Greening Greenfield would like to thank everyone who has partnered with us over the past 10 years and tell you about our 10th Anniversary Awardees.
We recognize that the strength of this town and this county is the diversity of people who commit their skills and energy to the betterment of our region, and we want to express our gratitude for all that you do, and have done, to make our world a better place to live.
The driving force behind Greening Greenfield has been sustainability — the search for that sweet spot where social equity, economic vitality and environmental quality overlap. We have adopted a structure called “leaderful” that enables each person to follow their passion to work on a project. This has led us in many directions.
We would particularly like to thank those who have joined us in collective learning, the process by which the community learns together. Among them are the 1,300 households that joined our 10 Percent Challenge to reduce their energy use; the participants in various workshops, our film and discussion series, large events such as Turtle Island puppet show, the 350 Campaign, Earth Day workshops, and our countywide forums, the next of which will be held in the fall.
We would also like to thank those who have worked with us to bring the concept of sustainability to school children, and give them hope and the tools they need to address the environmental challenges of face today and in the future. Thank you for making our Science & Sustainability Expo possible, and bringing composting to the Greenfield Public Schools.
We have also concentrated on working with town government. In 2008, we partnered with Mayor Christine Forgey to write the Greenfield Energy Audit, which led Greenfield to became one of the first communities in the nation to make a commitment to reduce its climate change emissions by 80 percent by 2050. In 2010, Greenfield become the first Green Community in Massachusetts. Green Community grants enabled the town to hire Carole Collins, our first awardee, as its energy and sustainability coordinator. Her accomplishments have been nothing short of remarkable!
Carole has tirelessly applied for and secured grants to reduce energy use in our town buildings and operations, and in our lighting. These efforts have resulted in savings of $2 million, as well as making our buildings more comfortable and reducing our climate change emissions. One of her most remarkable achievements has been her work with Mayor William Martin on the creation of Greenfield Light and Power, to ensure that everyone’s electricity costs are not only lower than the going rate, but that our electricity is 100 percent green, which reduces our climate change emissions from electricity to zero.
Our next awardee was Just Roots represented by two remarkable people, Jessica Van Steensburg and Jay Lord. Greening Greenfield was involved in Just Roots’ beginnings, but soon stepped aside so they could run with it — and run they did!
Jessica and Jay have brought their love of local food, food access and equity, and their exceptional organizational, fundraising and educational skills to build an amazing resource for Greenfield and beyond. Through their efforts they are fulfilling Just Roots’ mission of improving access to healthy, local food by connecting people, land, resources and know-how. We encourage you to support their innovative efforts.
Our final awardee was Amy Donovan of the Franklin County Solid Waste Management District for her passion of reducing waste, and especially for working with young people to bring composting and recycling to the many schools in our area. We particularly wanted to thank her for working with us, and the town and the schools for three years to secure a grant that facilitated the start of composting in Greenfield’s schools. When she received our award she told us about how in the first week of the effort, students weighed the cafeteria compost and trash and discovered that they reduced their trash by 75 to 85 percent through their efforts!
Last but not least, we would like to thank Rep. Paul Mark for securing citations from the House of Representatives for each of our awardees and for Greening Greenfield, and for his tireless work in Boston to make our world a better place.
In closing, Greening Greenfield would like to thank the Greenfield and Franklin County community for your support over the past 10 years. Our work is not done yet. We invite you to continue to learn with us and take action to make our world a greener, and more vibrant and equitable place to live. To find our more, or join our efforts go to www.GreeningGreenfield.org and click on “join us” button in the top right or call 773-465-1646. We look forward to working with you in the coming years — together we can make a difference.
Nancy Hazard, on behalf of Greening Greenfield. Greening Greenfield can be reached at info@GreeningGreenfield.org