Climate Challenge - MWV Green Team

Community Garden News

Valley Community Garden to Expand in 2010.

The Mt. Washington Valley Green Team recently received a grant of $1,250 from the New England Grassroots Environment Fund to help establish a second community garden in 2010

The Green Team's Sustainable Food and Agriculture Subcommittee established the first Valley Community Garden this past spring with help from Russ and  Joan Lanoie; and local residents enjoyed tending their plots and growing their own produce. The garden contained 28 rental plots as well as a "Giving Garden," tended by volunteers, which provided food for local food pantries, including the Dinner Bell community dinners and families aided by Starting Point. Read more here...

Recycling keeps down the volume of waste in our landfills and our landscapes. Have you been to your Town's recycling or transfer station? Wonder what the hours are and what is accepted?

Valley residents are encouraged to take part in the Climate Challenge to minimize carbon output by reducing energy consumption, reducing solid waste, and recycling.

500 households can save 5 million pounds of greenhouse gases!

Just 5 percent of the Mt. Washington Valley community (or, approximately 500 households) taking the MWV Climate Challenge can result in a reduction of 5 million pounds of carbon emissions in the Mt. Washington Valley!

To date, 

• 96 participants have taken the challenge,
• Pledging to reduce 610,782 pounds of greenhouse gases,
• And saving $82,860

Conway and Bartlett have regularly been in the Top 10 N.H. towns participating in the NH Carbon Challenge, with Freedom and Madison also cracking the Top 10 from time to time. We're encouraging all Valley residents and businesses to take part.

New Hampshire Carbon Challenge is our partner in this effort. Take the challenge here and reduce your environmental impact. Click here for cheat sheet on what you'll need to take the MWV Climate Challenge.

Reasons to take the MWV Climate Challenge NOW

• To help preserve the beauty of the Mt. Washington Valley
• To enhance public health and our quality of life
• To help reduce the factors that contribute to climate change
• To save natural resources and to save money
• To reduce air pollution
• To reduce the volume of trash going to local landfills
• To support Yankee frugality!

Learn more

• Households and House-Based Businesses: Take the Climate Challenge and track your progress in reducing your environmental impact using the Carbon Estimator. Also, check out the EPA's Green Homes site.
  
• Lodging & Restaurants: Save Green by Being Green. Join the New Hampshire Sustainable Lodging and Restaurant Program and receive recognition for your efforts to reduce environmental impact, visit NHSLRP.
• Other Businesses: Encourage All-Staff Participation in MWV Climate Challenge. You can also download business industry standard calculators at: http://www.ghgprotocol.org/calculation-tools/service-sector and get other carbon-saving advice at http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org.
• Learn how to shrink your carbon footprint: Read the article from AMC Outdoors magazine and view the related video.


• Become Involved in other Green Team initiatives, activities, and events. Students welcome too! 
• The Green Team has formed several subcommittees to deal with such issues as recycling/conservation,sustainable food & agriculture,communications/media, legislative and policy issues, fundraising, education and outreach. For more information, or to serve on a subcommittee, e-mail Green Team Chairman Rob Burbank at rburbank@outdoors.org.

  Who we are and what we do

The Mt. Washington Valley Green Team is a committee of the Mt. Washington Valley Preservation Association in affiliation with the Mt. Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce. The Green Team was developed to act as a catalyst to facilitate, educate, promote, and encourage sustainable green business practices that will lead to positive, measurable business, community, and environmental results.

The Mt. Washington Valley Climate Challenge was developed by the Chamber's Green Team, with the support of the New Hampshire Carbon Challenge to engage Valley residents and businesses in adopting environmentally friendly practices and reducing their environmental impact in alignment with the aspects of the Chamber's mission that seek to recognize and promote the natural beauty of the Mt. Washington Valley Area and to encourage economic growth consistent with maintenance of the Mt. Washington Valley Area's natural beauty and community needs for economic opportunity.

Get a Brand New Bag

The MWV Green Team encourages everyone to kick the plastic bag habit and pack your groceries in reusable cloth bags whenever you go shopping. The use and reuse of just one cloth grocery bag can eliminate the need for 1,000 plastic bags over just five years. If 10 percent of Valley residents adopt the cloth bag habit, together we can keep 1 million plastic bags out of the waste stream over the next five years.  Click here for more about why you should get a brand new bag!

Here's a green tip from the Appalachian Mountain Club, a supporter of the Mt. Washington Valley Green Team:

 

Myth: Junk mail is an unavoidable part of modern day life and, while annoying, has nothing to do with energy consumption or the environment.

 

Fact: The environmental impact of junk mail has garnered more interest and attention in recent years due in part to the following statistics: More than 8 million tons of trees are consumed annually in the production of paper catalogues alone; deforestation contributes between 20% and 25% of all carbon pollution; and, the average adult in the U.S. receives 41 pounds of junk mail a year.

 

Tip: There are a number of services provided to help you stop receiving junk mail. To stop the mailing of paper catalogues for free, go to www.catalogchoice.org. To stop junk mail coming to your home, check out www.greendimes.com, www.41pounds.org, and/or www.stopthejunkmail.com. Each offers a slightly different service, cost, and set of benefits.

 CHARTER SPONSOR

  And also:

Flatbread Company

Frontside Grind

Salvatore Michael's Framed Art Superstore

Eastern Slope Inn

UPCOMING GREEN TEAM EVENTS:

Coming... Planning for next year's Community Garden. Email Jenn Andrews.

The Green Team is partnering with Donna Woodward to help recycle more of the litter collected on Valley Pride Day, May 1. You can help too.