A sincere thank you to the more than 40 volunteers who helped on Saturday's Climate Change Awareness Work Party at Sharon Elementary school.  Members of the Sharon community, students and families from Sharon Elementary, the Sharon Academy and Vermont Law School, staff and faculty from Sharon Elementary, members of the Sharon Energy Committee and Sharon Conservation Commission worked to support 350.org's Global Work Party.  Together we planted 14 blueberry bushes, 2 currant bushes, and 15 evergreen trees.  We weeded and mulched existing gardens and bushes and trimmed trees.  We changed all 25 light bulbs in Baxter Library to energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs. We installed 4 pulley-clothesline systems so families can air dry their laundry.  We watched as the ribbon was cut on the newly completed Sharon Sprouts' community garden shed and we were treated to a local lunch prepared by school staff.  We wrote postcards to our elected officials illustrating what we are doing to reduce our energy consumption and CO2 emissions.  We want our government officials to know we are getting to work on climate change solutions and so should they! 

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350.org, an organization started by Vermont’s own Bill McKibben, is a global, grass-roots effort to call attention to both the threats of, and solutions to, climate change.  The number 350 is significant in that it represents what scientists consider the “safe upper limit” of parts per million of CO2 in our atmosphere.  The current atmospheric concentration of CO2 is 390 parts per million.  This is the highest level of the green house gas CO2 the earth has seen in over 800,000 years, and the planet is starting to feel the very real and dramatic affects of climate change.

350.org has initiated a global work party event, 10-10-10 (October 10, 2010).  10:10was an ambitions project to unite people, businesses and organizations around the world behind one simple idea:  that by working together we can achieve a 10% cut in carbon emissions.  Please visit http://www.350.org for more information.

As part of this effort, the aforementioned Sharon groups coordinated a work party.  On Saturday, October 9th, from 10 am – 1 pm, we supported our local farmers at the market, and planted trees on Sharon Elementary school grounds.  The trees will not only absorb some CO2, but they will also act as a sound barrier from the I-89 traffic, to benefit the school’s future outdoor classroom.  We also be weeded and mulched existing trees and shrubs to beautify an existing garden, built a solar oven for future classroom experiments, and wrote postcards to our elected officials.  Area resident and School Board member Steve Gagliardone and crew also volunteered to install pulley clothes-line systems for Sharon residents!  At the Farmer’s Market, activities for young children were provided and staffed by volunteers from The Sharon Academy.