Franklin Area Climate Team

Reduce your carbon footprint, step by step, one day at a time!

With Oct 24th rapidly approaching, how do we (yes, you and I) really go about our daily lives and reduce our carbon impact? You'd think that someone would already have figured that out.

Guess what, someone has!

This video highlights the process by which step by step for a week you can try to reduce your carbon inpact and see how it goes.

How hard will it be? You won't know until you try!

Additional information on this challenge can be found on their website.

You can register
Download the guide
and follow their process one day at a time!

FACT wins grant

Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN) Executive Director Rob Garrity today announced the award of a Wolfe & Rita Climate Action Grant to the Franklin Area Climate Team (FACT), which is organizing activities in Foxboro and surrounding towns on Saturday, October 24th, an international day of awareness and education on global warming.

Using the grant and private donations, organizers are creating a “Cut the Carbon” hands-on demonstration to show how everyone can do his/her part to solve the growing problem of global warming. This will be just one of thousands of events for climate action on October 24th. The “Cut the Carbon” event will take place at the Foxborough Universalist Church, 6 Bird Street, on the Foxborough town common in the afternoon.

The International Day of Climate Action, (www.350.org) is focused on the number "350" because that is the number scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide — measured in "Parts Per Million" -- in Earth’s atmosphere.

Charles DiPompo, a Foxborough resident involved in the FACT group, said “Since the planet currently has carbon levels close to 390, the limit of 350 parts per million is the number we need to get back to as soon as possible to avoid devastating climate change.”

The gathering will begin at 3:00 pm with an interactive display of 350 white ping pong balls and 40 black ping pong balls. This display will symbolize the urgent need to reduce the abnormally high concentration of carbon already in the atmosphere. Area residents are invited to pledge their willingness to help solve global warming by taking home one of 40 balls representing the desired reduction in levels of carbon. Paul Mortenson, member of the Foxborough Board of Selectmen, will be speaking.

Later in the afternoon, at 3:50 p.m. the bell of the Bethany Congregational Church, high in its steeple overlooking the town common will be rung 35 times as a call to action.

The events are part of an international effort, with thousands of organizations from over 100 countries around the world participating in local events to draw awareness to climate change and motivate citizens to action. All local events are open to the public at no charge and will be listed on the FACT blog at http:franklinareaclimateteam.blogspot.com. Additional events include: bell ringing at 3:50 pm at the St. Blaise Catholic Church in Bellingham, the Epiphany Episcopal Church in Walpole and the First Universalist Society of Franklin Church.

Bishop Bud Cederholm of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts asks the diocesan community to join him in observing an "International Day of Climate Action" on Saturday, Oct. 24, when events on town and city commons will be held to raise awareness and public advocacy toward reducing carbon emissions to slow global warming. "Go to www.350.org for more information about how Episcopal congregations can join ecumenical and interfaith groups in their communities in holding a powerful and prophetic event. What's needed is your leadership," Bishop Cederholm stated.

“October 24th is our opportunity to think globally and act locally,” DiPompo explained. “The 24th is fundamentally a day of hope for our future.”

“Wolfe & Rita Climate Action Grants provide MCAN local chapters with a supplementary source of funding to pursue climate action projects, education outreach programs and promote climate activism in their communities,” said Garrity, Executive Director of MCAN. “Since 2002 this grant program has provided MCAN chapters with more than $20,000 to pursue local projects reducing energy use, cutting carbon emissions, and educating people about climate change.”

Founded in 1999, MCAN is a growing coalition of 40 locally organized groups fighting the climate crisis in 70 cities and towns across Massachusetts. The network promotes carbon-reducing practices on a municipal and residential level, supports other MCAN chapters and allied organizations in their efforts to build a focused statewide movement and provides assistance to state policy makers as they adopt policies to reduce energy use and address the threat of climate change. To learn more visit www.massclimateaction.net.

Additional information about the Franklin Area Climate Team can be found here

Unite for Climate Action

FACT is coordinating for climate action on October 24th. This is the banner that the team collaborated on to get made for the days events.

surrender your children’s future?

