to determine the sum volume of the water used to produce the brown rice, quinoa, lentils and herbal teas she consumes. And she describes as she watched the water meter like a dieter obsessed with the scale. “Like a good nutritionist who identifies the big, fat Sloppy Joes in her clients’ diets, I had pinpointed the surpluses in our water use—the places where we could tighten our belts and, if we were smart about it, probably do so without much sacrifice,” she writes. “The washing machine was an extra helping of pasta, the toilets
“All these problems seem overwhelming…but if you reverse that thinking, you realize that each one of us can make a difference.” –wendy pabich
were rich with butter, and water leaks were nothing but empty calories….” Why care? Even if you ignore the extreme drought that has ravaged mid-America’s farmland, surveys suggest that by the midcentury, half of the counties in the United States will face water scarcity, said Pabich, who launched her book tour Sept. 16 in Colorado. The average American’s water footprint is 750,000 gallons of water per year— slightly more than the 660,000 gallons needed to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool. A cup of coffee takes 37 gallons to produce, Pabich said. A pound of beef— nearly 1,600 gallons. An apple takes 18.5 gallons to grow; tea takes 5.5 gallons per cup. “All these problems seem overwhelming and you may feel that your individual effort is inconsequential. But if you reverse that thinking, you realize that each of us can make a difference,” she said. For instance, it takes 2,200 gallons of water to make one pair of blue jeans. So if enough people cut back on the number of blue jeans they buy, it could make a big difference, she said. So far, Pabich and her husband James have been able to cut their direct water use by half. “One of things I focused on was food waste,” she said. “With all the embedded water in food, it’s a shame to let it go to waste. So I’m making a much more conscious effort to not waste food. If I do throw it away, I compost it. But it’s better not to waste in the first place.” Kellner praised the book. “Wendy used her vast amount of water knowledge to change her daily household habits, and then wrote a book explaining how she did it and providing a template for what we all might do,” she said. “Additionally, I think she does a great job of weaving important water facts into her storytelling, making it really readable.” tws SEE A RELATED STORY ON PG 16 ABOUT HOW ONE LOCAL RANCH HAS CUT WATER USE 10 PERCENT
Wendy Pabich said she spent untold hours perched on the granite outcrops of New England’s coastline, imagining herself a mermaid and absorbing the nuances of the sea. COURTESY PHOTO
Wendy Pabich’s Taking on Water book is available at local bookstores. She will discuss her book in a free presentation at 6 p.m., Thursday at The Community Library in Ketchum.