Sustainable Hanover Committee

Minutes Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Next Meeting: Wednesday May 19,  8:00-9:30,

Town Hall, Selectmen’s Room

Attending: Larry Litten (chairing), Chris Kennedy, Marissa Knodel, Emily Neuman, Dick Podolec, Marjorie Rogalski, Brian Walsh

ACTION ITEMS:

A.  Marjorie will investigate the possibility of a table at the Hanover Coop to promote the work of the SHC and recruit participants in our cause.  She will also send notice of the Local Energy conference to Denis Rydjeski and the CPC mailing list.

B.  Larry, Dick, and Chris K. will work the May 15 electronic recycling event at DPW

C.  Lyn will contact the two people who indicated an interest in the committee at the Coop Expo.

D.  Emily will prepare a brochure describing the initiatives of the Waste-reduction/Recycling Action Group for use at our displays.

Meeting topics

1. Update on curbside program

     A contract has been signed with Northeast Waste to continue the current program with substantial savings.  A portion of the savings will be put into a reserve account that will cover the penalty of early termination of the contract should a more attractive option appear.

2. Naked Table event

     Twelve tables were made at the event on 4/17-18.  Fifty lunches were served.  Wood for 4 tables remains.  Lyn has a plan for a November event that will be presented at the May meeting.

     Special thanks to Lyn and Donald Miller for donating a table to the Montshire Museum in the name of Sustainable Hanover.  Thanks also to Marjorie Rogalski and Dick Podolec for serving at the lunch.

3. Earth Day event on 4/28 to review sustainability vision

     Plans to have a community review of the Hanover Sustainability Vision during the Earth Week celebration that was postponed due to school vacation were shelved because (a) we have not reviewed a final draft of the plan and (b) the town is distracted by the school budget issue.

     We need to have vision of where we will go once the vision is discussed.  We shall postpone a community discussion of the vision until the fall and proceed with an agenda of specific initiatives through the summer.  The May meeting will both review the vision and our action agenda.

     We will explore the possibility of having a table at a couple of Hanover Farmers’ Market this summer and a table in the Hanover Coop to promote our agenda (especially composting) and recruit participants to our cause.

4. Electronics recycling event, May 15

     We need volunteers to help direct traffic at our annual electronics recycling event.  Chris, Dick and Larry signed up.

5.  Earth Week activities at Dartmouth

     Marissa described an extensive array of Earth Week activities at Dartmouth.  A list of the activities can be found at: 

www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2010/04/16.html.  Larry will represent the SHC at the rally on The Green on Thursday and make a brief presentation.

6.   Local Energy Conference

     The Clean Air / Cool Planet Local Energy Solutions conference is June 19 in Concord.  Chris attended last year and highly recommends it.  Information can be found at: http://cleanair-coolplanet.org/les2010/.  Marjorie will spread the word.

7.  Compost initiative

     Lou’s is composting; Kendal will start this summer.  Both are using Bob Sandberg, the Coop’s composter.  Although Highfields Institute sent a proposal for a feasibility study that focused on the region, the SHC is disposed toward a pilot project with a few restaurants with general fund funding.  We do need to look for more local destinations than the Coop’s present arrangement, perhaps a chicken farmer.

8. Streetlight initiative

     Neighborhood meetings will be arranged to discuss the policy adopted by the Selectmen after Town meeting.  Town staff will conduct these meetings, with SHC members in attendance.

9. Pesticide/fertilizer campaign

     Conversations have been held with Dartmouth to promote the avoidance of fertilizers; they use considerable fertilizer to green-up the campus for major events.  Conversations will be held with policy makers.  The town is not using fertilizers and pesticides.  Conversations with the SAU have not yet occurred.  We are still looking for a good brochure to insert into Water Company mailing.

10. Water retaining rain gardens

     Conversations with the Garden Club and the Town have started to explore a workshop on rain gardens that will capture storm water and a group is exploring possible sites.  The Committee endorsed this as an action item in our agenda.

11.  NH Carbon Challenge

Following Lyn’s presentation to the Selectmen and a note from Julia to committee/commission chairs, 11 people have taken the New England Carbon Challenge.  All members of the SHC are encouraged to participate in this “leadership phase” of the challenge.  Participation can be tracked on www.sustainablehanvoernh.org, where there is a link to the challenge.

12. Recruiting new committee members

       We need to recruit new members to the committee.  We need to look especially for people who will work on energy issues. 

