Valley towns pass carbon initiative          3:22 p.m. March 4, 2008

 By Peter Hirschfeld

Vermont Press Bureau

 

WARREN - Residents of three towns in the Mad River Valley voted to save some money, and perhaps the planet, by reducing energy consumption in the region by 10 percent over the next two years.

 

Voters in Warren, Waitsfield and Fayston gave overwhelming approval to a Town Meeting Day article that calls on residents and businesses to cut their carbon footprint by 10 percent by 2010. The “10 by 10” initiative, as its known, was introduced by members of the Carbon Shredders, a coalition of area residents.

 

“The overriding intent is to save the town some money and help the planet along the way,” Roni Donnenfeld, a Warren Elementary School teacher and member of Carbon Shredders, told Warren residents during their town meeting Tuesday.

 

Rising fuel costs continue to dent the household budgets of Vermonters in the Valley and beyond. Climatology experts, meanwhile, say greenhouse gas emissions are threatening to erode weather-dependent cultural traditions in Vermont, including maple sugaring and skiing.

 

Donnenfeld said the nonbinding resolution approved Tuesday empowers local residents to tackle a worldwide problem, all the while saving money. She said Warren residents alone could save a total of $500,000 by participating in the program.

 

“We got so fired up that we wanted to get the buzz out, get the word out,” Donnenfeld told Warren residents.

 

Though the measures passed by near-unanimous voice votes in all three towns, no one is obligated to participate. Carbon Shredders will host an inaugural event on March 18 at 7 p.m. at the Big Picture Theater in Waitsfield. The effort, sponsored largely by corporate entities including Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Seventh Generation and Yestermorrow Design and Building School, will teach residents not only how to save energy, but how to calculate the carbon-cutting impacts of those savings.

 

For more on this story, see the Montpelier Times Argus for Wednesday March 5.