In today’s environmentally conscious society, people do anything and everything they can to live in the most “green” fashion possible. This can be anything from taking plastic bottles and aluminum cans to the recycling center to harvesting rainwater to replace the need for a water pump.

Jim Philllips, a 2009 ETSU graduate, does just that. Phillips became interested in the environment at an early age.

“I’m an earth child,” he said. “I grew up with an interest for anything to do with the earth. I’ve seen the wastefulness of society and I want to better the way we do things.”

Phillips is employed through ETSU’s GEAR UP program, a grant-based project that teaches students at David Crockett High School about careers in fields that are “green.” He is the rainwater harvester.

Rainwater harvesting is collecting rainwater from roofs buildings.

“I take the water off the roof, into a network of pipes and into a storage tank,” said Phillips, describing his work at David Crockett. “Gravity fills the garden and horse troughs.”

According to Phillips, rainwater systems can range from the most “run off the roof” to full in-home systems, which is what he someday hopes to have.

“To get to that point, I would need a better tank,” he said. “And to provide drinking water the tank would need to be approved by the FDA.

“We waste more water in America than anywhere else. We spend so much money on water, but rain is almost 100 percent pure when it falls from the sky.”

According to Phillips, for a simple rain barrel, the cost is around $50 to $60. He says an in-home system would run around $7,000 to $10,000, and that it would eventually pay for itself.

Phillips said that the need for the systems is great and that education is the primary way to get that message across.

“Our resources are not infinite. It is easy to say that and not truly realize without the resource we collectively call Earth, we can do nothing,” he said.

“If there is anything that we can learn from history, it is that these things don’t happen with a bang, but with a whimper. I hope that we can educate people. I think this area needs this the most. We need to stop this trend,” said Phillips.

Hopefully, the GEAR UP program will help to do just that.

“It’s getting kids involved in school and in the green initiative, learning about sustainability,” said Phillips. “Education is 100 percent the key.”

The program follows sixth and seventh graders all the way through high school graduation to increase their awareness. They work outdoors in David-Crockett’s solar powered greenhouse, at the solar powered radio station and in the outdoor classroom.

“It’s getting students to be career-minded, especially since we are seeing so many jobs open up in green field,” he said.

In Phillips’ personal life, he recycles just about everything and started his own business, which he describes as a glorified salvage operation.

“I take trees from private homeowners and cut it up into lumber or firewood to sell. I burn only wood in my home, I don’t have a heat pump,” he said. “Lots of trees just end up in landfills, when they could be used for something else.

“I want to be on the forefront of this change and I have dedicated my life to it.

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