Sustainability Street Team - MLK Day

[ebecker.livejournal.com]

Volunteer on National Service Day with Somerville Climate Action
MLK Day, Monday, January 19th
Spread the word on energy-efficiency in underserved communities!

On Monday, January 19th (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), we will be going door-to-door in poor and moderate-income communities of Somerville, to spread awareness about simple home improvements to save money, energy, and (well, yes) the planet.

Together in teams, we will offer out free CFL bulbs, initiate dialogue about simple home energy-saving steps, and invite folks to our upcoming Community Energy Fair in March. A few hours of your time will go a long way to spread this pressing information to people in our communities who haven't otherwise received it.

We will meet at 12pm at Somerville High School to kick off our event and to do a quick training (don't worry, it's all basic and easy stuff). If you can join us for this important work, please send us an e-mail us at sca.volunteer@gmail.com with your name, email, and phone number. If you have any questions, feel free to email us with those as well.

"We are the ones we have been waiting for" (June Jordan)

Thank you to our great sponsors:
Boston Investments: www.bostoninvestments.com
TAGS Hardware: www.tagshardware.com

Comments

[laryu.livejournal.com]

With all due respect to the cause, can I put myself on a do NOT come to my door list? I really am quite tired of all the canvassing around here. Or are you not including the immediate Davis Square neighborhood in your eforts?

[ebecker.livejournal.com]

Actually, the focus is on East Somerville, but we're looking for volunteers from West Somerville. So, no, we won't knock on your door. And we're not asking for $$$.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Please stress to people who take the bulbs that they cannot be disposed of like normal light bulbs.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that. How do you dispose of them properly? (And I know the instructions are probably right on the packaging, which I haven't even looked at before cutting off.)

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/157/1/CFL-disposal-and-recycling.html

[ron_newman]

I brought my broken and burned-out bulbs to Tags, but that's not helpful to people in East Somerville.

Re: I was trying to ignore the East Somerville here in light of the noble cause involved....

[ebecker.livejournal.com]

Obviously East Somerville as a whole isn't a poor community, but there are certainly neighborhoods that are. The point here is to reach out to populations that Somerville Climate Action hasn't historically reached, raise awareness of energy efficiency, and help get the community organized around the Green Line extension.

Re: I was trying to ignore the East Somerville here in light of the noble cause involved....

[ron_newman]

for East Somerville, it looks like Home Depot will take compact fluorescent lightbulbs for recycling. Someone may want to verify this.

Responding more directly to rollzroix: East Somerville is still a neighborhood with lots of immigrants, many of whom don't have English as a first or even second language.

[ebecker.livejournal.com]

Great point. We'll definitely make that part of the training for door-knockers.

Yeah, I'm sure that they'll follow

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

proper disposal procedures...

[solarpanda.livejournal.com]

Hey, you might want to post this on the Boston Alternative Energy Meetup group: http://www.meetup.com/AltEnergyBoston/

There seem to be a lot of people who use the list, and it's a pretty good way to find out alternative energy/energy efficiency events in the area.

Wish I could join you, but I have to work on MLK :(

[ebecker.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the hot tip. Will do.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Yay you! I can't join you, but I do plan to get involved volunteering after January.

[ebecker.livejournal.com]

Great. Check out www.somervilleclimateaction.org. The next meeting is Tuesday the 20th at 7:30pm.

-Eric