Notable Neighbor: Jamie Briesmeister

High school friends may come and go, but sometimes the choices one makes in their formative years lasts a lifetime. This is the case with Jamie Briesmeister, who started an ecology club with her girlfriends back in high school after seeing so much waste. 

“We saw aluminum cans going to waste and that kind of opened my eyes to all the waste that was out there,” she said.

Even though Briesmeister said she doesn’t take going “green” to the degree where she only buys organic (if it’s priced well, she buys what looks good) she does feel that she’s always been eco-minded. In fact, she and her sister were cloth diapered as babies.

“I’m aware of our presence on the earth and our impact and I want to lessen it for as long as possible and keep it as natural as possible,” she said. 

Now a mother of her own, she cloth diapered her son until he was potty trained at 2  ½ years old.

“It costs a lot of money to diaper a child, and it’s gross to me to have diapers in the trash,” she said. “We felt it was cleaner for him and more comfortable for him to not wear paper in his pants. I think for moms there are so many ways to cloth diaper that are really easy and some stores in town that are very helpful.”

Briesmeister also breastfed and makes her own baby food. She said that since women’s bodies make milk, moms automatically are saving money on formula and not contributing to consumption and wasteful packaging.

Being a resident helps Briesmeister be more “green” due to convenient  curbside recycling the city offers. A member for the GO Sunset Hills Committee since it’s inception a year and a half ago, she urges people to think before just throwing something away. The committee focuses on sustainability.

“Look at it—if it’s plastic, glass or metal it can be recycled more often than not. Just think that everything you take in your life I think should be a conscious effort,” she said. “Recycling is pretty easy to do. It’s an easy switch to make. Instead of putting it in the left bin, throw it in the right bin.”

She said there are initiatives out there to help Sunset Hills residents be more aware of programs that are in the place.

"I think it’s the basic ‘r’s’—reduce consumption when you can; recycle as much as you can; and reuse items when you can,” she said.

Being green also filters into other avenues of her life. She and her family don’t buy as many things. She’d rather make gifts than buy a $5 gift that may break anyway.  If she doesn’t use an item she doesn’t throw it away, they give to Goodwill or Habitiat for Humanity. They don’t just recycle plastic grocery bags at the store; she takes all plastic bags to Dierbergs, which they will recycle as well. She and her family have dimmers on the lights at home, which save energy, and they don’t eat out often or get take out.

“It sure is a lot more convenient, but just reducing those times you go out to ear or reduce that Styrofoam box that don’t have a place other than a landfill—I think living green filters into everything,” she said.