Press Release: Mad River Valley Towns Adopt Carbon Shredders Resolution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CARBON REDUCTION RESOLUTIONS PASS IN VERMONT TOWN MEETINGS

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Mad River Valley, Vermont-- On Tuesday, the towns of Waitsfield, Warren and Fayston each passed resolutions pledging to reduce carbon footprints and energy consumption by 10% by 2010. The resolutions were introduced by the Mad River Valley based energy conservation group known as the Carbon Shredders, initiated and sponsored by Seventh Generation, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, NRG Systems, Yestermorrow Design/Build School and several Vermont energy-activists.

“We are rolling out a Low Carbon Diet training program to our employees to help them save money on rising energy costs and reduce their household carbon footprints," said Jasna Brown, Domestic Outreach Coordinator for Green Mountain Coffee. “Seventh Generation and Green Mountain Coffee saw an opportunity to extend our internal programs to local communities, and Carbon Shredders materialized from there.”

“We’re glad to see our “10 by 10” initiative being adopted by local towns and residents,” said Gregor Barnum, Director of Corporate Consciousness at Seventh Generation. “This is really a no-brainer that everyone can embrace. The program gives people something tangible and measurable they can do to reduce global warming and help people deal with rising energy costs. The average household can easily reduce their energy use by 10%, and the average financial impact of that is over $700 per year in savings per household.”

The Carbon Shredders group is offering free public training programs to help institutions and residents calculate their energy-use patterns and C02 footprints, along with a step-by-step program to reduce energy use and become more efficient. The program centers around the Low Carbon Diet book by David Gershon, as well as a new EPA-sponsored online tracking/measurement tool known as Do Your Part that will be available through www.carbonshredders.org.

"Everyone wants to know what they can do about energy costs and global warming,” said Bob Ferris, Executive Director of Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren. “And so far we’re seeing the Low Carbon Diet as a great starting point. The Carbonshredders.org web site will be the hub of our programs and will give the community members and others access to the overall impact in each town. This is starting in the Mad River Valley, but we envision a national program that is open for participation by anyone.”

In Warren, voters took the "10 by 10" initiative a step further and pledged a $600 fund to support Carbon Shredders costs for training materials, books and events. NRG Systems also pledged to match this Warren contribution. "We're thrilled the town of Warren is supportive of our efforts," said Carbon Shredder Roni Donnenfeld, a teacher from the Warren School, who explained the resolutions to Warren voters, on Wednesday, March 05, 2008, during Town Meeting.

Carbon Shredders has given an open invitation to the community to attend the group's first public training program, at the Big Picture Theatre in Waitsfield from 6pm to 9pm on March 18. More information is available at www.carbonshredders.org.

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Contacts:

Jasna Brown

www.greenmountaincoffee.com

jasna.brown@gmcr.com

(802) 882-2132

Gregor Barnum

www.seventhgeneration.com

gregor@seventhgeneration.com

(802) 658-3773

Bob Ferris

bob@yestermorrow.org