2011 Harrington Park Green Pledge
2011 Harrington Park Green Pledge At the December 2010 meeting of the HP Green Team, members discussed the Green Challenge action. It was decided to pursue this action, with a pledge challenge to be launched in April 2011. At the February 2011 meeting, members discussed pledge options for the challenge, the best number of pledges to include, and how to reach community members. Every pledge choice was chosen to reduce a person’s or household’s impact on the environment. The Green Pledge form was created in March. Our very ambitious goal was to have ~25% of households in Harrington Park complete a pledge. At the beginning of April 2011, the HP Green Team issued the challenge to the citizens of Harrington Park, asking that they pledge to do one or more of six options, sign a form noting their pledges, and note their address. The Green Pledge form was included in the town‘s April electronic newsletter and it could be accessed from the HP school, Home & School Association, and town websites as well. Copies were available at Boro Hall and at the HP library. The challenge was publicized on bulletin boards in the HP School and in the town library. Environmental Commission and Green Team members reached out to their neighbors. EC members also asked community members who purchased humus (2 year old composted leaves) sold at Boro hall on April 30th and who stopped by the EC information table at the HP library’s White Elephant sale on June 4th to complete a pledge. On April 21st, the Harrington Park School held its annual Senior Share Day. Over 200 older relatives and friends visited the K-8 school to learn about what the children were doing. At two breakfast sittings, they were treated to a “green” theme, with recycled centerpieces and mismatched paper wares. The visitors were invited to complete the Green Pledge. Several did so, but only the ones with Harrington Park addresses were included in the town pledge totals. In addition, the HP School separately held a catalog cancelling challenge, one of the six pledge options. The results: 678 catalogs were canceled in 30 days in April, with the 3rd grade class winning that challenge—and an extra recess period! (For more details, http://hpgreenteam.wordpress.com - April 22 and April 28 entries). As of April 30th 82 households had returned their pledge. This represented about 5% of the total number of households in Harrington Park. Of the 82 households completing the form: 82% pledged to use reusable shopping bags 65% pledged to use environmentally friendly cleaning products and cloth instead of paper towels 82% pledged to turn off unnecessary lights and to switch to more energy efficient light bulbs 78% pledged to cut down on driving and walk when possible 65% pledged to grow or buy locally produced fruits and vegetables 71% pledged to cancel unwanted catalogs
The pledge drive ran through the beginning of June in hopes of doubling the number of pledges. By the end of the town library garage sale (where the Environmental Commission had an information table), the total was up to 148 households. This final number represents a little over 9% of the total number of households in Harrington Park. Of the 148 households completing the 2011 Harrington Park Green Pledge: 78% pledged to use reusable shopping bags 61% pledged to use environmentally friendly cleaning products and cloth instead of paper towels 80% pledged to turn off unnecessary lights and to switch to more energy efficient light bulbs 76% pledged to cut down on driving and walk when possible 58% pledged to grow or buy locally produced fruits and vegetables 65% pledged to cancel unwanted catalogs
We came very close to our revised goal of 10% of the households! The Green Pledge challenge was discussed at the June, September and November 2011Green Team meetings. Feedback from community members was very positive, especially the catalog cancelling impact. Green Team members underestimated the difficulty in getting signatures; several community members noted that they already do some or all of the options, but did not feel they could pledge to do this 100% of the time; others were reluctant to sign or give their address. Overall this action was felt to have had a positive impact on the community and the Green Team will be starting to develop the 2011 Harrington Park Green Pledge in December. CEC and Green Team member Cindy Kennedy was instrumental in carrying out this action. Submitted by Green Team Chair and EC member Mary Ann Schran (For more details, http://hpgreenteam.wordpress.com - April 18, May 14 and June 13 entries).
The pledge drive ran through the beginning of June in hopes of doubling the number of pledges. By the end of the town library garage sale (where the Environmental Commission had an information table), the total was up to 148 households. This final number represents a little over 9% of the total number of households in Harrington Park. Of the 148 households completing the 2011 Harrington Park Green Pledge: 78% pledged to use reusable shopping bags 61% pledged to use environmentally friendly cleaning products and cloth instead of paper towels 80% pledged to turn off unnecessary lights and to switch to more energy efficient light bulbs 76% pledged to cut down on driving and walk when possible 58% pledged to grow or buy locally produced fruits and vegetables 65% pledged to cancel unwanted catalogs
We came very close to our revised goal of 10% of the households! The Green Pledge challenge was discussed at the June, September and November 2011Green Team meetings. Feedback from community members was very positive, especially the catalog cancelling impact. Green Team members underestimated the difficulty in getting signatures; several community members noted that they already do some or all of the options, but did not feel they could pledge to do this 100% of the time; others were reluctant to sign or give their address. Overall this action was felt to have had a positive impact on the community and the Green Team will be starting to develop the 2011 Harrington Park Green Pledge in December. CEC and Green Team member Cindy Kennedy was instrumental in carrying out this action. Submitted by Green Team Chair and EC member Mary Ann Schran (For more details, http://hpgreenteam.wordpress.com - April 18, May 14 and June 13 entries).