May agenda items

1.  Review the vision statement and plan for community discussion

2.  Prepare an action agenda for the summer

3.  The future of the Naked Table project

Sustainable Hanover Committee
Date: March 17, 2010
Location: Town Hall Board Room
Time: 8:00 - 9:30 am

Agenda:
1.  Approval of February minutes

2.  Update on curbside program (Peter)

3.  Naked Table lunch volunteers (Lyn)

4.  Building code initiatives (Chris K.)

5.  Coop expo – composting (Larry)

6.  Earth Day Conversations (see forwarded e-mail from Julia Griffin that follows)

7.  NH Carbon Challenge (Lyn)

8.  Fertilizer impact initiative (Marjorie)

9.  Second draft of goals document

10.  Next meeting date (standard 3rd week of April or sooner?)

Sustainable Hanover (formerly Recycling) Committee Minutes Wednesday, January 20, 2010

2 Meetings in February: Wednesday February 3 and 17:  8:00-9:30 in the Town Hall Meeting Room

Mapping Sustainable Hanover Goals, January 29, 10-12:00 Howe Library - Rotary Room

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Brown Bag Talks, Feb. 17 and 25, 12:00-1:30, Howe Library (League of Women Voters)


Attending: Brian Walsh, Peter Kulbacki —Town, Larry Litten, Lyn Swett Miller—Co-Chairs, Chris Soderquist, Chris Kennedy, Emily Neuman, Marjorie Rogalski, Mary Ann Cadwallader.

Approval of December minutes—Please change the spelling of Brian Walsh’s name and Dick Polodec’s name and email address dickpolodec@comcast.net

ACTION ITEMS:

1. Lyn, Chris S., Larry, and Mary Ann will meet at 10:00 on Friday, Jan. 29, to work on mapping Hanover’s Sustainability goals.  Chris S. will guide systems-thinking based discussion of Emily Neuman’s plan document.
2. Systems-based plan from 1/29/10 will be the basis for discussion of the two February meetings in preparation for Sustainable Hanover’s report to the Town.
3. Larry will contact Crossroad Academy about the January 28 SAU composting meeting at Ray School.
4. Larry will see Julia about the change that needs to be made in our proposal to Tuck Business School for a business plan study of composting.

Action Items from Nov. and Dec.’s meetings not discussed at January’s meeting

• Marissa will ask President Kim if he will make a Naked Table preferably at the summer event.
• Lyn will write a proposal for getting grant funding to create a stand-along movable kiosk for schools, library and town hall.
• Peter K. will investigate converting the annual town report to a system where people can either opt out of the mailing of

Conclusions Reached:

The Committee will have 2 meetings in February and schedule others as needed until their Sustainability Plan for Hanover is ready for publication.

 

Discussion that Supports Action Items and Conclusions:

1.     Update on streetlights policy: 

a.     Peter Kulbacki reported that decisions on types of lighting and placement of poles will be made after the Selectmen address the policy statement he and Nick have prepared, have had a public hearing on it, and then have adopted it as a policy.  Safety, minimizing energy consumption, and dark skies are all addressed in the policy. 

b.     After the policy is adopted the Town police will play a part in determining where lighting is needed for public safety and security. 

c.     Challenge: Peter explained the difficulty in managing lighting variables, which include the intensity of light at ground level, the actual wattage of a bulb, and the kind of light that is created in the context of relevant objectives for each light (security, intersections, etc.) 50 watt low power sodium lights are all that is available to replace the pole lights we already have. LED’s give more detail on the ground than the sodium lights but have a colder color.

2.     Update on town building weatherization:  

a.     Peter Kulbacki said the Town will be applying in mid-February for awards made in mid-March to change streetlights to LED lights and for weatherization of town buildings.  Grant funding won’t exceed $400,000. 

b.     It has already been decided that weatherization of the Fire building is too expensive at this time, but a new heating system will be in place this spring. 

c.     The Committee asked that ‘before and after’ figures for energy use be kept so we can quantify the Town’s progress toward Sustainability.

3.     Composting initiatives: 

a.     SAU 70 Initiative: Larry Litten reported that there will be a presentation by Theresa Murray-Clusan, School Compost Coordinator for the Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District, for all schools in SAU 70 at Ray School, January 28 at 3:30. 

