Its Easy Being Green Show Notes for Episode 29: Green Chelmsford

On episode 29 of my local access show "Its Easy Being Green" I was joined by 5 guests to talk about different environmental happenings in our town.  My guests from left to right were Phil Jones of Jones Farm, Phil Stanway of the Chelmsford Open Space Stewardship, Jennifer Almeida of the Recycling Office, Jean Clements of ChelmsfordCAN, and Kathy Cryan-Hicks from the Chelmsford Public Library.  Please visit the links provided for more information about the different things that they talked about and to find out about upcoming events.

If you are on facebook and live in the Chelmsford, MA area, please join the Green Chelmsford, Jones Farm Chelmsford, and the Chelmsford Open Space Stewardship facebook fan pages.   It is an easy way to find out more about what is happening around town.  

The library runs a wonderful program with ChelmsfordCAN on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 7 pm called the Clean and Green Series.  However due to the holidays, the date has changed to the 3rd Wednesday for November and December of this year.  The next one is "Laundry: An Inconvenient Chore?" with Alex Lee, founder of Project Laundry List.

Here is the link to the town's recycling office's upcoming events.  Their website also has a lot of great information on what you can and can not recycle in the town as well as many great resources.  If you know of someone that goes above and beyond basic recycling, you can nominate them to be a recycling champion.

Jean also talked about the Greener Chelmsford Initiative, where local businesses are recognized for 

1. Benefit the local environment;
2. Bring attention to the modest steps that can be taken to improve recycling/waste reduction rates - steps that residents can employ in their own daily lives;
3. Demonstrate to observers that collaboration between business and government in pursuit of a common goal can be workable and fruitful; and
4. Foster a sense of community by enlisting the participation of businesses, residents and local government in a voluntary, no cost, town-wide cause.

Jean also talked about MCAN which is the Massachusetts Climate Action Network.  They also sponsored the Chelmsford Earth Fair in 2010.

Speaking of the Chlemsford Earth Fair, it will take place on May 14, 2011, Saturday, from 12 - 3.  We are planning to have it at the Senior Center, but it is not official right now.  If you live in or around Chelmsford and would like to have a table set up at the Earth Fair, please contact me.  We are also looking for local artisans to participate as well.  

If you want to hear more about the kind of farming that Jones Farm is doing, please watch episode 16 of Its Easy Being Green: Beyond Organic Farming.  Part 1 of 2 videos, and part 2 of 2 videos.  It is really very interesting.  Phil talks about how they are starting with the soil to create better food.  

Stay tune for my December show when both Phils will be on with other stewards from the Chelmsford Open Space Stewardship to talk more about what the stewardship does and how people can help.  I am a fan of their facebook page.  I love reading about what they are doing, which is a lot.  They are always looking for more volunteers and businesses who will help them out.  Another way to support them is to visit the open spaces in which they take care of.  They also host several events at different locations through out the year.  Last month my family and I went to two of their events, the scarecrow festival and the pumpkin armada.  We missed the air pumpkin event where they flung pumpkins on a trebuchet after Halloween.  They then composted the pumpkins.  Not only was this a fun family event, but it also helped to decrease the after Halloween waste by offering a place for people to take their jack-o-lanterns to be composted.  One of the next events is a Christmas tree scavenger hunt at all of the open spaces.  They are going to decorate one tree at each location, and then people can go around and take a picture of themselves in front of the trees.  After they take a picture in front of each tree, then they can email the pictures to the stewardship and possibly win a trophy.  The point of the scavenger hunt is to get people to visit our open spaces and to have fun.

Every one of my guests tonight, including myself, has talked at the library.  This show was a wealth of information on how the people of Chelsmford, MA can become more environmental and how to help our town become a cleaner and greener place to live.   By coming out to these various events, you are supporting the "green" efforts of our town.