At D.C. Environmental Conference, Watershed Realizations

While aiming to motivate and inspire people to change their own lives and educate others to change, the conference will also serve as the planning ground for the U.S. Watershed Eco Tour, a five-stage, 640-mile, traveling seminar next year on environmental stewardship, clean transportation and recreational water use.

The route is from Cooperstown, N.Y., to Virginia Beach and will use clean transportation (mostly bicycles) to visit schools, churches, and garden and community centers, promoting "green" lifestyles.

At a session tomorrow afternoon, Brandt will offer information about previous EPA eco tours, and work with session participants to deal with logistical challenges for 2007 and develop ways to expand the number of participants.

In the meantime, I offer you a few of my precepts for green living that you can follow in your own home and garden to help the Chesapeake Bay watershed:

· Collect rainwater in a barrel and use it to water lawns and gardens.

· Reduce water runoff. Cut back on lawn areas that require fertilizer, pesticides and irrigation. Plant rain gardens, or swales, where rainwater can collect and be absorbed into the soil.

· Reduce steep slopes that encourage runoff and erosion; create terraces instead.

· Install native species and eradicate non-native invasive plants wherever possible. Using native plants is important because animals depend on plants they evolved with.

· Create a compost pile and use mulch to reduce evaporation and help slow runoff.

· Improve habitats to create biodiversity and secure landscape survival. Wildlife is losing ground every day to development. Replace as much as you can with plants that attract birds, butterflies, toads, turtles and others.

· Plant windbreaks and use deciduous canopies to use less heat and air-conditioning.

· Decrease energy use.

· Reduce travel to lower air pollution. Buy staples in bulk to save trips to the store. Cycle or ride for small trips. Carpool to work.

· Recycle paper, bottles and cans.

· Don't waste water. What's on the planet is what we have, and much of it is too polluted to consume without chemical treatment.

· Keep current on what's happening with the environment. If you find reports on global warming and sea-level changes disturbing, that's all the more reason to get involved. Maybe one person can't change the world, but many individuals changing their habits can make a difference and influence others.

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The 2006 D.C. Environmental Conference: Stewardship for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed runs through tomorrow at the University of the District of Columbia, 4200 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Building 46e (Auditorium). The cost is $66 for the full conference, $15 for students and seniors or $25 a day for adults. You can buy food, and there will be a number of social events. For more information or to register, see http://www.wholenessforhumanity.com/ or contact Greg Drury, 202-686-9813, or Ed Brandt, 703-308-8699.

Joel M. Lerner is president of Environmental Design in Capitol View Park, Md. E-mail or contact him through his Web site,www.gardenlerner.com.