Have you considered adding Mother Earth to your holiday gift list this year?
Many of us in Bedford have been concerned about warming temperatures, fires, floods, droughts, climate variability and how little seems to be happening despite the magnitude of the problem. Bedford Mothers Out Front has some simple actions you can take this holiday season to help protect our planet and our children’s futures.
First, get involved. You are welcome to attend our monthly meetings (just email us at [email protected]). Together we can do more! Bedford Mothers Out Front priorities for 2020 are to address the problem of food waste, move the town’s net-zero plan forward, and explore transportation improvements in town.
We also recommend these additional gifts:
- Choose to participate in Bedford’s Community Choice Aggregation Program, and Opt Up to either 100% or 50% renewably sourced electricity. Opting up reduces greenhouse gas emissions, moves us away from reliance on fossil fuels, and builds New England’s renewable energy generating industry. Comparative costs are available on the website <https://bedfordcca.com/>, which includes a link to the simple application form. Eversource’s recently published residential winter rate (12.4 cents/kWh) is higher than the default CCA rate: you can put those savings towards opting up to renewables! Many Bedford households, congregations, and institutions have already opted up to 100% as one way to protect our planet. The green portion of your electric bill is tax-deductible.
- Next on our Earth-friendly gift list is to get a NO-COST home energy assessment. Assessments are offered through the state MassSave program and are easy to arrange. If you book through the Bedford Energy and Sustainability Committee website <https://www.bedfordma.gov/energy-task-force> and mention Bedford, Revise Energy will make a $35 donation toward solar panels for Bedford’s Schools. You can reduce your energy bills and make your home more comfortable while benefiting the schools. Homeowners of 1-4 unit properties qualify, but if you live in a condo complex, you are also eligible when you work through your condo association. Those of us who have had assessments received customized reports about how to make our homes more energy-efficient. Auditors installed several devices, free of charge, including LED light bulbs, advanced power strips, low flow showerheads, and programmable thermostats. We also learned about additional offers, rebates, and incentives. Assessments can be done every two years.
- Another idea is to sign up for curbside composting with Black Earth Compost. They offer weekly curbside pickup of food waste in Bedford, and participants receive a bag of free compost at the end of the season. The fee to join will be automatically reduced when 200 residents sign up. Customers who cannot absorb the current fee of $99 for 6 months can select to be put on a ‘waitlist’. When 200 customers have subscribed or are interested in doing so, the price for all Bedford customers will be reduced by 30%. Unlike backyard composting, curbside pickup accepts meat and dairy products and compostable paper products (think soiled pizza boxes). Why is composting food waste helpful to the planet? It turns this waste into valuable organic fertilizer that replenishes the soil and also diverts waste from expensive landfills and incinerators that emit greenhouse gases. Composting helps us use resources wisely and responsibly–an important message for our children to see put into practice. Sign up on the Black Earth website: <https://blackearthcompost.com/>.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed about climate change or to feel that our individual actions are not enough. Bedford Mothers Out Front believes that we can make a meaningful difference when we act together.
Best wishes for a happy and sustainable Holiday Season!
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