Late News Flash: Resilient Neighborhoods was just the subject of a feature story in the Pacific Sun. Read it Here
Resilient Neighborhoods is program to create local neighborhood groups of 5 to 7 households (called “Eco Teams”) that conduct a formal program to significantly reduce their carbon emissions and increase their emergency preparedness. The program is jointly sponsored by Sustainable Marin, The City of San Rafael, Energy Upgrade California and the Green MBA Program at Dominican University. To date, the program has been conducted on a pilot basis with 105 Marin households grouped into 15 neighborhood “Eco-Teams” from Sausalito to Fairfax. Resilient Neighborhoods recently announced that just this pilot program has reduced emissions by 1.3 million pounds.
The Novato “Waste Watchers,” working in the Hamilton area, were part of this successful test. They will be using what they learned to help form and guide Eco Teams throughout Novato as they reduce greenhouse gasses, improve emergency preparedness and strengthen neighborhood bonds.
The key takeaway from this pilot phase is that learning from each other and mutual reinforcement led families to undertake carbon-reduction measures they would have been reluctant to try on their own. An even more important payoff reported by everyone was getting to know their neighbors better, which is, of course, the cornerstone of localization,
Find out more at the Resilient Neighborhoods website.
