Please join us on Monday, May 20th to hear Brian Swett, Chief of Environment and Energy for the City of Boston, explain expected climate impacts, and how the city’s response to climate change is driving innovation, economic opportunity and economic growth for Boston and our region.

The threat is visibly demonstrated in an image showing the large areas of Boston that would have been under 2 – 4 feet of water had Superstorm Sandy hit at high tide. Those are levels expected to occur in Boston by mid-century.

Climate action will also bring significant economic benefits to Boston. Energy efficiency and behavior change can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, transportation, and solid waste-and produce net savings of over $2 billion by 2020 through lower energy bills. Demand for energy-and climate-related services will create thousands of jobs. And taking the necessary steps to prepare for climate-related change will ensure that Boston’s economic and social infrastructure remains strong.

Brian will take us through Boston’s comprehensive climate action plan, addressing mitigation, adaptation, community engagement and social equity. He’ll talk about how responding to climate change is driving innovation, economic opportunity and economic growth for Boston and our region.

Through this event, Green Needham hopes to spark conversation and collaboration amongst local metro-west communities as we explore the impact climate change will have on us—and how we can respond in ways that transform climate threats into opportunities for strengthening our local communities.

Please join us at 7:00 pm on Monday, May 20th at the Needham Public Library’s Community Room for this important meeting.

If you’d like to nominate a business please. submit a one page (or less) description of any a business that is based in either Newton or Needham and has made significant progress toward reducing energy or embraced other environmental strategies toward sustainability in its business; or 2) supplies green products or services.

Email your nominations to Peter Smith, Chair of the Chamber’s Environment Committee, at psmith@igc.org on or before May 3, 2013.

The businesses will be recognized at the Newton-Needham Chamber’s Annual Green Business Breakfast on June 26th at the Newton Marriott Hotel. Guest speakers will be Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and Mark Buckley, VP of Environmental Affairs at Staples.

For questions, contact Environment Committee Chair Peter Smith at (617) 233-6071.

Come at 6:30 p.m. to meet local farmers and Needham Farmers Market organizers, sample delicious local and organic foods, and submit your name for great door prizes. At 7 p.m., after brief updates about local farms, there will be a showing of the 70-minute film “Fresh,” which highlights both urban and rural farmers who are trying to practice sustainable and more humane ways of raising food. www.freshthemovie.com.

Help support our own local-food community while enjoying fresh foods before the film and a lively discussion after. The free event is cosponsored by First Parish’s Green Congregation Committee, the Needham League of Women Voters, Green Needham Collaborative, and the LEAH Collective. Parents please note that the film briefly focuses on industrialized food production, with some images of animal treatment that may be difficult for children to watch.

Big decisions on complex projects are invariably reduced to soundbites by advocates and opponents. We know from experience that soundbite-driven decisions are often bad ones. It’s human and very understandable to throw up your hands in the face of complexity and fall back on whichever of the soundbites resonates more naturally.

The upcoming decision on approval or rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline is one of those decisions. If you’re heard about Keystone XL, but haven’t really had a chance to learn about it, you’re probably experiencing that feeling of soundbite whiplash.

Our friends at MCAN (Massachusetts Climate Action Network) have put together a thoughtful and readable post on Keystone XL. It is not about the climate implications of Keystone that are the basis of MCAN’s (any many people’s) opposition to Keystone. Instead the article takes on the arguments being made in favor of the pipeline – jobs and cheap oil. It’s all done in clear terms, with references you can research further.

It’s well worth reading. Check it out here.

