Light Bulb Ideas
Green Light New Orleans fosters sustainable solutions in Crescent City communities.
On a recent Saturday morning, I arrived at Green Light New Orleans (GLNO) on Jeannette Street, dressed for a day of work with a bag of essentials: water, sunscreen, snacks. As I walked up to the front porch, a large group of Phi Alpha Delta fraternity students from Tulane were already gathered there to volunteer as well. We introduced ourselves and chatted while we waited to start our work, talking about our favorite snowball and Creole Creamery ice cream flavors, and how Green Light was across from where “the streetcars go to sleep,” which drew a collective “aww.” The sun was warm and the wind blustery, a perfect fifty-five-degree kind of day to be outside.
We soon met Jillian Welsh, Green Light’s volunteer coordinator. Bubbly, energetic, and covered in paint from projects past, she spoke to us about the organization’s history, goals, and impact. Green Light had its humble beginnings in 2007, with founder and executive director Andreas Hoffmann—then a touring musician—who sought out ways to rebuild post-Katrina New Orleans in a meaningful, sustainable way. That’s when he had what he describes as a “light bulb” idea: raise money to purchase CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps, which use gas reactions rather than sheer electricity to produce light, reducing gas emissions) and install them in as many homes as possible to cut down on energy consumption and reduce the city’s carbon footprint. In the process, his band B-Goes became carbon-neutral. “Here we believe that one action repeated over and over again is going to lead to the greater good,” Welsh said. “So, one lightbulb in the beginning saved a little bit of energy. And that didn’t make a big difference, but once we’ve done 28,000 homes, that’s a significant amount of carbon footprint decreased and money saved. You’ve gotta start somewhere.” While Green Light no longer sends volunteers into homes to install light bulbs, residents can still apply to pick up free light bulbs and install them in their own homes through the program. Some participants even request to pick up light bulbs to replace the ones Green Light initially installed years ago.
Later, in 2012, GLNO established its backyard vegetable garden program, which allows residents to apply for a free raised garden bed to grow food in their own backyard. Hoffmann noted, in a later interview, that this was an especially important initiative for families living in “food deserts”—that is, low-income neighborhoods where accessing healthy food is complicated due to financial and transportation challenges. “I think what it comes down to is, if we want to change society, we have to create more energy, food, and water independence for people,” he explained. “When people start to understand that they can grow their own food or that they can find ways to conserve energy or water, then we can solve problems.” Environmental issues are, at their core, social issues. “What became fascinating is that the focus was purely environmental in the beginning, and then once I started implementing the project, I saw how environmental work and community work go hand in hand,” Hoffmann said.
In 2015, GLNO began their most active program to date: rain barrel installation. This initiative involves cleaning, sanding, priming, painting, and connecting fifty-pound food grade barrels to residents’ downspouts to catch runoff rainwater. “[We need to] live better with water here,” Welsh explained. “New Orleans gets roughly sixty-four inches of rain a year, and we flood. New Orleans is also sinking–it’s called subsidence–and so for generations to enjoy New Orleans to come, we have to do something about our water situation now.”
“What became fascinating is that the focus was purely environmental in the beginning, and then once I started implementing the project, I saw how environmental work and community work go hand in hand,” Hoffmann said.
Green Light acquires barrels through partnerships with companies such as Zatarain’s and Louisiana Fish Fry, businesses that would normally dispose of barrels in landfills. The goal, Welsh explained, is to rely less on New Orleans’ pump system, which uses a great deal of energy and causes noise pollution. Rain barrels can help homes divert localized flooding as well as serve as a free water source for plants. Additionally, the rain barrels can act as a unique art installation, becoming a source of pride as well as effective advertising for the organization. “We live on a planet with an incredible variety of people,” Hoffmann said, recalling some of the most memorably-painted rain barrels. “I remember once somebody painted a Spongebob barrel, and the applicants couldn’t wait to get it.”
After our introduction, Welsh grouped us as rain barrel artists or preppers: I was a prepper.
