Green Initiatives

League of Women Voters^®
of Concord-Carlisle, Massachusetts

Education and Action on Green Initiatives is a local League priority.

Green Initiatives. Become Informed. Low Carbon Initiative. Water Conservation.

Green Initiatives

The LWVCC has adopted "Education and Action on Green Initiatives" as a priority for 2008-2009. Lori Pazaris is LWVCC's Green Initiatives Director. If you are interested in learning more about the Concord-Carlisle League's work on Green Initiatives, please visit this webpage regularly. For more information or to get involved or join the Green Initiatives Committee, please contact Lori at Green_Initiatives@lwvcc.com.
FEATURED EVENT: On Wednesday, November 12, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. in the Alcott School auditorium in Concord, LWVCC will present a public forum: Responding to Climate Change. Panelists include State Senator Pamela P. Resor, Chair of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources & Agriculture, and Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change; Peter Del Tredici, Ph.D., Botanist and Senior Research Scientist at Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University; Brian Crounse, Chair of the Concord Comprehensive Sustainable energy Committee; and Andy Proulx, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED AP) engineer.

Become Informed!

LWVCC encourages all of its members to become informed about green initiatives at the local, state and national levels.
For the latest information on the national League's Global Climate Change priority, click here.
To get involved with the state League's work on environmental issues, contact Environment and Natural Resource Specialist Lynn Wolbarst lwolbarst@lwvma.org.
A local website that serves as a clearinghouse for information on climate change and conservation is www.ConcordConserves.org. Concord Conserves is not affiliated with the League of Women Voters, but its website provides a locally-focused starting point for League members seeking information on environmental issues.

Low Carbon Initiative

The Low Carbon Initiative is a nationwide initiative focused on reducing the level of carbon dioxide gas emitted and non-renewable energy sources used by households. It is part of a widespread grassroots effort to reduce the environmentally and economically damaging impact of fossil fuels. According to the Concord Climate Action Network, in towns like Concord and Carlisle, households account for over 80% of the energy used and CO2 released into the atmosphere, compared to 4% for municipal buildings and schools.
Concord Climate Action Network, Carlisle Climate Action, Massachusetts Climate Action Network and other local and national organizations are helping Concord and Carlisle take positive steps to conserve energy, use it more efficiently, and begin to shift toward the use of more sustainable resources. The Low Carbon Initiative can benefit the environment and help save money on energy. It will help individuals develop personal plans of action to cut household carbon footprints by at least 5000 pounds.
League members are invited to calculate their carbon footprint, a measure of energy use, by going to the Empowerment Institute's website.
Data you need for the calculation include your utility bills - heating and electricity, yearly car and airplane miles, and quantity of trash disposed of each week. After entering each piece of information requested, be sure to press enter; CO2 generated will be automatically calculated. The on-line calculator does not save your information so before closing the site, use your mouse to copy the page, paste into a word application and save it to your hard drive. Also, please email your data to LWVCC's Green Initiatives Director, Lori Pazaris, at Green_Initiatives@lwvcc.com for incorporation into the database for your town. For further information or to find out about the manual CO2 calculator contact Concord Climate Action Network at ConcordClimate@yahoo.com.

Water Conservation

The Town of Concord offers information on water conservation, as well as free water conservation devices, including rain gauge, toilet leak detection kit, bathroom flip aerator, dual setting kitchen flip aerator, low-flow showerhead and shower timer. Click here for details.

Comments, suggestions, questions? Contact our webmaster. Last revised: October 5, 2008 21:57 PDT.