NRCM Challenges Mainers to Cut Personal Global Warming Pollution
NRCM news release
What do washing clothes in cold water, replacing an old-fashioned light bulb with a modern efficient one, and reducing the temperature of your water heater by 10 degrees have in common? They all help reduce global warming pollution and save you money.
“Action is needed to reduce global warming pollution and what better place to start than in our homes?” says Brownie Carson, executive director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM).
This Earth Day, the Natural Resources Council of Maine is announcing the Maine Global Warming Challenge. It’s easy, good for the planet and can save you money, too.
The average American is responsible for the release of 20 tons – that is 40,000 pounds – of global warming pollution each year. Reducing 1,500 pounds is easy – it’s less than a four percent reduction. Global warming threatens our environment, our economy and our way of life in Maine. By joining NRCM’s challenge you can make a difference on Earth Day and every day.
To bring awareness to what people can do to help stop global warming pollution, the Natural Resources Council of Maine issued the Maine Global Warming Challenge, launching on Earth Day, April 22, 2006, with the goal of reducing Maine’s contribution to global warming pollution and the problems it is causing. The challenge shows Mainers a broad array of ways we can cut the global warming pollution that comes from burning oil, coal and gas to heat homes, drive around and generate electricity to run lights and appliances.
Pledging to wash clothes in cold water, for example, will save 327 pounds of global warming pollution. Keeping your tires properly inflated saves an average of 250 pounds of global warming pollution per year.
Once you’ve made your selections, send your pledge electronically to NRCM, which will keep a running tally, with the goal that Maine people will help meet the challenge of saving 600,000 pounds of global warming pollution by Earth Day 2007. Participants will be able to return to the website often to see how their pledge is contributing to progress toward that goal.
NRCM is throwing in bonus prizes. All participants will be automatically entered into a raffle for cool prizes, and a special prize will be awarded to the individual who passes the message of the Maine Global Warming Challenge along to the most friends. The special prize, provided by The Green Store of Belfast is a gift bag of $50 worth of energy-saving products for the person who signs up the most people to participate in the Global Warming Challenge.
“Taking part in the Maine Global Warming Challenge is easy and fun,” says Jennifer Andersen, NRCM’s global warming outreach coordinator. “Everybody should be able to pitch in and cut their global warming pollution by four percent, and if we all pitch in the benefits really add up.”
Most of the menu items in the Maine Global Warming Challenge mean extra money in the pockets of families. “Participating in the challenge is rewarding in more ways than one,” says Andersen. “It’s good for the pocketbook, and good for the planet.”
“We hear news stories almost every day now about the impact global warming is having on the Earth—melting glaciers, worse hurricanes, drought,” says Carson. “Here in Maine, sea level rise would flood coastal homes and communities; warmer temperatures would bring more smog, asthma and Lyme disease; and skiing and ice-fishing would become relegated to history books and rare occasions.”
“Don’t just be worried, do something about it! Fortunately, we have the power to turn back the march of global warming. By taking the Maine Global Warming Challenge you can be part of the solution.”
