Vote “Yes” For Sustainable Sudbury
The following column was published in last week’s Sudbury Town Crier.
By Members of the Sudbury Earth Decade Committee
On Tuesday, October 16, Sudbury residents will have an opportunity to weigh in on the future of the Town when we vote on the new Police Station.
This is a chance to make a decision that has long-term consequences for the character and financial structure of the town. Confronted with this decision, we need to take a long-term view of the benefits and costs.
A long-term threat to the financial stability of Sudbury is the prospect of unpredictable, rising energy costs. When these costs rise too fast, there is fiscal pressure for an override budget.
Knowing that this problem exists, we must not sit back and wait for it to hit us. We must get ahead of the curve and minimize the problem.
For several years, the Selectmen have aggressively pursued goals from Sustainable Sudbury, the town’s 2001 Master Pan; implementing many energy efficiency policies to reduce the energy costs of our existing infrastructure.We applaud the Selectmen for their work to date; however, the most dramatic savings come when we construct a new building considering energy efficiency from the ground up.
The new Police Station provides a great first opportunity for us to build in long-term savings.Inspired by the principles set forth by the United States Green Building Council under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, the design of the new station includes over twenty passive design elements focused on sustainability that will not increase maintenance costs including:
- Construction designed to minimize the costs of winter and summer climate control
- Access to daytime natural light to reduce the use of electric lighting
- Landscaping using native plants that do not require extensive use of water and fertilizer
- Use of construction materials that do not outgas unpleasant and potentially harmful odors.
The design also keeps the future in mind. From the beginning, it provides support for other active LEED elements that may have maintenance issues such as photovoltaic (solar) panels and ground source heating and cooling. In addition, room for expansion allows for growth of the facility. Building in these supports up front will save tens of thousands of dollars in the future as Sudbury grows and technology improves. Even better, they add little or nothing to the immediate cost of the building.
Sudbury needs a new Police Station. This design for the new police station is well thought-out, is environmentally friendly and is an important part of the long-term plan to reduce Sudbury’s overall energy consumption.Build it correctly now and save money in the long and short run.
On October 16, please vote to authorize the new Police Station.
The
Go Al, Go!
by Eric Richard
People probably already know this, but it was just announced that Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
I think it is great that they are being recognized for their work and, more importantly, that the cause is getting this sort of attention and visibility. I think this will only help to push things even further into the mainstream.
Go Al, Go!
Sudbury and Global Warming: What the Town Can Do
Posted by Carl Elkin
Q. Should America best address Global Warming on the
a) individual level
b) town/city level
c) state level
d) national level?
The need to reduce our CO2 emissions, already overwhelming, keeps getting more urgent. In 2007, scientists learned that reality of Global Warming is far worse than their worse-case scenarios in a variety of areas, including rate of Arctic ice loss and the rate of Carbon emissions growth. So far as I know, there have been no positive surprises this year.
So my answer is e) all of the above.
It may at first seem that we are caught between an irresistible force of global warming and the immovable object of our political reality. The lifestyle changes that we must make to control and reduce our CO2 emissions may seem politically impossible in a country with roads dominated by SUVs and a government run by George Bush. The necessary economic changes may seem impossible in an economy whose financial sector is driven by the desire for short-term profits and whose less-fortunate members increasingly feel the affects of rising costs of healthcare, food and fuel.
So we need to be creative.
There are many things we can do– on all levels– that will significantly reduce our emissions that will cost us little or nothing and will minimally impact our life styles.
I have drafted a plan for how the Town of Sudbury could significantly reduce the emissions of town residents. The plan is revenue neutral,– it won’t cost the Town a cent, it won’t affect tax rates. The most important parts of the plan are concern with incentivizing and encouraging residents to buy their electricity from NSTAR Green, thus replacing coal-fired power with windpower, and zero-ing out a non-trivial portion of town emissions. Another part of the plan outputs how we will work with utilities to measure our emissions and track our progress. Other parts outline additional conservation measures the town can implement, and show how the Town can bring about various changes in outlook.
I believe this plan (which, BTW, needs a snappy name) should both 1) make a measurable dent in our emissions) and 2) be politically feasible to implement. I would like to see it passed. (Passing anything would be a big step forward. Heck, even a town-wide debate would enormously raise consciousness.)
So I am asking for help. The first kind of help that is needed is feedback: suggestions for improvement, what works/doesn’t work, criticism, etc. Actually, please give whatever suggestions you want: the only ground rule I have is that you can’t make suggestions that will force the town to spend money.
Recall that New England towns practice one of the purest forms of Democracy found anywhere in the world– major decisions are debated and decided by whichever citizens attend Town Meeting. I believe it is very much in that spirit for Sudbury citizens to use an online forum open to all to to discuss and plan a town response to Global Warming.
Once we wind up with something which enough people agree is useful and politically feasible, then we will go from there.
The document describing this plan can be found here. It’s a Word doc, several pages long, and will take you a while to read. Please forgive my wordiness.
None of this diminishes the urgent need for emissions reduction at the individual, state or national level. The solution can only come from several different levels. I hope we can provide part of it right here in Sudbury.
PS Excellent op-ed by Bill McKibben in Saturday’s Washington Post if you need more motivation.