Josh Arnold, Founder of Global Awareness Local Action (G.A.L.A.) Honored as YouthActionNet® Global Fellow
Clean Air-Cool Planet Upcoming Webinars
(One Starring our own Jen Andrews!)
Dear Partners,
We have a number of upcoming webinars on carbon management and the carbon impacts of food production. As our network expands, our commitment to a low-carbon workplace includes webinars as a productive, environmentally sensitive strategy for exploring global warming solutions with our partners. Please join us for these virtual conversations on methane's role in global warming and climate action planning, carbon offsets, local food and food security, and the environmental impact of dining services.
We invite you to register on our website for these exciting programs:
Click here for Webinar Registration on our secure server.
Details on the webinars and guest speakers may be found below. Click the date for descriptions.
![methane]( "methane")
Tuesday , Oct. 20th 12:00 pm Eastern
Saving the Arctic:
Reducing Methane with Climate Action Plans
Short-lived forcers are speeding up warming and melting of the Arctic. This in turn may exacerbate climate change in the rest of the globe. Research indicates that three shorter-lived climate agents - black carbon, tropospheric ozone, and methane -- collectively have nearly the same estimated temperature impact on the Arctic as CO2. Methane, emitted from a variety of industrial, agricultural and solid-waste sources, is 20 times more potent than CO2 in warming the planet and is second only to CO2 in total effect. Because methane has a shorter atmospheric lifetime (8-10 years) and a greater climate potency than CO2, reducing worldwide methane emissions will have a particularly important near-term benefit in the Arctic.
Many organizations have already tackled significant sources of methane in their climate action planning by instituting low-carbon food purchasing, food-waste reduction, composting, and innovative wastewater treatment strategies. Others have realized the great power of capturing methane as a fuel, and employing it in cogeneration projects. Join us for a webinar that will look at the financial benefits of reducing and/or capturing methane emissions, as well as the short-term impact these projects will have on saving the Arctic.
![offsets]( "offsets")
Thursday, October 29, 2009 3:00 - 4:30 pm Eastern
Carbon Markets and Offsets as Part of Your Climate Action Planning
Carbon offsets are one effective way to reduce global greenhouse gas pollution. But a perennial question is whether their benefit outweighs spending the money to fund greenhouse gas reductions.
That question may be posing a false dichotomy: Is it really a choice to reduce or offset, Or is it to reduce and offset?
When deciding to buy offsets, under what circumstances does it make sense to buy from the market and when is it appropriate to develop local offsets that will generate reductions "visible" to our community? Should organizations take the credit for the carbon reductions of on-site projects or should they seek to reap the financial benefits of selling offsets or RECs?
We at Clean Air-Cool Planet have worked for years to educate our partners about purchasing offsets. This webinar will follow on our 2006 Consumer's Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers and address how institutions can ensure quality and real reductions when buying, creating, and selling offsets.
We'll discuss the relative benefits and drawbacks of offsets as a means to carbon neutrality but also carbon markets as funding mechanisms for projects. Join us for a fascinating conversation on an important topic!
![food]( "food")
Tuesday, November 10th 3:00 pm Eastern
Local Food and Food Security
Reducing the carbon impact of your dining services is more than deciding to go trayless or to buy local - how do you buy local? What do contracts with local food providers look like? And how are they integrated in your contracts with your other dining and food service providers? How are colleges and universities participating in the increasingly important conversations about food security and ensuring that local farmers have the tools and strategies they need to create a resilient local food shed? Join us for a conversation about the state of local food security and purchasing, and how colleges and universities are playing an integral role in creating resilient local food communities.
![dining]( "dining")
Tuesday, November 17th 3:00 pm Eastern
Reducing the Climate Impact of Dining Service
More and more colleges and universities have begun to include dining services in their climate action planning and sustainability initiatives. Food and carbon is a topic of more and more conversations on campus or off - whether in the context of purchasing local food or reducing food waste. Not only are dining halls a promising location for cost and carbon savings as part of climate action plans, they hold enormous potential for building awareness and literacy around other campus sustainability initiatives. Students visit the dining hall multiple times a day but they are also frequented by faculty and staff. This webinar will touch on the strategies leading colleges and universities have implemented to reduce the negative climate impact of their dining services, while also discussing the hither-to difficult goal of QUANTIFYING those strategies. Our speakers will also discuss how low-carbon initiatives in the dining hall have been used in comprehensive campus sustainability communication plans.
We invite you to register on our website for these exciting programs:
Click here for Webinar Registration on our secure server.
Details on the webinars and guest speakers may be found below. Click the date for descriptions.
