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Sustainable Belmont Meeting
Wednesday, 4 February at 7 PM
Belmont Public Library, Assembly Room
Agenda:
- 7-8 Monte Allen will share insights from the recent Lima Climate Change Conference. Allen is Senior Director of Development at CARE (Boston Office).
 He previously directed the membership program at WGBH in Boston, was Director of Development for The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts, and then for World Education. He is a Belmont Town Meeting Member in Precinct 8.
- 8-9 Open Discussion
Meetings are free and open to the public. Please join us on Wednesday.
Sustainable Valentines
Wednesday, 4 February at 4-5 PM
Belmont Public Library, Assembly Room
Everyone can appreciate a thoughtful expression of love around Valentine's Day. Join us for some old-fashioned heart-making and learn about some of the environmental efforts happening in our town at the same time.  We will recycle and upcycle materials such as papers, fabrics and other treasures to create unique and heartfelt cards. All ages and artistic abilities welcome!
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Easy Peasy
Act and Volunteer
Volunteers Needed
We are looking for one or two volunteers to participate in volunteer organizations fair on March 7th. As part of a series, "A Path Appears in Belmont" a culmination event including speaker Richard Weissbourd, Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of the Making Caring Common Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, will be talking about “Raising Caring, Ethical and Happy Children" at NOON, followed by a fair of local non-profits. The event will be held at First Church of Belmont Unitarian Universalist, 404 Concord Ave in Belmont.
We are seeking volunteers to share about Sustainable Belmont and provide materials to the public from 2 - 4 PM. Materials will be provided to you to share. If you are able to help for all or part of that time, please email Kate at sustainablebelmont@gmail.com. Thank you!
Make the Switch
Participate in Mass Energy’s "Make the Switch" to clean energy: Read More about this and other options in Belmont or go to Mothers Out Front or Mass Audubon Society to make the switch. And, if you're looking for another option, the Belmont Light Department, provides customers with a similar renewable energy credit purchase program, "Green Choice".
Heating with oil or electricity?
The Belmont Light Energy Efficiency Grant Program includes 2 new opportunities for you to save. Details: www.BelmontLightEnergyGrant.com This program is made possible by the MA DOER awarded Belmont Light $240,250 in spring 2014.
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Updates
Belmont Safe Routes to Schools Community Working Group
This group is working on supporting the new snow removal bylaw, as well as planning a Bike Rodeo for the community in the spring. For those of you new to the community, we share the details of the bylaw:
Residents have until 8:00pm the day following the end of the storm to clear the sidewalk of snow, slush and ice adjacent to their property to ensure safe pedestrian passage. http://www.belmont-ma.gov/sites/belmontma/files/file/file/snow_brochure_2013.pdf If you need assistance, there are a limited number of volunteers who may be able to help; call 617-993-2970. For those that are handy with a snow shovel, consider checking on your neighbors and offering a helping hand when possible. The Town of Belmont has several community sand barrels located around town. To find your nearest one go to http://www.belmont-ma.gov/dpw-highway-division/pages/sand-barrel-locations. These are open to residents, providing a sandy mixture to help with traction on snowy and icy sidewalks. For enforcement or questions about sidewalk clearing, call 617-993-2664.
Distributed Generation, a.k.a. Solar Tariff
Solar hosts are awaiting confirmation that the new policy, voted on by the Light Board (Belmont's 3 selectmen) and the Municipal Light Advisory Board, is actually in effect and that it has been filed with the Department of Public Utilities. The selectmen have indicated that they will observe how this revised policy will or will not increase solar installations in town, though the time period for analysis has not been stated. Given that the financials are as severe to homeowners as the original Phase 3 policy, it is not expected that solar installations will increase from current trends which have grown very slowly over the years in comparison to neighboring towns. There are 19 installations in town. Read a recent article published by the Belmont Citizens Forum on the details of the new policy.
Safer Personal Care Products
Sustainable Belmont will again talk about Safe Personal Care Products at the Belmont High School on April 16th. As part of the BHS Hallway Health program, a group of volunteers will present information on the most common chemicals of concern in these products and provide information on safer alternatives. Silent Spring Institute, among other groups, has helfpul guidance for consumers.
Thanks go out to Nancy Forbes for spearheading this important contribution and to Marzina Bockler, Lucia Gates, Marha Cohen, Jeri Weiss and Judy Otto for their work on this event!
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