shannon |
The Maryland CRAG met on Saturday, March 22, 2008 2PM at the C. Burr Artz Library in Frederick Maryland. We had over 20 Craggers in attendance plus a few guests: Elizabeth Cromwell, the Media Relations Coordinator for the Library; and a cameraman from CBS Evening News.
*We had intros for new people and review of our carbon cap. We approved the cap with the flight miles added. *We reviewed progress with carbon reductions. We asked, “What have you tried? What seems to be working? What did you try that did not work?” Truby talked about her drying contraptions, including one made out of plumbing parts and another made from a spring-loaded curtain rod that she hangs in doorways. Yeon tried washing Dan’s shirts in cold and was not satisfied with the results. Lauren on the other hand washes everyting in cold and has had no problems. Shannon also gave some new handouts with emissions reductions. Shannon, Steve and Lauren were able to show savings on their bills; Shannon on her electricity bill, and Steve and Lauren on their gas bill. Mike and Elin also brought their bills but had an estimated electricity bill which did not show savings (Mike later got an electricity bill and it showed significant savings). Elaine was very excited to get ideas from everyone and was writing a lot down! *We reviewed the spreadsheets where we are tracking emissions to see what information Shannon is tracking from everyone. We used Steve and Lauren as an example. We also reviewed last years’ estimated emissions versus the national average; we are already under the national average. *We briefly discussed what the groups in the UK are doing. A number of them just finished carbon years and they have done really well. It’s inspiring! *Zayn Bradley presented on solar hot water systems and answered our questions. Zayn talked about the costs of installing the systems, what the systems look like, how much emergy and money the systems save, how long they take to pay themselves off, and how much carbon reduction they provide. Bill Moore has such a system on his roof and has had it for ages. *Several Craggers won door prizes of carbon reduction materials. Yeon won the pipe insulation that she was craving, and Zayn won the insulating foam (that has a propellant invented by his grandfather, how odd).
Our next meeting will be some time in June. We are taking speaker suggestions. So far there has been a request for someone from Environmental Defense to talk about their climate initiative or someone to talk about solar electric. The CBS Evening News episode on CRAGs is scheduled to air Monday, April 14.