                                            i.     Ray School 2nd graders already have begun worm composting in their classrooms. 

b.     The Coop will have a worm workshop in March. 

c.     Business Owners: Sally Wilson of the Chamber of Commerce has called a meeting on composting for all restaurant owners for January 26 at the Howe Library. Bob Sandburg of Corinth, Vt who does the Coop composting, and Vin Wendell, owner of Colatina Exit and founding member of the Bradford, VT composting program, will speak.  Response has been lackluster so ask at Hanover restaurants if they recycle and engender interest.

d.     Lebanon’s Solid Waste Facility: Manager Marc Morgan is talking with the DHMC about taking all their food waste. He wants to start small using his current staff and move ultimately into the composting of the area’s household food waste.  All compost must stay on site until Marc can get a license as a composting facility. 

4.     Business recycling proposal:

a.     Andy Ferrera, a Dartmouth senior who has an internship with the Hanover Area Chamber of Commerce, has been working on developing downtown businesses’ recycling.  He’s identifying vendors, places to put dumpsters or totes, types of containers, what’s best to recycle, and how to avoid contamination.

 b.     The code that the Town gives to those that use the dumpsters behind the Town Hall seems to be working to keep out unwanted trash.

 c.     Andy plans to implement a pilot program in April - most landlords are willing to entertain the cost.  He hopes that an economy of scale will lower the cost. Peter advised that the program start by separating trash from paper even if single stream vendors are used because vendors will take paper at no cost.  At the least, the program could begin with paper recycling. (Paper makes up 4/5 of all landfill.

 d.     Peter has sent a map of possible locations for dumpsters to Andy. 

 e.     Chris Kennedy, speaking from his firm’s experience, said it would be best to have the dumpster on public property and to have it managed by an entity like the Chamber or the Town.  Someone else suggested that the School St. property behind the Town parking lot would be a perfect place for this.

 f.      Some committee members wondered if business recycling couldn’t be made mandatory by amending the Town ordinances.  This would require enforcement and couldn’t be enacted without state legislation allowing it.  Others thought that perhaps an economic incentive would work best. Andy will ask Julia about the legal issues.

5.     Sustainable Hanover Report: 

a.     Goal Mapping meeting: January 29 at the Howe Library Rotary Room.  The goal of this meeting will be to create a visual representation of our sustainability goals for Hanover.  The outcome will be a ‘table of contents’ for our annual report, a report that will balance general frameworks with specific goals and actions to achieve those goals.  This Report will be the basis for continued community conversation in 2010, as we continue to develop a plan for action between 2010 and 2030.  The goal is to balance the Natural Step framework, which deals with stopping damage, to a more proactive set of goals that focus on restoring a state of resilience in our community.

b.     Managing the Process:  The decision was made to have at least 2 extra meetings to see this through in a timely manner.  Our deadline would be the Town Report submission deadline. Next full committee meetings at the Town Hall, Feb. 3, Feb. 17.

6.     Sustainability baselines and measurable outcomes:

a.     What should be our goal?  Does it make sense to have a zero emission goal, or should we actually go farther than that?  What are realistic goals and what is easiest to market to the community at large? 

b.     Using zero as the eventual goal for emissions simplifies computation, rather than a percentage of emission reductions from a certain date. But we need to look at the use of baselines – should we begin measuring from the nineties or 2000 or we could use each person’s allotment of a global level of 350 parts per million as an output goal?

c.     Any use of a ‘zero’ emissions goal needs to be stated with the caveat that it’s a target to aim for, albeit probably impossible to achieve.

d.     Brian summarized saying we needed the caveat, measurable outcomes showing progress toward achievement of stated goals  (like changes in the amount of local food consumed). 

e.     We plan eventually to create a website with details and ways for families to shrink their environmental footprint. Indicators in visual mapping language would allow mapping of ‘what if’s’ and family progress. 

7.     Focus on Accomplishments to Date: We need to accumulate a list of what we’ve done since 2000 that has made a difference in Sustainability, e.g. yearly registration of vehicles by type to note savings in gas consumption, regional self-sufficiency in food, regional improvement in public transportation, regional use of the water supply.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Ann Cadwallader

Sustainable Hanover Committee meeting agenda

January 20, 2010; 8 AM; Town Hall, Board Room

Facilitator - Lyn Swett Miller, Co-Chair


 

1.  Approval of December minutes – see attachment

2.  Update on streetlights policy (Kulbacki)

3.  Update on town building weatherization (Kulbacki)

4.  Composting initiatives (Litten)

5.  Business recycling proposal (Ferrera)

6.  Education initiatives (Miller)

7.  Sustainability goals (Miller, Litten, Neuman) – see attachment