Sustainability group prepares for action
By Lynda King/ Staff Writer
Friday, October 27, 2006
About 30 people ventured out on a dreary, drizzly night last Tuesday for the first general meeting of Harvard Local, held at the Bromfield School library in Harvard. The group, which has been in existence since July 2005, has attracted interest from residents in Harvard, Bolton, Boxborough, Groton, Sterling and as far away as Vermont, for its focus on local sustainability issues.
Co-founder Bill Blackwell described Harvard Local's mission, its non-hierarchical organization and some of its projects so far, which have included encouraging residents at Town Meeting and visitors to the recent Harvard Lions Craft Fair to sign up for one of National Grid's "Greenup" programs, to replace standard incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient CFLs and to sign up for a home energy audit. Over the summer the group held a film series at the Harvard Public Library to help educate people about the issues associated with energy depletion. To celebrate the winding down of the growing season, Harvard Local members and friends capped off the summer with a "localvore" potluck supper, consisting of dishes made from foods produced within 50 miles of Harvard.
At Tuesday's meeting the like minds gathered there shared what drew them to the group, and though the reasons were many, two concerns topped the list: global warming and peak oil. Participants talked about wanting to do something locally to have a positive effect on both. Some were concerned about energy efficiency, some about relocalization of the food supply.
Guest speaker for the evening was Mark Archambault, a Smart Growth circuit rider with the Nashua River Watershed Association, who talked about how Harvard might meet the challenges presented by energy issues in the 21st century. Archambault, former city manager of Nashua, N.H., who also consults with area towns on planning issues, offered some ideas on what communities can do in the face of global warming and energy depletion:
Reconsider long-range plans that assume unlimited energy
Plan regionally so towns can share resources
Preserve agricultural land
Plan for walkable, bikeable systems
Bring producers and consumers closer together
Increase local job opportunities
Cut back on the use of fossil fuels
Conserve energy
He said the top priorities for towns should be food production, food distribution, water supply and hanging onto agricultural lands. He added that towns should be looking into development of backup electrical power systems - using non-grid resources such as solar and wind.
Harvard Local co-founder Sydney Blackwell said that results of an interest survey taken at the meeting showed people were ready to organize into groups working locally on projects related to home energy conservation, alternative energy, local foods, home gardening, youth education, localizing the economy, community outreach and more.
"Finding that everyone wanted to be connected with one or more groups was a real boost," she said. "I'm excited about the home gardening and local foods groups, maybe really moving on a coop or farmers' market." [continue]
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