NRCM Blog

The bride wore green

One of the favorite parts of my job is reading the news each day to see what is happening in the world of environmental advocacy.  As I came into work early yesterday in order to beat the snowstorm, I came across an article in the Portland Press Herald about a green wedding contest in southern Maine.  (You can read the full article here.)  The finalists for this contest were selected, the article said, "not for their cutting-edge environmental strategies, but for the little ways they celebrate being green each day and interpreting that in a way others can understand."

The article goes on to describe some of the things that these finalists do each day to live a greener lifestyle like buying locally grown foods and supporting local businesses, and giving gifts that are homemade with recycled materials.  Two of the finalists are school teachers - one who has gone paperless in her art class and another who is doing composting with her students.

When I first saw the article, I thought it was going to be about how to plan and host a "green" wedding, but I was pleased to see that it was more than that - it focused on the ways these couples and their families are making changes in their everyday lives to make the planet healthier.  

What are some ways you and your family have made changes to make your lives more environmentally friendly?  If you have ideas you would like to share, I encourage you to post them on here so that others can be inspired and maybe come up with some ideas of their own. Also, NRCM has some ideas of their own that can be found by reading our Tip of the Day at www.nrcm.org.  I also encourage you to take part in our global warming challenge at www.globalwarmingmaine.org. 

And to all of the couples who are finalists in the "Green Wedding Giveaway," we wish you the best!

Beth Dimond 

How to keep cool and save energy this summer

Something we use to save a bunch of global warming gases and $$$

Tip: After insulating our house we now...

Manipulate the windows and oversize thick curtains and blinds to take advantage of temperature changes during the day.

In warm weather, we watch the thermometer, and when it cools, we open most of our windows to let in the cool air.  Then in the morning we close all the windows, blinds and curtains until it re-cools in the evening - thus trapping in the cool air.  Then we repeat the process.

In cold weather, we reverse things - we open all the south, west and east facing blinds and curtains during the day, and close them at night.

We use overhead and window fans to increase the effect.

It is nothing for us to raise or lower the temperature in our house by 4 to 5 degrees.  We have used the air conditioning one day this year, and we live in Virginia when we are not in Maine.

By the way, we usually take the train to Boston, and the bus to Bangor when we visit Maine.  We us an econo rental car to get around.

Greg and Catharine Moser
Richmond, VA

What are you doing to save energy in your home and workplace this summer?  We would love to hear from you.  Post your tips on our blog and check back often at http://blog.nrcm.org to learn about what others are doing.

Taking the Maine Global Warming Challenge

This is the blog post for the Maine Global Warming Challenge.  If you've come here from our website, www.globalwarmingmaine.org, this is your place to share your thoughts about the global warming challenge, and perhaps tell the wide world what you've done to reduce Global Warming pollution.

We hope that we can learn some helpful tips from each other as we take the important personal and political steps necessary to reduce global warming pollution.

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