Alex Beam's article in the Boston Globe (which you can read here) generated a couple of responses from folks associated with MCAN, one from Franklin. Ted McIntyre write here:

The answer is simple: There is no stable warmer world in our future with a few extra balmy spring days for us to adapt to. Instead, “spewing more carbon’’ leads us into a sequence of worse and worse impacts, from simple collapses of food and water systems to a redrawing of the continents. Despite giving McKibben the last word, the overall message of the piece urges resignation and a surrender of our children’s future.

Read Ted's full letter to the editor here

Nancy Nolan chimes in with:

Beam chose to mock and trivialize McKibben’s work. We should be praising McKibben for standing up to the well-funded forces trying to confuse the general public over climate change. He could have made a nice living writing books from his home in Vermont, but he’s put his life on hold to spread awareness of the climate crisis.

Read Nancy's full response here.
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As October 24th approaches, the amount of conversation around climate change should increase. Let's hope it stays within the realm of a civil discourse. Learn what you can about 350! After all this is your future too!

Climate action hash tags

What is a hash tag?

A hash tag is a way to follow what is being said via Twitter.

People who support climate action generally use these hash tags:

#climate: General climate talk
#climatebill: Specific disscussion about the legislation
#ACES: More wonky talk. Often used by environmental groups

For more information on how to follow the Twitter stream and listen in (or even jump into respond) to what is being said about the climate bill, go here

What is the priority list?

One of the challenges we have in reducing carbon emissions is that (as far as I know) there's no priority list. Which is worse: leaving your computer on all night or not having the windows weatherstripped? Which is worse: driving a car to Boston or going by plane with 200 other people? Is it worth driving across town to buy a pint of organic strawberries or should I get the ones from the nearby store that came from California? If you have a thousand dollars to invest in making a reduction in greenhouse gasses, should you buy new tires, switch to local foods or perhaps send $900 to help a factory in China switch away from coal and then use the other hundred to have a massage?

Without a list, you can see how making intelligent decisions is impossible, so we resort to confusing activity with productivity.

Back to your office: do you have a list? Have you figured out which metric you're trying to improve? Can you measure the impact of the choices you make all day?

Read the full post from Seth Godin here:

Home Energy Efficiency and Rebate Programs

The Franklin Area Climate Team has compiled a listing of "Home Energy Efficiency and Rebate Programs".

The information provided in this document was current as of September 2009 and was compiled by FACT from public sources and the cited websites. Please visit each link for new information and note the expiration dates on the specific rebate or tax credit.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

If you find information to add or change with this listing, please comment or email us so we can make the adjustments.

MA = national leader in green energy

By Robert Culver
September 10, 2009

DRIVEN by Governor Deval Patrick’s energy policies and fueled by private
innovation, Massachusetts is rapidly becoming a national leader in the
production of green energy from alternative sources such as wind turbines and
solar panels.

But generating sustainable green energy is only half the equation - the
supply side. The best minds in Massachusetts in architecture, engineering, and
construction are now focusing on demand. In particular, that means creating
homes, schools, and office buildings that do not need to use power from the grid
or that produce the energy they require from renewable sources.

Read the full article in the Boston Globe here

A Quick Overview of Geothermal Energy

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

A Quick Overview of Geothermal Energy

via Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) on 9/6/09

The New York Times has an audio slideshow that provides a brief overview of geothermal energy. The audio slideshow is the accompaniment to an article about the dangers of drilling deep into the Earth. The slideshow provides an explanation of why the western United States is one of the easier places to access geothermal energy. The slideshow offers good visual aids depicting how geothermal energy is harnessed.

Applications for Education
This audio slideshow could be useful for science teachers to use as an introduction to geothermal energy. The slideshow could also be the beginning of a student brainstorming session in which they list all of the forms of alternative energies with which they are familiar.

Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
A Crash Course in Wind Energy
Exploring Alternative Energy Sources
Coal Mining Practices Outlined in Google Earth

Things you can do from here:

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Solar Panels installed

Bob Galipeau of the Trolley Crossing Farm in Bellingham attended the Energy Sense Presentation on Dec 10, 2008 (Part 1, Part 2), made arrangements for solar panels to be installed, and the project is being completed now. The pictures below show two views of the panels on the barn roof.