Thanks to all who attended our quarterly council meeting on December 10th. At that meeting each of our five working groups reported on the immediate action items that were priorities for them.  In addition, we discussed five consensus action items - those actions that were mentioned as priorities by multiple groups.   They include:

• Developing a Public Education Campaign--a powerpoint presentation that council members and others can present to their communities/boards of selectman, etc;
• Regional Sustainability Conference;
• A Buy Local campaign modeled on the SEMAP food campaign;
• A list of low-hanging fruit for municipalities;
• A Sustainability Atlas; and,
• A Research Questions Data base

Each of these action items is currently being worked on, along with other
projects. See below for projects and points of contact.

At the December meeting, we also discussed the timeline for the council. While we are continuing to hone our coordinated sustainability vision for the region, many of us were anxious to begin to fill the obvious gaps that exist in our priority areas and to use the council imprimatur to support the goals and activities of like-minded organizations and individuals. Our working groups as well as our steering committee are continuing to provide a framework for action as well as ideas for moving forward.

At our next council meeting on March 11th, we will discuss much of the work that is happening.  The meeting will be held from 3:00-5:00 PM at the Lecture Hall of the Bristol Plymouth Regional Technical School at 940 County St., Taunton, MA.  Directions are at:
http://www.bptech.org/bp/contact/

We'll forward an agenda and a reminder in a few weeks and we hope to see many of you there.

Please also save the date for our Regional Conference on Sustainability with keynotes Peak Oil Expert Richard Heinberg and Green Communities Director Mark Sylvia.

The conference will be held on April 27th from 9-5 at Bristol Community
College.

We've also attached the draft matrix begun on December 10th and invite you to 'fill in the blanks' with your ideas and willingness to contribute.  We look forward to working with you.

Regards,
The Council Steering Committee
Glenn Bachman, Derek Christianson, Louise Hardiman, Susan Jennings, Chad McGuire, Susan Peterson, Dick Shaefer, Alan Slavin, and Steve Smith

Council Activities and Contacts:

Low-Hanging Fruit for Municipalities; Louise Hardiman; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Financing Schemes for Energy Efficiency Projects; Glenn Bachman;
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Buy-Local Campaign; Dick Shafer; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Green School Competitions; Alan Slavin; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Building Solar Greenhouses for Community Gardens; Tim Lyden;
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ;

Southcoast Energy Challenge led by SEEAL; Jen Marshall; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Southeastern Mass Transportation Alliance; Louise Hardiman;
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Public Education Campaign; Susan Jennings; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Below are the slides from our quarterly meeting. You can also download the PowerPoint presentation here. Click the image below to start the slideshow.

Our quarterly meeting will be held on Thursday, December 10th at 4-6:00 p.m. at UMass Dartmouth's Woodland Commons. The agenda is below.

Quarterly Meeting
Woodland Commons, UMass Dartmouth
December 10, 2009

Agenda

• Introductions Susan Peterson
• Stepping Into Action Chad McGuire
• Consensus Action Items Louise Hardiman
• Action Items from Working Groups:
  • Economic Development Dick Shafer (draft report)
  • Energy Glenn Bachman (draft report)
  • Food Kathleen Christianson (draft report)
  • Natural Resources Chad McGuire (draft report)
  • Transportation Alan Slavin (draft report)
• Discussion Susan Peterson
• Wrap-up

Please join us for this important meeting as we chart our course of action….

By ROBERT BARBOZA, Editor
September 23, 2009 12:00 AM

FALL RIVER — The former head of the state's Commonwealth Development agency said Thursday that South Coast communities need to focus on cutting energy consumption and rethink transportation policy in order to make the region a greener, more sustainable place to live and work.