Arlington Climate Change Ride
Written by Boston Biker on Jul 18——————–
Vision 2020’s Sustainable Arlington and A Better Future Project invite the public to a series of climate events from July 16 to 24. A full list of activities can be seen at www.SustainableArlington.org. This event is cosponsored by Mystic River Watershed Association.
On Monday, July 18, five future leaders in the climate change field will arrive in town via bicycle. These are the young men and women of New England Climate Summer, a leadership program training 31 college students this summer in climate science, community organizing, messaging and media, as well as bike maintenance and safety. Teams of students from Climate Summer will visit 42 communities in five New England states, moving around solely with the power of their own legs.
The team coming to Arlington will meet with local leaders and engage our community in thinking about climate change solutions. The students record their efforts throughout the summer on video and blogs.
Sponsored by the Better Future Project, Climate Summer works to help the public envision and build a better future free from the burning of fossil fuels. Carrie Watkins, a student at Brandeis University and the team leader, wanted to do something this summer about the injustice of climate change.
“Climate Change is very much about people. We are extremely reliant on the stability of the natural world,” Watkins says.
While in Arlington the team will be hosted by the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, at which they will perform a community service project and speak to the congregation at Sunday services on July 24, 10 a.m. All are welcome to attend, according to First Parish Green Sanctuary Committee member David Landskov.
Other activities planned for the week will connect Arlington’s open spaces directly with the effects of climate change. There will be bicycle ride from the Arlington Reservoir, home of a new habitat garden, to Spy Pond Park, the site of a future rain garden.
Find out how gardens and urban open spaces help mitigate some of the environmental threats posed by the warming climate. Meet at the Arlington Reservoir parking lot, the farthest point from the beach entrance, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 19.
After a short presentation by the David White of the Reservoir Committee, we will bike down the Minuteman Bikeway to the Spy Pond Park rain garden site, for lemonade and cookies.
In a collaborative effort with the Arlington Tree Committee, volunteers will help identify where, on our town’s public green spaces, trees can be planted.
Tree Committee Chair Sally Naish said, “Every year individual residents make a request to the town to have a tree planted near their home. While the Tree Committee plans to fill these requests, we also hope to address those areas of the town that have the least tree canopy.
“Trees moderate climate by intercepting the sun’s radiant energy and the flow of wind and rain. Air quality is improved by leaves filtering dust and particulates and absorbing carbon dioxide and pollutants, such as ozone, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide, and releasing oxygen.”
Anyone interested in being a part of a small team of volunteers who will spend two hours looking for viable planting sites in East Arlington, please contact Patti Muldoon at [email protected]. Training provided.
The Climate Change Exchange of Ideas takes place Thursday, July 21 at 7 p.m. at the First Parish UU Church, 630 Mass Ave. All are welcome to this free public event.
Sustainable Arlington Cochair Gail McCormick sees this evening’s event as an essential opportunity for the Town leadership and residents to begin a new dialogue. Town Meeting adopted a plan in 2007 to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases as a community, but there are more and more reasons to revisit the Arlington Sustainability Action Plan.
According to McCormick, the public “may not be aware that climate change has already begun to affect Arlington. Heavier rains leading to increased flooding, especially in East Arlington, and the earliest recorded occurrence of toxic blue-green algae in Spy Pond are two possible examples.”
Sustainable Arlington invites the community to this open meeting to hear more about how the effects of climate change will affect the New England region and Arlington specifically. Refreshments will be served.
For information about Arlington Climate Change Week and Sustainable Arlington, visit www.sustainablearlington.org or contact co-chairs Gail McCormick and Charlotte Milan at [email protected].
For more information about A Better Future Project, contact Vanessa Rule, Director of Community Outreach, Better Future Project [email protected], or 617-838-4063.
Events already held:
On Sunday, July 17, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. is a service-learning opportunity with Arlington Home Energy Efficiency Team, or A-HEET.
Volunteers will descend on a local home and air seal it within a few hours, saving homeowners energy and money for years to come.
“Every house presents new and interesting challenges,” says A-HEET founder Jeremy Marin, and there are always new volunteers who turn out. Some have never used a caulk gun, some are in the building trades, but everyone leaves with a sense of accomplishment in a good, fun day’s work.”
Contact Marin to sign up at [email protected].
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