BY MICHELLE KIM
The weather outside may have been frightful, but participants of all ages came out Saturday to the New Boston “Step It Up” day to learn about climate change and to question politicians about ways to affect global warming.
The event was a debut for the New Boston Climate and Energy Committee, a group of 11 residents that formed in July in response to a non-binding warrant article on climate change passed this year by New Boston and 164 other New Hampshire towns and cities. The article calls for, among other things, “a voluntary energy committee to recommend local steps to save energy and reduce emissions.”
Committee organizer Susan Carr, 58, who was also involved in petitioning for the warrant article, said members had received a crash-course education on climate change since coming together.
She said they realized New Boston has a wealth of resources in people and knowledge in its own backyard and wanted to let people know.
“If you have an idea, you should take the initiative and do it yourself,” said Cathy Morissey, 44, committee member and human resources manager at Fidelity Investments.
The New Boston event was also part of the nationwide series of events for “Step It Up,” a campaign started by college students in 2006 to promote awareness of climate change. The first “Step It Up” events were held in April and the Nov. 3 events were designed to put the spotlight on politicians and community leaders. The main goals of “Step It Up” include the creation of “green” jobs, no new coal plants, and an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, said Carr.
Organizers were happy with the event’s turnout, estimated between 70 to 100 people.
“You really don’t know what to expect, especially since this is our breakout event,” said committee member Wendy Perron, 30. “Our main goal is to give the public a background so we can all speak the same language going forward on these problems.”
Attendees browsed the booths inside the New Boston Community Church, which were chock full of information on energy efficiency, composting, recycling while sampling local farm produce and bakery wares. There were musical performances, LEGO constructions, films and talks on topics like oil consumption and alternative energies.
Bernadette Stephens, 47, snagged some stickers to put on light switches as reminders to turn off the lights. She said she had come in support of her 12-year-old daughter Marisa, who was the environmental conscience of the household.
“She’s always saying things like, ‘Turn off the lights!’ or ‘Daddy, you can’t buy paper towels!” said Stephens.
Several of the booths were youth-driven. The youngest committee member, sixth-grader Jordan Smith, 11, was demonstrating simple, earth-friendly things people could do, such as using water bottles instead of buying bottled water, or using fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs. Smith successfully petitioned the New Boston Central School to stop using styrofoam last year and recently talked with Principal Matthews about having a recycling program.
The last part of the day was reserved for a forum with local politicians. District 4 state representatives Jennifer Daler and Mike Kaelin, House Deputy Speaker Linda Foster, state Sen. Shelia Roberge, and New Boston Selectman Dave Woodbury spoke about their efforts towards emissions reduction and led lively question-and-answer sessions.
Freshman Congressman Paul Hodes stopped by for half an hour and took questions on topics such as incentives for solar power, carbon taxes and his stance on nuclear energy.
After the forum, Kaelin said he was surprised at the initiative coming from New Boston on climate change.
“This is one of the first small towns that has really taken off with the energy committee,” he said.