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<\/a><\/p>\nThis new lawn mower, which Stephen bought a few years ago, was battery-powered and replaced a gas-powered one.\u00a0 On the summer day when he first took it out, Stephen had already noticed its lightness.\u00a0 Turning it on with a simple press of the button, he felt pleasantly relieved not needing to prime the gas, set the choke, and yank the wire.\u00a0 “Never again,” he thought, smiling.\u00a0\u00a0 Pushed easily over the long grass, the machine was powerful, quiet; his two boys stayed around — wanting a turn.\u00a0 Wow, that’s cool, they used to run inside from the noise and the smell.\u00a0 They even asked if they could use the mower. Stephen had an epiphany: maybe going green was easy and\u00a0nice<\/i><\/strong>.\u00a0 Based on this experience, Stephen and Heidi became “creeping environmentalists” (Stephen’s term).\u00a0 They started making incremental green choices, each time saving money and effort, so the was next step easier – right up to the tipping point into activism.<\/p>\n There was the way composting and recycling — initially to save on the costs of the pay-as-you-throw bags — became a game.\u00a0 “Wow, no trash, only recycling, to the dump this week!”\u00a0 They replaced portions of their lawn with drought-resistant perennials. There was the time a MassSave contractor came in for a home energy assessment and left a free carton of LED lights saying, you’ll never have to buy another bulb as long as you live in this house, and will save 85% on lighting costs.\u00a0 There were the 16 solar PV cells they bought with a Mass Energy loan, where the costs of repaying the loan were less than what they used to pay for the electricity.\u00a0 Then there was the Bolt, for which Heidi was the key motivator.\u00a0 Getting into the Bolt for the first time was the lawn mower moment all over again: this car is faster, quieter, and not smelly!\u00a0 Plus, Stephen realized, we’ll never have to change broken spark-plugs, mufflers, drive belts, or any of that stuff\u00a0because the car does not have them.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n All of these changes made life easier, cheaper, and yes, greener.\u00a0 \u00a0But a real turning point occurred last year, when Stephen went to a Climate Reality Project talk.\u00a0 Here\u00a0 Stephen\u00a0learned that climate change is not about saving polar bears or a few coastlines.\u00a0 The inter-connected system of climate change, the speaker showed, threatens everything we value – prosperity, peace, our civilization as we know it, within the lifetimes of today’s children.\u00a0 But,\u00a0he\u00a0continued, we are already using existing technology to turn things around\u00a0and<\/i>\u00a0 <\/strong>we need to act to make it happen faster.\u00a0 \u00a0Both Stephen and Heidi realized they can help to make things happen faster at the local and state level.\u00a0 Stephen was trained by Al Gore in Pittsburgh for three days last summer and now gives talks where he can – in schools, houses of worship, and organizations — and has become active in Green Needham.\u00a0 Heidi has become engaged in local political groups.\u00a0 Doing so gives them hope.\u00a0 Do they have the time?\u00a0 They got rid of things that are less important, like a few TV shows.\u00a0 “I know I will be doing this the rest of my life,” Stephen says.\u00a0 \u00a0That will be a gift to all of us!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n