To A Greener Place
The Greening Williamsburg Coalition makes sustainability easier in Williamsburg.
In 2007, Williamsburg Mayor Jeanne Zeidler signed the Mayor's
Climate Protection Agreement, a commitment that asks mayors to work
towards aggressive reductions in carbon use in their city on their own
timeline, and to make sustainability issues a priority on their
agenda. Shortly after, the Back Porch Energy Initiative (BPEI) asked
the mayor to let them 'green' her house, setting an example for other
citizens. Zeidler accepted the offer. After the project was completed,
Zeidler talked with the BPEI about making significant environmental
strides in Williamsburg, but the Back Porch team realized that she
lacked the resources, networks and manpower to make such ambitious
changes in Williamsburg. Though BPEI directors were about to leave to
continue a sustainable journey across the southeast, they commissioned
BPEI Intern and William and Mary Sophomore Samantha Lockhart to
assemble and facilitate monthly meetings to work with the mayor to
address these issues. Thus, the Greening Williamsburg Coalition was
born.
The Greening Williamsburg Coalition is a group of community members from various sectors of Williamsburg who are committed to the common goal of environmental sustainability on a local level through individual practice and education campaigns, and hands-on administrative changes in the way we manage our resources as a unified city. Members include representatives from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the City Government, the College administration, the College faculty, the Sharpe Community Scholars program, local businesses, the Williamsburg Climate Action Network, the Back Porch Energy Initiative, the Student Environmental Action Coalition, and Dominion Power. The Coalition hopes to provide a network to the community and to increase the dialogue, pool knowledge and resources, and affect change in the arena of environmental sustainability.
Although still a relatively new organization, the Coalition has
implemented a number of initiatives, including connecting Sharpe
Community Scholars with local restaurateurs to provide waste cooking
oil for a biofuel station. The city has recently signed on to the Green
Government Challenge to judge Williamsburg's sustainability efforts
against those of other cities, and BPEI Interns are developing a
simple, clear brochure and presentation to explain how citizens can be
sustainable in their day-to-day lives. The group is working to making
it "cool" to ride the bus through incentive and education programs, and
The Quarterly Quill, a newsletter that goes to every residence in the
city, has released a two page spread about sustainable living
practices. Finally, next year BPEI and SEAC will work together with the
city to launch a house-by-house greening where students will go door to
door to 'green' the house of local residents who volunteer to undergo
the sustainable makeover. The group is young but growing, and hopes to
become a sustainable organization itself, managing our own knowledge
and resources to achieve green goals!
See more at the BPEI website: www.backporchenergy.org
by Samantha Lockhart '10
