Who Are We?

Our "E-volution RV"

When we decided to use an RV to shelter us for the year, we knew it had to be in alignment with our tour's message of inspiring environmental action, one step at a time. As a 28-foot diesel powered motor home isn't exactly eco- friendly in and of itself, we took it upon ourselves to use it as a showcase of the many sustainable alternatives available today to not only make a lighter footprint in an RV, but that people could also take into their own lives and homes.

Thus began a 10-month journey to put as many e-friendly alternatives on top and inside, and find as many fuel alternatives available around the continent to run our home for the year.

We certainly are not saying it is perfect by any means, only that we did as many things as possible given our timeline, knowledge, and budget, and we are still on the lookout for a few key items to go even greener. Moreover, we would like the tour's home to be seen as an "environmentally evolving RV", hence why we call her our "E-volution RV".

These are our E-volution RV's retrofits:

Electrical Power

Sponsored by Carmanah Solar Technologies.

• Solar Panels
  By using the power of the sun, Carmanah's Go Power Solar Kit provides enough power to run our appliances, computers, and almost completely reduces our need to plug into the grid.

Fuel

Sponsored by independent, certified bio-diesel providers around North America

• Where possible, the tour has used non-food based tallow biodiesel, 2nd generation biomass, and other non-food base bio fuel. When this fuel is not available, we are fuelling on straight, ultra low sulfur diesel.

Carbon Emissions

Sponsored by Alten ES

• At the completion of our tour, we will add up our carbon emissions we were not able to reduce, and have them offset by the carbon offsetting company, EcoNeutral, in Vancouver, BC.

Shirts

Sponsored by Eco Apparel

• Our tour shirts consist of natural, sustainable, and recycled fibers, use less water, agricultural land, pesticides and natural resources, have no chemical treatments that can be absorbed through the skin, are non-toxic, hypoallergenic, and are healthy for your body.

Main Cabin

Sponsored by Home Depot's Eco Option's Program

• No VOC (volatile organic compound) paint
• Low-flow water devices installed in kitchen sink, and shower head. This reduces water consumption by reducing the flow rate. We also practice conservation by turning the water off when washing dishes, stop the flow after initial rinse when showering and washing hands. The RV has a 60 liter tank which 3 people go through every 2 - 3 days.

Master & Crew Bedroom

Sponsored by M Smart Design

• Natural latex mattress (master)
• Natural rubber topper (crew)
• Organic wool filled duvet
• 2 organic cotton sheet sets
• 2 duvet sets
• Organic wool blankets
• Organic wool & kapok-filled accent pillows
• Organic bamboo covering all seats
• Organic wool covering valences on window accents
• Organic wool area rug

Kitchen

Sponsored by Planet Organic Market, Level Ground Trading, and Transform Compost

• As much as possible, we are only consuming 100% organic food, drink, and supplements.
• Our coffee is traded fairly and directly with small-scale producers in developing countries.
• Much of our organic materials are broken down by earthworms in our compost (also called a "vermicompost").

Office

Print Sponsored by Hemlock Printers

• 25% recycled post-consumer polyethylene waste basket & recycling basket
• Eco-degradable garbage bags
• All print materials use 100% post consumer recycled paper

Bathroom

Personal Hygiene Sponsored by Saje Natural Wellness

• 100% natural essential oils, sprays, body washes, soaps, lip balms, and lotions, packaged in recyclable containers
• Seventh Generation toilet bowl cleaner
• Seventh Generation natural dish washing liquid
• Nature Clean natural soap

Cleaning Products sponsored by Green Works Natural Cleaning Products

• Made with 99.9% natural ingredients
• Biodegradable and non toxic
• Petrochemical free

Water sponsored by Brita

• Better for the environment
• No bottles to throw away
• 1 Brita filter replaces 300 water bottles

Garbage bags sponsored by GLAD

• 100% compostable/biodegradable
• made with natural, renewable resources
• helping to divert trash from landfills

We have two remaining items on our Wish List to further the RV's environmentally friendly evolution. These two items are:

1. Grey Water Recycler
2. Solar Water Heater

Should you wish to contribute to the RV's environmental evolution, please contact Matt Hill at Matt@RunForOnePlanet.com. Thank you very much!