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Earthwise Community Action Items
The Environmental Sustainability Committee understands that addressing the climate change that is causing our extreme weather and the ecological degradation that is impacting Carlisle neighborhoods and beyond can be daunting. The good news is that we can all take steps - even small, easy ones - to affect positive change.
Below are three groupings of actions residents can take to begin to make this positive change. The Committee recommends to begin by choosing six actions from the “seed” table, two actions from the “bud” table and one action from the “flower” list.
| AT HOME | IN THE GARDEN | IN THE COMMUNITY |
SEED TIER |
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| Get a free home energy assessment. | Identify invasive plants in your yard and remove 12 of them | Attend a sustainability seminar/webinar/talk (beyond RTSD) |
| Install smart power strips | Plant 8 native, non-cultivar plants | Volunteer for a community sustainability event |
| Eliminate the use of rodenticides and pesticides | Properly install a bat house | Take a walk in nature and upload an interesting species to iNaturalist |
| Find and seal rodent entry points to address problem at the source | Replace outdoor spotlights with warm LED lights on motion sensor | Carry reusable cutlery and to-go container when dining out |
| Replace chemical cleaners with natural products | Select a part of your yard and leave the leaves where they fall | Make carrying a reusable water bottle and using reusable shopping bags a habit |
| Replace paper goods with bamboo. | Leave the moss in your lawn | Support local, sustainable-practice farms |
| Reduce single use plastic | Buy local, sustainable products | |
| Compost food scraps in the proper bins at the transfer station | Create a compost pile | Consciously opt to bike or walk to a destination |
| Reduce food waste | Stop burning yard waste | Turn your car off - don’t idle |
| Hang-dry laundry when possible | Get rid of your bug zapper | Carpool at least once a week |
| Hang on to working electronics a little longer and properly recycle them when no longer useful |
| Opt for sustainably grown natural fiber textiles and clothing |
| Practice meatless Monday |
| Send a letter to a state/federal politician/sign a petition in support of environmental efforts |
| AT HOME | IN THE GARDEN | IN THE COMMUNITY |
BUD TIER |
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| Address weatherization issues | Identify and remove all invasive plants in your yard | Perform a sustainability outreach action |
| Upgrade your Community Choice Aggregation plan to the Green 100 option | Plant 24 native, non-cultivar plants | Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) |
| Replace your fossil fuel dryer with an electric or heat pump dryer | Convert a section of your lawn to a native, non-cultivar meadow | Sign your kids up for the school bus |
| Replace your fossil fuel hot water heater with a heat pump hot water heater | Cable instead of cut a large tree | Take public transportation whenever possible |
| Replace your fossil fuel cooktop with an induction cooktop | Leave the leaves as mulch in all your flower beds | Start a second life reusable party supply lending system for your neighborhood (plates, cups, cutlery, etc) |
| Replace part of your fossil fuel heating/cooling system with an electric heat pump system | Switch your landscape equipment/ company to all electric | Consciously reduce consumption |
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| Eliminate pesticide use (including spraying for mosquitoes - even “natural” ones) |
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| Eliminate herbicide use |
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| AT HOME | IN THE GARDEN | IN THE COMMUNITY |
FLOWER TIER |
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| Reduce your lawn to pathways among native, non-cultivar flower beds. | Host a sustainability event | |
| Replace your gas car with an EV or plug-in hybrid | Eliminate “fall cleanup” except for your driveway and walkways | Assist your child in creating an environmental sustainability endeavor at their school |
| Reduce the amount of impermeable surface on your property | Document the species in your yard on iNaturalist |
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| Install solar panels when tree cover allows | Place a conservation restriction on your property |
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