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Upper Green Side Sign-up

Posted by Glenn on April 22, 2006 - 10:44am in The Oil Drum: Local

[Editor note: Putting this back at the top for the weekend. And don't forget to swing by Grand Central Station for the Earth Day celebration]

I am in the beginning steps of putting together a local urban environmental action group for my neighborhood to start putting words into actions. I'm going to start applying for some grants to get this off the ground. Eventually, we will try to go for full non-profit status, but in the meantime, just getting a solid group of people together will be good.

Anyone who lives in the general area of the Upper East Side is invited to sign-up. I already have 22 registered members and I am hoping to get up to 100 over the next couple of months. Please send this to anyone you know in the area.

I'm still working on the mission statement, but here's my first attempt:

"Helping make the Upper East Side more environmental sustainable by bringing together a community of neighbors interested in: Community Supported Agriculture, Pedestrian-Biking-Mass Transit improvements, Energy efficiency / Renewable energy, Recycling/Waste reduction, and other ways of reducing our community's negative impact on the environment."

All of these issues intersect in someway with Peak Oil, but I find people respond better to the environmental slant better (less explaining). No doubt we will try to inject the peak oil issue into our rationale for why we need to act sooner rather than later.

Upper Green Side Sign-up

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2 comments

Damek on April 22, 2006 - 1:55pm Permalink | Comments top
Reading this again, I was wondering if perhaps a shorter statement might be more purposeful, and allow wiggle-room...  like, "Helping make the Upper East Side more environmental sustainable by bringing together a community of neighbors interested in positive improvements to our neighborhood's relationship with the environment."

Just thinking in terms of brevity & avoiding negative, scolding-like connotations, but I'm just a hack.  Maybe the question of a mission statement would make a nice ice-breaker at the first Upper Green Side meeting :)

Off-topic, I'm reading a new book by Kim Stanley Robinson, Fifty Degrees Below, which you and other peak oil/global warming interested people might enjoy... it's science fiction, the second book in a trilogy about science and politics, in which global warming causes abrupt climate change.  Washington DC gets flooded, animals are freed from the zoo for their safety... it's beautiful.

Glenn on April 22, 2006 - 4:46pm Permalink | Parent | Comments top
Yeah, I like that. Someone else emailed me that they like the idea of promoting "positive" impact instead of curbing negative impact.

I've applied for a few grants through another organization and they seemed pretty hopeful that it would work out. If so, we might have some $$$ to spend on a membership drive and community survey of environmental issues.

Upper Green Side Sign-up

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2 comments