Contact: Michelle
Putz, Sitka Global Warming Group
Sitka
“Garden-match” offered
Do you have a planting bed that you don’t have the time or energy to cultivate?
Do you wish you had spot to grow some vegetables, but no place to put them?
Sitka Global Warming Group (SGWG), in
conjunction with the Sitka Local Foods Network, is offering a garden-matching
program to help people who have garden space get matched up with people who want
to plant and tend a garden in an effort to increase the amount of food grown and
eaten locally. SGWG is asking
Michelle said that SGWG is not setting any expectations of either the people who offer garden space or who want a garden space. Sharing of produce will be encouraged, but won’t be an expectation. SGWG also does not know how many participants to expect.
“This is the first year that we will do this. We’ve seen plenty of people who want to grow their own food but don’t have space to do it, and we have seen a lot of planting beds and garden spots that go unused during the summer because people are too busy or lack knowledge or experience in growing a garden. This is a great way to match those unused gardens with someone who will make them productive and increase the amount of vegetables being grown in Sitka,” said Michelle Putz from SGWG. Michelle continues, “Growing food locally has many benefits. For our group, the benefit is reducing the miles that food is shipped [thus reducing fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions). But that also makes the food cheaper and improves the quality and healthfulness of the vegetables since they are fresher. Growing food locally also improves our “food security” making a food shortage less likely in case of high fuel prices or bad weather. And it tastes really good!”
Over 1,400 Fossil Fuel
Free Miles Tracked this Summer in
People pulled out their bikes, walking shoes, bus
passes, and dinghies, or conducted work over the phone and internet to reduce
their use of fossil fuels in
News
Release
September 30, 2009
Michelle Putz,
Sitka to Support 350.org’s
International Day of Climate Action with Energy Conservation and Education
Sitka Global
Warming Group (SGWG) and Sitka Conservation Society (SCS) announced today that
they will officially support the October 24, 2009 International Day of Climate
Action, a global event led by www.350.org.
The groups will offer educational opportunities and photo documentation of the
350 event at SCS's Wild and Scenic Film festival at 6 pm at the Sitka High
School New Auditorium on October 24.
350.org is an international campaign dedicated to creating an equitable global
climate treaty that lowers carbon dioxide below 350 parts per million. 350
is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon
dioxide--measured in "Parts Per Million" in our atmosphere. 350 ppm--it's
the number humanity needs to get back below as soon as possible to avoid runaway
climate change.
350.org is coordinating an international day of action on October 24, 2009 at
hundreds of iconic places around the world - from the Taj Mahal to the
Organizers have already announced plans—they’ll be school children planting
350 trees in
In Sitka, people can support the “350” events by turning in and exchanging
incandescent light bulbs for energy-conserving compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL)
and by attending the Wild and Scenic Film Festival.
During the month of October, Sitka Global Warming Group will be collecting
incandescent light bulbs and exchanging them for CFLs to support 350.org’s
International Day of Climate Action. “We will offer one free CFL to
people that turn in/replace 3 incandescent bulbs,” said Michelle Putz of SGWG.
“Our goal is to gather 350 incandescent bulbs and replace them with more
efficient CFLs or LED bulbs to reduce our electricity (and diesel) use.”
Incandescent bulbs should be dropped off/exchanged right away at Old Harbor Book
Store or call Michelle at 747-2708 (the sooner the better SGWG organizers say
since supplies of CFLs may be limited). SGWG will display those bulbs and
teach people about the importance of "350" at the Wild and Scenic Film
Festival at 6pm on October 24, 2009.
“We are a group of people from around the planet—young and old, scientists
and writers and activists—who have one thing in common…We know the most
important number on earth: 350,” said 350.org founder and author Bill
McKibben. “A year ago, our NASA climatologist James Hansen and his team
produced a landmark series of studies. They showed that if we let the amount of
carbon in the atmosphere top 350 parts per million, we can’t have a planet
“similar to the one on which civilization developed and to which life on earth
is adapted.” continued Bill.
“The bad news is we’re already past that number—we’re at 390 parts per
million, which is why the Arctic is melting, why drought is spreading across the
planet, why people are already dying from diseases like dengue fever and malaria
in places where they’ve never been seen before.
The good news: that number gives us a target to aim for. When the world’s
leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to reach agreement on a new climate
treaty, we need them to go farther than they’ve planned to go: we need to make
sure they’ll pay attention to the latest science and put forward a plan that
gets us back to safety.”
“Sitka is doing many great things locally to reduce our carbon dioxide
emissions and our impacts on climate change,” said Michelle Putz.
“Supporting 350 by conserving our energy and marketing that conservation is
one way that Sitkans can spread the word at the State, National, and even Global
level that climate change is an immediate global problem and that each and every
person’s efforts to reduce and conserve energy do matter.”
Members of the Sitka Global Warming Group, SCS, and other groups will be turning
in their incandescent bulbs and attending the 350 events on October 24 at 6 p.m.
They invite you to join them. “Bring us your bulbs,” Michelle said,
“you’ll save energy, reduce
To see images and stories from 350.org:
http://www.350.org/map
News Release
Date:
September 21, 2009
About a dozen
As synchronized phone alarms
sounded, people came together in “flash mob” style to take a photograph
before making phone calls to President Barack Obama, and Senators Mark Begich
and Lisa Murkowski urging the government to take bold action to help achieve a
fair, ambitious and binding global climate pact.
