Members of the New Hampshire South Central chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby will participate in “Uniting from Home: A virtual CCL event with Katharine Hayhoe.” This event, taking place on Zoom, will allow attendees to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and take action on climate change, while still respecting public health recommendations for social distancing. The event will feature keynote speaker Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, who is a world-renowned climate scientist, an evangelical Christian, and the creator of the educational show “Global Weirding” on PBS. The event will also include several breakout sessions: Climate Advocate Training, where people new to climate advocacy can learn how to effectively push the U.S. Congress for climate change legislation; Climate Organizing During the Pandemic, people already engaged in climate advocacy can learn to adapt their work for our current circumstances with COVID-19; Depolarizing Within, where attendees can practice holding respectful climate conversations with people who don’t share their political beliefs. Details to attend the April 25 Earth Day event can be found on UnitingFromHome. eventbrite.com.
Join fellow community members and the Hopkinton Waste Reduction Committee for Earth Day Hopkinton Town-Wide Wide Road Clean Up Day on April 22. This Earth Day, there is no better way to contribute to a cleaner and healthier community than tackling our local waste problem. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, we will be doing things a little differently this year – physically separate, but together in action! Follow these steps to join your friends and neighbors in action: Pick up bags and gloves on the Hopkinton Town Hall steps or at the gazebo in Contoocook. These will be ready for pick up starting at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Practice social distancing, whether you are picking up in your own neighborhood or on designate route. Take a picture and post it on our Facebook page. What kind of waste did you find? Share how your household is working to reduce waste. At your convenience, drop off filled bags at the Transfer Station. For more information and suggested clean-up routes, please email Becky Whitley at rebeccawhitley80@gmail.com or Bonnie Christie at bchristie1953@gmail.com.
Lakes Region Community Services has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Cogswell Benevolent Trust to fund an energy-efficient lighting upgrade of its main office building in Laconia. According to LRCS vice president of operations Dave Emond, a recently completed analysis of the LRCS office building by Energy Management Consultants, Inc. showed a projected annual energy cost savings of just over $7,500 that would result from recommended upgrades. Planned improvements mainly focused on upgrades of traditional lighting fixtures to LED lighting with motion-activated switches. “With a total project cost of just under $40,000, and an incentive grant from Eversource for approximately half of that, LRCS will see a 100% return on investment in less than 18 months,” Emond said.