I wholeheartedly agree with the will of the Gilford people in adopting this resolution back in March. As we all know, major leaders such as Al Gore and important United Nations scientists have allowed us to see the truth that it is almost too late to save the planet from mankind’s uninhibited and wanton release of greenhouse-gas causing carbon emissions.
Thankfully, forward-looking citizens in Gilford have decided that the problem is one that we must aggressively seek a solution to, if we are not going to destroy the planet inherited by our children and grandchildren. Luckily for us all, a majority of voters agreed that we must do something—now.
To that end, as I believe that we must think globally yet act locally, I am calling on you, our elected leaders, to immediately begin fulfilling the will of the voters with the formation of the “energy study committee” called for in Article #30.
I agree that by reducing energy use in our towns and schools, the taxpayers will save money. I am volunteering my time and efforts to serve on this committee, as I have put many hours of thought into this dire problem, and what we in Gilford can do to reduce our carbon footprint.
While I agree with calling on our “National Leaders to act against Global Warming,” I believe that there is much that we can do right here at the local level. Several examples of potential carbon reducing measures that could easily be implemented include the study of uses and policies of the town’s inventory of motorized vehicles. From the dump trucks to rack bodies, police cars, the red fire department pickup truck, etc, we as a town should look at ways of reducing the operating times and usages, thus reducing emissions. Simple policies like ordering the fleet of town vehicles that I witness idling at the Dunkin Donuts parking lot every morning at 6:25AM turned off are easily implemented methods of energy consumption reductions.
Additionally, I believe that the school could significantly contribute to a local reduction of carbon emissions by implementing mandatory school bus rider ship and a ban on parental drop-offs/ pickups except for those removed from student transportation due to discipline issues. This would include students with drivers’ licenses as well. While this might seem to be an extraordinary hardship for some, it really is a small sacrifice in the face of the environmental catastrophes that await us in the absence of immediate action. Besides, we’re already paying for the busses anyway.
Lastly, I believe that the town of Gilford should call on the county delegation to take steps to study the feasibility of wind-generating equipment on county and state- owned mountaintops in the area. As the supporters of Warrant #30 have stated in their literature, we must “encourage real reductions of greenhouse gasses while protecting our economy and supporting alternative energy.” To that end, I believe that by installing windmills on all mountaintops, we could generate carbon-neutral electricity for the entire county. The county could lease the land to some private wind-energy enterprise for this purpose. In addition to lease monies, the county could negotiate a percentage of all energy sales as another revenue stream providing relief to taxpayers. Gilford could benefit on top of the obvious (carbon-reductions) by collecting property taxes on the new facilities located within town limits.
These are just a few ideas that could be looked at as Gilford looks to be a good steward of the environment. I eagerly await the Selectmen’s answer to my proposal.
Respectfully,
Doug Lambert
Election Day Handout
Antique town water tanker truck on a trip to nowhere (this road is a dead end. A more cynical person might call this a "hiding" spot). With rain about one hour off, the town's water tanker truck is spotted travelling two different roads that have not one square foot of dirt road. It appears to be carrying a heavy load. Howm much fuel is being wasted, and how much carbon has been emitted into the atmosphere by this vehicle with no pollution control equipment? 6:45AM June 20, 2007
One of the DPW's many vehicles sits with engine running at the local donut shop with no occupants. On this day it was only one, but I have witnessed as many as 5 vehicles at the same donut shop at approximately the same time, all idling, within the past week. 6:15AM june 19th, 2007
The deputy fire chief drives approximately 7-9 miles from home to coffee shop to station, thus turning a less than one mile commute into a much longer journey. Let's buy them a coffee pot for the station and supply coffee. I'd bet we'd save $$$ in gas, and cut back on his carbon footprint, too!
Small things? Maybe. Multiply the number of employees, vehicles by days worked, and it adds up. I'll bet these problems exist in every town and hamlet in NH, heck, the country! Just imagine if we simply tightened up on the waste created by wasteful government activities all across the country what that could do!
Warrant Article 30 in this year's town report
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