LoCaL Headlines
LoCaL News
Living On Earth Features Low Carbon Diet
Helen Palmer of the national radio program Living on Earth has done a story on Boston-area Low Carbon Living groups.
The Go Green Davis Square project, which opens the piece, was started by Somerville Climate Action. Another person who is interviewed, Mike Prokosch, works with Boston Climate Action.
Go here to listen/read the story:
http://www.livingonearth.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=08-P13-00011&segmentID=4
Wayland Temple Sets Up Seven New LoCaL Teams
'Tekiah' is the eerie, penetrating sound of the ram's horn being blown, awakening people from spiritual slumber and calling them to action. The tekiah is a renewed dedication to social justice and "living our values." Wayland's Temple Shir Tikva (meaning 'song of hope') sounded the tekiah in December to call members for a comprehensive program of social action. People signed up to help green the temple building and to promote legislative initiatives towards reducing environmental harm, and to address environmental issues in their own lives. On January 28, in direct response to the tekiah, more than 40 people gathered to form Low Carbon Living groups. Seven LoCaL teams were created that evening, with people clustering in small groups to make plans and set up future meetings.
Read article in Medford Transcript, March 19, 2008.
Concord LoCaL Breakfast
If you want a great turnout for a LoCaL event, think food. Concord held a breakfast at 7:30 am on a cold January weekday, and about 50 people from all over town showed up! They came from public and private schools, many town departments, the board of selectmen, environmental groups, the schools, and the Concord Journal. After a short presentation about the program, six small groups brainstormed ways these people could take this information back to their bases. Concord CAN is merging the six lists of ideas into one document to move forward.
Here's an indicator of success from that meeting: one of the organizers got a phone call later from a friend on several Concord boards, who had heard about the breakfast and wanted to know why those organizations hadn't been invited too. It seems that everyone in Concord wants to play in the LoCaL sandbox!
Medford Brings LoCaL to Condos
A new Medford LoCaL team has started, comprising mostly condo dwellers in the original Medford High School. The team will focus on the issues that are under the control of households living in this 111-unit development. The team members hope to develop a short guide for condo and apartment households that want to join the LoCaL program.
Marlborough Gets Print for LoCaL Team
Marlborough got great media coverage in the Community Advocate (Westborough), for its first LoCaL team meeting, featuring Eco-Team guru Dan Ruben of Newton. Read the article here.
Lexington's LoCaL Five Thousand Pound Pledge
Lexington's Global Warming Action Committee (GWAC) lists on its website households that pledge to lose 5,000 pounds of carbon. The webpage tells readers: "Sign your family up to join the Lexington Million Pound Diet Challenge: If just 200 households lose 5000 pounds this year (and it really is easy), Lexington will send one million fewer pounds of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere!" So far about 40 families have pledged, with a GWAC goal of 200 families. Households that pledge are encouraged to join or create a Low Carbon Diet team
Empowerment Institute's Cool America Strategy
David Gershon, founder of the Empowerment Institute, plans to get every household in the country to drastically lower its carbon emissions, through his 'Cool America' strategy. The core of that program is scaling up eco-teams (in MCAN-speak, think Low Carbon Living teams). Since 50 to 90% of a community's carbon footprint is created by the residential sector, Gershon says that scaling up these teams can get us a 20% carbon reduction by 2010. Listen to the 1-hour interview online (after free registration).