- Tuesday, October 20th 12 noon, Eastern
Climate Action Planning: Focusing on Methane - Thursday, October 29, 2009 3:00 - 4:30 pm Eastern
Carbon Markets and Offsets as Part of Your Climate Action Planning - Tuesday, November 10th 3:00 pm Eastern
Local Food and Food Security - Tuesday, November 17th 3:00 pm Eastern
Reducing the Climate Impact of Dining Service
_________________________________________
Saving the Arctic:
Reducing Methane with Climate Action Plans
Short-lived forcers are speeding up warming and melting of the Arctic. This in turn may exacerbate climate change in the rest of the globe. Research indicates that three shorter-lived climate agents - black carbon, tropospheric ozone, and methane -- collectively have nearly the same estimated temperature impact on the Arctic as CO2. Methane, emitted from a variety of industrial, agricultural and solid-waste sources, is 20 times more potent than CO2 in warming the planet and is second only to CO2 in total effect. Because methane has a shorter atmospheric lifetime (8-10 years) and a greater climate potency than CO2, reducing worldwide methane emissions will have a particularly important near-term benefit in the Arctic.
Many organizations have already tackled significant sources of methane in their climate action planning by instituting low-carbon food purchasing, food-waste reduction, composting, and innovative wastewater treatment strategies. Others have realized the great power of capturing methane as a fuel, and employing it in cogeneration projects. Join us for a webinar that will look at the financial benefits of reducing and/or capturing methane emissions, as well as the short-term impact these projects will have on saving the Arctic.
Brooks Yeager, "Short Lived Pollutants and the Arctic"
Executive Vice President for Policy
Clean Air-Cool Planet
Clean Air-Cool Planet
Claire Roby, "Innovative Methane Reduction Strategies Currently Employed as Part of Climate Action Plans"
Carbon Accounting Coordinator
Clean Air-Cool Planet
Clean Air-Cool Planet
Carbon Markets and Offsets as Part of Your Climate Action Planning
Carbon offsets are one effective way to reduce global greenhouse gas pollution. But a perennial question is whether their benefit outweighs spending the money to fund greenhouse gas reductions.
That question may be posing a false dichotomy: Is it really a choice to reduce or offset, Or is it to reduce and offset?
When deciding to buy offsets, under what circumstances does it make sense to buy from the market and when is it appropriate to develop local offsets that will generate reductions "visible" to our community? Should organizations take the credit for the carbon reductions of on-site projects or should they seek to reap the financial benefits of selling offsets or RECs?
We at Clean Air-Cool Planet have worked for years to educate our partners about purchasing offsets. This webinar will follow on our 2006 Consumer's Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers and address how institutions can ensure quality and real reductions when buying, creating, and selling offsets.
We'll discuss the relative benefits and drawbacks of offsets as a means to carbon neutrality but also carbon markets as funding mechanisms for projects. Join us for a fascinating conversation on an important topic!
Bill Burtis, "Making Offsets and RECs Part of Your
Climate Action Plan"
Climate Action Plan"
Manager for Communications and Special Projects
Clean Air-Cool Planet
Paul Chamberlin, PE "Selling them as part of your strategy: Realizing the Economic Benefits of Methane Capture at the University of New Hampshire"Clean Air-Cool Planet
Assistant VP - Energy and Campus Development
University of New Hampshire
Tom Rawls "Talking about your Offsets"University of New Hampshire
Native Energy
Local Food and Food Security
Reducing the carbon impact of your dining services is more than deciding to go trayless or to buy local - how do you buy local? What do contracts with local food providers look like? And how are they integrated in your contracts with your other dining and food service providers? How are colleges and universities participating in the increasingly important conversations about food security and ensuring that local farmers have the tools and strategies they need to create a resilient local food shed? Join us for a conversation about the state of local food security and purchasing, and how colleges and universities are playing an integral role in creating resilient local food communities.
Michelle Strain, "Local Food Purchasing and Supporting Producer Co-ops"
Director, Administrative Services
Mount Allison University
Susan Jennings, "Regional partnerships in local foodshed analysis and resiliency"Mount Allison University
Director, Office of Campus and Community Sustainability
UMASS Dartmouth
UMASS Dartmouth
Reducing the Climate Impact of Dining Service
More and more colleges and universities have begun to include dining services in their climate action planning and sustainability initiatives. Food and carbon is a topic of more and more conversations on campus or off - whether in the context of purchasing local food or reducing food waste. Not only are dining halls a promising location for cost and carbon savings as part of climate action plans, they hold enormous potential for building awareness and literacy around other campus sustainability initiatives. Students visit the dining hall multiple times a day but they are also frequented by faculty and staff. This webinar will touch on the strategies leading colleges and universities have implemented to reduce the negative climate impact of their dining services, while also discussing the hither-to difficult goal of QUANTIFYING those strategies. Our speakers will also discuss how low-carbon initiatives in the dining hall have been used in comprehensive campus sustainability communication plans.
