Wednesday- Over forty businesses attended a Green Your business Affair hosted by the Cambridge Energy Alliance (CEA) and the Sustainable Business Leadership Program (SBLP). Participants represented a diverse background of small and large commercial entities from the efficiency, renewable energy, nonprofit, design, and retail sectors. The business affair connected attendees to sustainable programs including the New England Wind Fund renewable energy program and Prism Consulting Inc., which provides energy efficiency audits to commercial entities.
The Cambridge Energy Alliance shared information about its free one-stop-shop service available to Cambridge businesses including access to NSTAR’s business audit and rebate program, financing
options through local banks, and an in-house energy advisor to help businesses connect to the services they need. Lilah Glick, Outreach Manager for the Cambridge Energy Alliance notes that there is a huge opportunity for energy efficiency improvements in the business sector. “Almost 80% of Cambridge’s greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings, and the commercial sector makes up 2/3rds of total emissions. Energy efficiency is a great way for businesses to not only become green leaders but also reduce their energy bills.” Ms. Glick noted that saving energy is easy and makes financial sense, with robust incentives made available through the Cambridge Energy Alliance.
Emily Kanter, consultant at the Sustainable Leadership Program, has over nine years of working with local businesses and recognizes the challenges they face in a global economy. Ms Kanter performs sustainable assessments and shares that, “greening a company’s operations reduces both resource usage and expenses.” The Sustainable Leadership Program identifies viable environmentally sustainable improvements and then pairs companies with the tools and resources to make those changes happen. Participating businesses learn about ways to become sustainable through improvements in energy efficiency, water conservation, recycling and waste reduction, transportation, pollution prevention, and sustainability management
The event was hosted at Greenward Eco-botique located in Porter Square. Greenward is a small,
locally-owned eco-boutique in Cambridge, MA, owned by the husband-and-wife team of Scott Walker and Simone Alpen. Locally brewed beer was provided by Cambridge Brewing Company, pizza was donated by Stone Hearth Pizza, and organic fair-trade chocolate from Theo. Ms. Kanter concluded that the, “event was a great success and the Sustainable Business Leadership Program and the Cambridge Energy Alliance aims to host similar Green Affairs in the future.”
The Cambridge Energy Alliance donated the efficiency lighting supplies—bulbs initially provided by TCP, Inc.—and resources for the Area 4 exchange. In addition, Whole Foods donated food for the community volunteers and EFI provided discounts for the purchase of efficiency materials used in the community barnraisings.
The communities of Reading, Boston, Waltham, Arlington, and Maynard will continue the spirit of the International Day of Action with weatherization barnraisings scheduled for the next 30 days. The buildings included homes for mentally disabled adults and a church.
In addition, many houses of worship around the world and in Cambridge rang their bells 350 times on Saturday in a call for climate action. “We’re ringing our church bell because climate justice is a religious issue,” explained Rev. Fred Small, Senior Minister of First Parish in Cambridge (Unitarian Universalist). “The eighth commandment says, 'Thou shall not steal,’ and global warming steals from our own children and grandchildren. It harms most the poorest and most vulnerable people on earth, who are least responsible for causing it.”
Many of the eastern Massachusetts community events ended the day by joining the Boston 350 Under Water Festival. Hundreds of citizens gathered en masse in downtown Boston's Christopher Columbus Park and engaged in positive attention-getting and imagination-catching activities. The Boston 350 event used the iconic image of sea level rise to draw attention to the threat of global climate change.