Energy Smackdown
By Mary Cummings (Jason Street)
Carol and Harold Forbes and their son, Ben (Jason Street) are smacking down their carbon footprint with the help of a Medford Community TV reality show! The program was the brainchild of Donald Kelly, president and CEO of BrainShift.com, Inc. who saw it as an opportunity to encourage people to reduce the amount of carbon they add to the environment.
In the program’s first season, three Medford families were able to shrink their carbon footprint by at least 50% to 70%. In the second season, thirty families, including ten each from Arlington, Cambridge, and Medford will compete and a number of “companion” families will go along for the green ride without the competitive stress. Participants for this season were chosen to represent a wide range of lifestyles. Annie LaCourt, Selectman, has been helping to organize the program in Arlington and she reports that we have 32 families involved.
The program starts with evaluations of each family’s carbon footprint by MassSave (NStar and National Grid) and continues with regular meetings throughout the year, consultations with experts in the field and a long list of simple lifestyle changes from which to choose. The carbon footprint scale used to set goals and determine progress measures the number of pounds of carbon a family adds to the environment based on their use of electricity, natural gas, auto travel, air travel, and land fill.
Carol first learned about the program from a friend who works on the Smackdown staff. She then read an article in the Arlington Advocate last April and pursued the idea further. Already actively working to reduce their carbon footprint, the Forbes’ enthusiastically applied and were accepted as a companion family. Companion families don’t have to actually compete or appear on the TV program but will benefit from the same support and resources that are available to the competing families. All participants are to act as “seeds” by sharing what they learn with others in the community. Carol’s and Harold’s enthusiasm for cutting carbon production is indeed contagious.
When I first heard about the program I envisioned expensive projects like insulating buildings, replacing appliances and cars, and adding sun panels to the roof. But, according to the Forbeses, we can make a big difference with minor changes in our lifestyles too. Recycling, composting, and driving less are but a few of the things we can do. How we travel, what we purchase, and what we eat all make a difference. Harold noted that beef and other red meats are the foods that have the largest negative impact on the environment while chicken has the lowest impact.
There are lots of public and private organizations supporting the reduction of carbon footprints in Arlington. The Energy Smackdown program is a cooperative effort of BrainShift Foundation in partnership with the Kendall Foundation, National Grid, NStar, Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, Massachusetts Climate Action Network, the cities of Medford, and Cambridge and the Town of Arlington. The Vision 2020 Sustainable Arlington Committee developed a plan which was adopted by the Board of Selectmen and approved by Town Meeting. The plan can be viewed on their website which contains lots of other helpful information and links.
Will and I have been turning off lights, using compact fluorescent bulbs, conserving water, and recycling paper and plastic for quite a while. Listening to Carol and Harold describe the things they have learned and how they plan to smack down their carbon footprint has jolted me into more real action. The Neighborhood Newsletter website now has a blog on which we can share our suggestions, experiences, resources, and successes as we smack down the neighborhood’s carbon footprint. Are you with us?