Leana Houser, ""Raising Awareness and Lowering FoodPrints: A Behavior Change Communication Campaign at Johns Hopkins University"
Sustainability Coordinator
Johns Hopkins University
Jennifer Andrews, "Quantifying Food-Related Emissions: CA-CP's CHEFS Initiative" Johns Hopkins University
Campus Program Manager
Clean Air-Cool Planet
Clean Air-Cool Planet
System Dynamics for Understanding Climate Change
Dear Webinar Registrant,
We’re sorry you were unable to attend last week’s web seminar titled "System Dynamics for Understanding Climate Change". A recording of the session and the accompanying materials are now available on our web site at:
We’re sorry you were unable to attend last week’s web seminar titled "System Dynamics for Understanding Climate Change". A recording of the session and the accompanying materials are now available on our web site at:
www.iseesystems.com/climatechange
We encourage you to share these materials and help inspire action by getting the word out about climate change.
We encourage you to share these materials and help inspire action by getting the word out about climate change.
Thanks again for your interest.
Best Regards,
Sincerely,
Chris Soderquist
President
Pontifex Consulting
Joanne Egner
Managing Director
isee systems, inc
Web: www.iseesystems.com
Blog: blog.iseesystems.com
Phone: (603) 448-4990
Fax: (603) 448-4992
Email: support@iseesystems.com
Food, Inc. - New Movie opens today 6/19/09
Too bad we're not going to see this movie up here for a while, i think it aught to be very interesting... "The Movie I've always been waiting for" ~ Alice Waters
Food, Inc. Trailer
Food, Inc. Trailer
Another successful Green Drinks!
Everyone enjoyed themselves last night at this months host venue, Wine Thyme, in North Conway. Many new members joined the regulars for lively conversation. Representative Ed Butler stopped by to hear about projects currently in progress. Tara Schroeder from Green Mountain Conservation Group had a chance to talk about their new Community Garden and Children's Gardening program being coordinated with the Cooperative Extension office. Also joining us was Chris Franchi, a local residential wind consultant and Maureen Westrick, the Valley's own Green Architect. Cormack Construction was represented by Colleen Cormack, who talked about their two new LEED Certified staff members and the MWV Chamber of Commerce Green Team's recycling event as part of this year's Valley Pride Day. These are just to name a few of the people who enjoyed a beautiful spring night talking about sustainability.
It was agreed that there is interest in expanding Green Drinks to one night a month in the Lakes Region and one night in the Valley. We invite you to join us next month at Taste of Thai in North Conway on May 21st. The Lakes Region host has yet to be determined.
It was agreed that there is interest in expanding Green Drinks to one night a month in the Lakes Region and one night in the Valley. We invite you to join us next month at Taste of Thai in North Conway on May 21st. The Lakes Region host has yet to be determined.
Sustainability Network on RSN Sunday May 3 @ 9 a.m.
This weekend Cimbria will be visiting the studios of RSN to talk about the Sustainability Network and the MWV Green Drinks. Be sure to watch!
Communities and Opportunities May 2 - Salyards Center for the Arts
The Mount Washington Valley Young Professionals are hosting a Community Event this weekend at the Salyards in Conway.
Spring Ahead: Steps toward Greener Communities
I attended a terrific community meeting yesterday organized by members of Sustainable Tamworth. Group discussions I attended included one on revitalizing the spirit of the local Grange Hall. Josh Arnold, Executive Director and Founder of G.A.L.A. (Global Awareness Local Action) has recently purchased and is remodeling the Mount Ossipee Mountain Grange Hall Revitalization Project. Through his project Bridging Sustainability, Josh plans to be able to support the local economy by developing a "local farmers' and artisans' market with a community arts, education and advocacy venue. Upon completion of this bold initiative, G.A.L.A. aims to create a hub for social, economic, and civic activity while effectively reserving a historical landmark, creating jobs, strengthening community, and providing opportunity for area residents to lead a more sustainable
and enjoyable lifestyle." The discussion around creating a "heart" of the community was lively and I expect to see some great work come out of this gathering. Kudos to the organizers and participants. If you attended the meeting and would like to discuss something you learned from this or any of the other sessions, we'd love to hear from you.
and enjoyable lifestyle." The discussion around creating a "heart" of the community was lively and I expect to see some great work come out of this gathering. Kudos to the organizers and participants. If you attended the meeting and would like to discuss something you learned from this or any of the other sessions, we'd love to hear from you.