Sunday, December 16, 2007

Describe YOUR Sustainable Sakonnet

It’s a cold, blustery, sleet-filled morning. As I look out over the crusty white yard watching the trees sway aggressively back and forth I am finding myself pondering how to grow this effort called Sustainable Sakonnet. I have some ideas, but are they the RIGHT ideas? Will they meet the needs of a community prime with opportunity but short on delivery? Will they meet YOUR needs, the dedicated readers of this blog for whom I am grateful?

If the events of the past week at the United Nations climate conference in Bali have driven home, it’s that it is up to individuals and communities to take the lead in shaping a better future. We cannot wait for others to lead; it is up to us to take up that helm with gusto and determination.

So, what does YOUR Sustainable Sakonnet look and feel like?

What are the needs of our community when it comes to making it a model for sustainability?

If you had a pool of resources available to you to help you lead a more sustainable lifestyle, what would it look like? What activities/resources do you think could help raise awareness with our neighbors and help them take some proactive steps?

Here are a couple things that I’ve been thinking about:

• Developing a comprehensive website that could serve as one-stop-shopping for local information and resources related to all-things sustainable: local food, green building, renewable energy and energy conservation, recycling and waste reduction, green business, etc.

• Launching a dedicated committee (or even non-profit organization) to shepherd and partner with the town and its citizens in areas of environmental sustainability

• Producing a local sustainability video series that could air on Cox local access (and the web)

• Pitching a regular green issues column in some of our local papers

• Creating a speakers series to bring in local experts and organizations to help engage and educate us all

• Creating some kind of dedicated resource for local businesses to learn how to green their operations

• Developing an environmental education curricula to help teach our kids how they can be stewards in both our local and global communities

No idea is too small or too big. All it takes is a little bit of time, effort, and collaboration. You probably have great ideas that I haven’t even thought of. Thanks for chipping in. Together we can do this.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You've said it well.

And build a green library that will exceed State mandates, attract funding, take pressure off the landfill, use local resources, minimize water waste, be net zero or net positive in energy use, provide information and opportunities on local green business, be a demonstration site for additional sustainable development, and an educational resource.
Located in the center of town, it would belong to everyone and be no one's 'turf'. Bring back the vision of 1938.