[MRSG] Valley towns pass carbon initiative

[Mad River Sustainability Group]

Hello again,

I'll send the link to the full article when it comes out tomorrow but I
wanted to share this early report now....


Dennis Derryberry
Mad River Sustainabilty Group
dennisd at madriver.com



---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Valley towns pass carbon initiative
Date:    Tue, March 4, 2008 16:36
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http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080304/TOWNMEETING01/890141840

Valley towns pass carbon initiative
3:22 p.m.
March 4, 2008

By Peter Hirschfeld
Vermont Press Bureau

WARREN - Residents of three towns in the Mad River Valley voted to save
some money, and perhaps the planet, by reducing energy
consumption in the region by 10 percent over the next two years.

Voters in Warren, Waitsfield and Fayston gave overwhelming approval to a
Town Meeting Day article that calls on residents and businesses to cut
their carbon footprint by 10 percent by 2010. The “10 by 10”
initiative, as its known, was introduced by members of the Carbon
Shredders, a coalition of area residents.

“The overriding intent is to save the town some money and help the planet
along the way,” Roni Donnenfeld, a Warren Elementary School teacher and
member of Carbon Shredders, told Warren residents during their town
meeting Tuesday.

Rising fuel costs continue to dent the household budgets of Vermonters in
the Valley and beyond. Climatology experts, meanwhile, say
greenhouse gas emissions are threatening to erode weather-dependent
cultural traditions in Vermont, including maple sugaring and skiing.

Donnenfeld said the nonbinding resolution approved Tuesday empowers local
residents to tackle a worldwide problem, all the while saving money. She
said Warren residents alone could save a total of $500,000 by
participating in the program.

“We got so fired up that we wanted to get the buzz out, get the word out,”
Donnenfeld told Warren residents.

Though the measures passed by near-unanimous voice votes in all three
towns, no one is obligated to participate. Carbon Shredders will host an
inaugural event on March 18 at 7 p.m. at the Big Picture Theater in
Waitsfield. The effort, sponsored largely by corporate entities
including Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Seventh Generation and
Yestermorrow Design and Building School, will teach residents not only how
to save energy, but how to calculate the carbon-cutting impacts of those
savings.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's Times Argus.


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