I grabbed several pieces of sandpaper and got to work roughing up all the smooth ridges of a barrel. This is an important step to ensure that primer and paint adhere to the barrel later. As I awkwardly wrestled with sanding down a fifty-pound food grade barrel, I got myself covered in the plastic dust from my efforts, sweating under my mask, giving my arms a workout. Volunteering at Green Light can be hard work, but I found it to be incredibly rewarding, too. Camille Grout, a Tulane student interning at Green Light, echoed my exact sentiments. “[Volunteering here is] good for my body and my mind,” she said. “It’s a great way to wake up. I kind of turn my brain off, but I’m also doing something that’s actually helpful, something important.” Grout said she enjoys interning and that it’s easy to do: she reached out to Green Light with her resume, interviewed, and now works with the organization nine hours a week as she earns college credit.
After about an hour, I took a break from sanding to tour Green Light’s office and talk with other volunteers. More barrels, in various stages of completion, lined the walls from floor to ceiling. Small baskets of seeds and shirts bearing Green Light’s magnolia logo awaited new owners on the shelves. Volunteers assigned as rain barrel artists casually chatted and painted on the second-floor balcony in the beautiful spring weather.
Volunteering at Green Light can be hard work, but I found it to be incredibly rewarding, too. Camille Grout, a Tulane student interning at Green Light, echoed my exact sentiments. “[Volunteering here is] good for my body and my mind,” she said. “It’s a great way to wake up. I kind of turn my brain off, but I’m also doing something that’s actually helpful, something important.”
I met Anthony Fleming, an Engineering Physics major from Tulane, working with his four group members on their Senior Design Project. They’re currently working on several projects for Green Light, but today they were installing a series of shelves they had designed on the side of the building so barrels could be stored more easily. Another project Fleming and his team are tackling is installing truegrid, a permeable paving system filled with sand from Glass Half Full, a local glass recycling company. “It’s a lot like sea glass that you would find on the beach,” Welsh said of the material. Rock gravel is expensive, but recycled glass is an environmentally and cost-conscious solution. “Andreas is actually really excited about it. He thinks it could be the first time that anyone has ever done it, so it could set an interesting precedent for the New Orleans area,” Fleming said. “Our most ambitious idea is that we want to make an automatic barrel-sanding machine to make the sanding easier,” he said, projecting that the machine will be partially completed as early as by the end of 2022. This is an exciting prospect, considering barrel-sanding is the most time-consuming volunteer work.
GLNO’s impact data speaks for itself. According to the organization’s website, GLNO has installed CFLs, gardens, and rain barrels in over 30,000 households—saving up to $28 million in energy costs. According to GLNO’s return on investment, $4 million of funding has been invested with a return of $28 million in reduced utility costs and $1.5 million in volunteer time received. Additionally, 272 million pounds of carbon dioxide have been offset.
There are many ways New Orleans residents can uphold and support Green Light’s mission. It’s easy to go to the website and complete the volunteer application. Volunteers are invited to take part on Tuesday afternoons, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 9 am–noon and 1 pm–4 pm, and volunteers can stay for portions of the timeslots if they can’t stay the whole time. Green Light also welcomes groups to come out to volunteer, including K-12 schools, adults with disabilities, companies looking to create bonding experiences for employees, and alternative spring/winter breaks for college students.
Residents can also get involved by contributing small monetary donations. “The more the individual donations can grow, [the program] starts to be owned by the community—that’s a beautiful thing,” Hoffmann said. “It should actually be carried by the community at large.” Additionally, we can all try to live more sustainable lives by replacing concrete paving with permeable paving, planting trees, and creating retention ponds or rain gardens filled with water-loving plants in our backyards. Urban Conservancy can assist with some of these solutions through their Front Yard Initiative. And, of course, New Orleans residents can apply to participate in Green Light’s installation projects: scheduling an appointment to pick up free energy-efficient light bulbs to install in your home or applying to receive a free raised garden bed or rain barrel in your yard. These actions, repeated over and over, will lead to the greater good—for our homes, for New Orleans, and for the planet.
To learn more about Green Light New Orleans, visit their website at greenlightneworleans.org.