Kerry MacLane managed to get
through to Senator Begich’s office. "They listened to our message about
taking action on climate change and promised they would pass the message on to
the senator," he said.
Some 2,682 events in 134
countries sounded the alarm in advance of a meeting of world leaders meeting in
A broad coalition of major
environmental and anti-poverty organizations as well as faith, civic and youth
networks - called the TCKTCKTCK campaign for the ticking-clock urgency of
climate change - is backing the campaign effort.
Ricken Patel, executive director of campaign network Avaaz.org
which created an online hub for its 3.6 million members to organize events said:
"The idea of a global climate wake-up call got going just a
few weeks ago, and it's snowballed into a massive mobilization of millions
around the world who want leaders to do more to stop runaway climate
change."
"Climate change is not just a dire
problem, it’s a massive opportunity to unleash a new green, clean economy.
To see images and stories from the worldwide wake-up call:
http://avaaz.org/en/sept21_hub/
The
TckTckTck campaign is a broad alliance
of faith and youth groups, trade unions and non-governmental organisations
including Avaaz.org, Greenpeace, 350.org,
Oxfam and WWF calling for a new international climate treaty that is fair,
ambitious and binding. Well over 1 million individuals
have already pledged support online: http://www.tcktcktck.org
News
Release
September 4, 2009
Michelle
Putz,
The Sitka Global Warming Group and Sustainable Sitka (SGWG/SS) is working on a project to recognize and thank local businesses that are doing good things for the environment while also doing good things for our local economy.
There are a lot of great businesses in Sitka that are recycling, carpooling, composting, installing bike racks, encouraging use of reusable cups/bags/plates, etc. These and other positive, “green” actions benefit the environment, save money, and increase our sustainability. SGWG/SS would like to recognize and thank those businesses, encourage others to start “greening” their business, and help local businesses take advantage of a green marketing strategy. In this economy, green is a good selling point.
SGWG/SS has started a list of local businesses with their observed green
business practices. But they want to give green businesses the opportunity
to “toot their own horn.” SGWG/SS is asking businesses that feel like they
have green practices to contact them via email at info@sitkaglobalwarming.org
with the name and address of their business and a list of all of their green
practices.
SGWG/SS will be developing a local “certification” process to determine
those businesses and practices that will be recognized. SGWG/SS expects to
recognize businesses with a certificate which can be placed in the business’s
window or check out counter, through a letter of thanks, and through local media
announcements. The recognition is expected to have four levels – bronze,
silver, gold, and platinum – to recognize different levels of commitment
towards green practices. The more actions that businesses are doing to
help the environment, the higher their recognition level will be.
Lists of green practices should be sent to the email address by September 30. Those wanting more information or interested in helping on the project can contact Michelle Putz at 747-2708.
July
2009
One day a week,
FFFF challenges
the community of
Why join in?
Lots of reasons. Not only can Sitkans save money on gas, help the
environment by emitting less CO2, and get some exercise and health benefits by
participating in FFFF, they can also have a chance at monthly prizes! The
FFFF project was started as a 1-month pilot project in 2008 by members of the
Sitka Global Warming Group, Sustainable Sitka, and Sitka Bike Friendly Coalition
in an effort to reduce CO2 emissions, improve health, and save people money.
FFFF was so successful that the groups have expanded the program and decided to
bring it back for most of the summer!
“One of the
other goals we’d like to accomplish this year is to share the program, and the
idea of the program, with other
Several
sponsors and cooperators have joined the original sponsors including The Ride (
Last year, 69
Sitkans participated in the 1-month program with a total of 674 miles of
individual vehicle driving saved. Biking was the most popular method of
transportation with 16 to 19 participants weekly logging a total of 284 miles of
no-gas travel. Walking was second most popular with 12 to 19 participants
weekly totaling 132 miles of no-gas travel. Carpooling and bus use had
less participants, but really reduced the miles driven…while the average
bicycle ride was 4.2 miles, the average carpool distance was almost 7 miles.
Many people used two or more modes of no-gas or shared-gas travel, 31 total
participants traveled 109 miles often by walking and then carpooling, walking to
the bus, or some other travel combination. A few people worked from home
and saved gas that way. The most interesting travel method was by kayak
and bike…I’d sure like to know how they strapped the bike on the kayak!
The sponsors
hope to bring in a lot of new no-gas/shared-gas commuters this year at least 1
day each week. The goal is to get over 100 participants this year and
bring the no-gas/shared-gas miles up to 3,000 miles for the summer. Last
years efforts resulted in about 659 pounds of CO2 reduced (at a 20 m.p.g. fuel
efficiency). That’s roughly one pound of CO2 reduced for every one mile
of no-gas/shared-gas travel. Add to that the cost savings of gas (gas was
almost $5 per gallon last year when the program was going on), the health
benefits of exercise and/or some shared time with friends/co-workers/community
members, and the opportunity to win some great prizes, and the FFFF program
really starts to look beneficial to everyone who gets involved!
People can get
signed up by sending an email to SITKAFFFF@yahoo.com.
Mile tracking and prize drawings are coordinated through the email site.
Each week people participate, they’ll be added to the drawing for monthly
prizes. The sponsors will report on the results after the formal project
ends in September.