Green Needham’s Michael Greis and Nick Hill presented the workshop material, featuring:

• Fundamentals of solar PV (photovoltaic) and solar thermal systems
• What makes a house a good candidate for solar
• Questions to consider before proceeding
• Building code considerations, with Needham Building Commissioner David Roche
• Financial options, issues and scenarios – PPA and purchase
• Preview of Solarize Needham

After the presentation, attendees were invited to “meet and greet” Needham neighbors who have installed solar PV systems on their homes and representatives from the companies who installed their systems. Participating in the meet and greet were representatives from:

• Next Step Living
• Real Goods Solar
• Second Generation Energy
• Solar City
• Sunbug Solar
• Sunlight Solar

Resources from the Solar 101 workshop, including copies of the presentation slides, are available on Green Needham’s Solar 101 page. We will update that page from time to time with additional information and resources. The workshop session will be rebroadcast on The Needham Channel; the schedule will be posted on the Solar 101 page as well.

If you have questions about the workshop, Solar 101, solar PV in Needham or Solarize Massachusetts, contact Michael Greis or Nick Hill.

1). New England Wind - MA & RI wind power

2). New England GreenStart – local wind, solar, digester gas & low-impact hydro power

Not only are both options less expensive than NSTAR’s green energy supplier, (NSTAR Green), but because they are available through Mass Energy Consumer Alliance, a local non-profit, they are mostly tax-deductible. Furthermore, supporting Mass Energy helps them continue their mission of promoting local, sustainable, green energy. Below are the details:

Type                                                     Cost

New England GreenStart                2.7 cents above NSTAR’s base price per kWh of 7.031 cents (38% higher per kWh)

New England Wind                        4.1 cents above NSTAR’s base price per kWh of 7.031 cents (58% higher per kWh)

NOTE: NSTAR Green is 8.012 cents above NSTAR’s base price per kWh of 7.031 cents (114% higher per kWh)

To learn more or to sign up online, go to Mass Energy’s website, or call them at 1-800-287-3950. Click here to view Mass Energy’s FAQs about their renewable energy options. Please note that you will need to know your NSTAR account number to switch your energy supplier. Once you’ve switched, you will still continue to pay NSTAR every month – your green energy choice will be reflected on the bill as your energy supplier. Of course, because of the way electricity is delivered to individual homes, you would not actually receive the green energy you chose to purchase – it would just be added to the total energy supply mix – but by choosing green power, you are ensuring that renewable electricity is being delivered to the power grid on your behalf, thus creating a cleaner, healthier overall energy mix.

Residents’ comments and ideas are welcome and important. Use our Comment feature, below, to offer your suggestions. We’ll assemble the comments we receive and send them along to the committee.

The formation of this committee follows on the development of downtown design guidelines and the changes to the downtown zoning that have taken place over the past 15+ years. The Committee will focus on the following elements in its deliberations:

• Design – composition, architecture, historic preservation, usability
• Accessibility – handicap access, bicycle and pedestrian access/safety
• Traffic and parking control – traffic flow, signal upgrades and coordination, parking availability, snow removal, maintainability
• Safety – lighting, signage, special event accommodations
• Amenities and attraction – landscaping, street furniture, street-level amenities (broader sidewalks, seating, etc)

The committee consists of twelve members, including representatives of town boards, and downtown business and property owners. Members of the public are welcome to attend the meetings of the Working Group and to provide comment, feedback and suggestions. Meeting schedules, meeting minutes, the group member list, and other documents are available here on the Town’s website.

Fall 2012 data:

• Total collected: 4,172 lbs (2 tons)
• Avg daily pick-up: 71 lbs
• Total composted (Spring 2009- Fall 2012): 23,783 lbs

Should be another good year for our community garden!

The webinars were held:

• Wednesday, February 20th at 7:30 pm
• Thursday, February 28th at 7:30 pm

Contact Michael Greis or Nick Hill to join the solar team.

• Year-round Backyard Gardening  – Mon. 2/25/13 6:30-8:30 pm   $35
• Creating Herb Gardens  – Mon. 3/11/13 6:30-8:30 pm   $35
• Solar 101  – Wed. 3/20/13 7-9 pm   $10
• Eating Habits of a Locavore  – Mon. 4/1/13 6:30-8:30 pm   $35
• Parent/Child Backyard Gardening  – Sat. 4/6/13 10-noon   $59 (parent/child pair)

Space is limited – sign up today for these courses!