Global Warming Action Coalition

Bedford, Massachusetts

News

Bedford Awarded Energy Efficiency and Block Grant (EECBG)

The award is intended to provide an incentive to districts working to create a green energy future for the Commonwealth. DOER and its Green Communities Division will work with Bedford to implement the Lane School project.

Special thanks to Richard Jones, Director of Facilites, and Brenda Kelly, a member of Bedford's Energy Task Force for procuring this competitive grant for our schools.

Copenhagen Climate Conference

Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2009 10:52:38 GMT

Hi Everyone,

Susan and I have arrived safely in Copenhagen, followed at last, by our luggage!

Everything here is about climate change--especially for the next two weeks. Also, around the world, some 56 major newspapers have headlines today about the climate conference--including one paper in the US: The Miami Herald. I guess they can see the rising sea lapping at the shore, close at hand. We are staying with a nice Danish family in the center of town, and are learning a lot. Building codes here include strict requirements for heavy insulation. There are incentives to conserve energy. Most people are aware of climate change, and how it must be dealt with. It is a refreshing change from the `land of oblivia' from whence we came. A very interesting trip,and it's only just begun! Plans are going well for our candlelight vigil in Bremen Germany on the 11th, in cooperation with the folks at www.350.org. (We've already had a response from some Germans who plan to join us there, along with our friend Katie, and others!)

It's time to go. We will try to keep good notes and share what we can learn here.

Warm regards,
Roger

Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:54:45 GMT

Hi Larry,

Thanks for forwarding this. It's great to see that folks at home can share in the COP-15 Conference via the Internet if they wish.

Still, there's no substitute for being here, and meeting some of the people who's very lives are being impacted by climate change. Tonight, for example, Susan and I went to see a half dozen short videos about how the shifting weather patterns caused by climate change have resulted in domestic animal deaths, and crop failures for the citizens of several different continents. Yes, the people in the videos were there to answer questions. There are a lot of emotions at play here, and I need to get some sleep, but it's perhaps interesting to report that, for better or worse, many of these impacted people believe that they have failed to be good guardians of the the Earth,and that they are now being punished for their lack of stewardship. (Knowing, as I do, that they have contributed very little to climate change, while we Americans are responsible for some 20+ percent of the cummulative GHGs in the atmosphere, I felt somewhat ashamed.)

Another thing we learned: when wild fires occur in California, the media here regularly mention climate change as a possibility!

Warm regards,
Roger

Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:46:51 GMT

Hi All,

Sorry to say that our camera developed a problem, so we can't send photos. (We bought a disposable camera so that we hope to have some photos eventually.) We have only seen a glimpse of the sun through the clouds.

We went to a great series of lectures today, contributing an American perspective to the discussions that followed. There are many outdoor and indoor exhibits around the city, relating to climate change and its impacts. One was a life-sized polar bear made from ice placed over a skeleton. As the ice melts, the skeleton becomes more and more obvious, the bear less so. It's thought provoking. Another showed 100 places on the planet that are threatened, etc.

Tomorrow morning we begin the long trip home, traveling through many cities by train, and doing our 350.org vigil in Bremen, before visiting friends, then jumping from Hamburg to Lyon to Amsterdam to Boston by plane on Monday.

All the best,
Roger

Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:11:56 GMT

Hi Aubrey,

You can see our Bremen vigil at www.donci.de. Our new German friends had a digital camera and posted some photos on their blog at this address. We had many people observing our vigil, and some fruitful discussions.

Roger

Bedford Plant Fair, May 16, 2009

Earth Day, April 22, 2009

Salem Coal-Fired Electric Power Plant Demonstration, March 2, 2009

Bedford Day, September 20, 2008

Leap Day, February 29, 2008

Don and Roger Shamel spent the day encouraging Whole Foods patrons to sign up for the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative initiative in support of wind technology. Communities who enroll residents in the program are eligible to receive a solar panel for every 150 participants. Clean Energy Choice

Selectmen's Meeting, January 7, 2008

I am happy to announce that the Selectmen agreed last night to form an Energy Task Force. My take is that they had already decided beforehand that this was the right thing to do. So, it was really the pre-meeting conversations and actions that made this possible. Our discussions with the Petitioners Committee, Cathy Cordes, Rick Reed,our TM artilce, the signatures we obtained and the turn out of support at the meeting last night demonstrated a seriousness that had a positive impact on the final result.

Next steps:
1)The Selectmen want us to make a presentation at TM so that people know what's going on and are told how they can apply to become a Task Force member. The group will start forming before that date, however. The Volunteer Committee will include the TF in its list of committee opportunities and there will be an article (written by Patrick Bell, the reporter, and other forms of notification in the Minuteman. In terms of the composition of the TF, I have promoted the idea of diverse skill sets as being most advantageous: those working on or knowledgeable in the alternative energy field; grant writers; social marketers; publicists; those with politically savvy.

If you know of anyone who would be interested in joining the TF, please let them know about it. They can call me and I will be glad to get back to them with process info as soon as I understand it fully myself.

2) Cathy Cordes and I will be working on a Task Force mission statement and chain-of-command diagram so that everyone is clear on the what and the how.

All the best, Kim