New group works on climate in Sound

There's a new citizen group in South Sound that has formed to fight climate change at the local level.

Olympia Climate Action is a group of local citizens who got together initially to plan and have Step It Up Day on April 14, 2007, which took place in Sylvester Park and Olympia Timberland Regional Library. After the event, the group decided to stay together and continue working on climate change in South Sound.

This column is to let you know what is going on locally in the fight against climate change. The primary focus is on activities by Olympia Climate Action and related groups and on local and state climate-related actions, not the debates over climate change science or national and international events.

Examples of the groups' activities in recent months include:

• Participating with area colleges in a national climate change campaign, "Focus the Nation."

• Helping organize an event titled "Climate Change: Two World Views," a sister-city exchange between Santo Tomas, Nicaragua, and Thurston County.

Part of our group has formed City Task Force, a group working directly with the Sustainable Action Team of the city of Olympia, headed up by Public Works Director Michael Mucha. This is an opportunity to have a direct effect on actions by the city and the community. As part of this effort, we helped write the Capital City Challenge Resolution, which was passed by the Olympia City Council and signed by Mayor Doug Mah on Oct. 21. It challenges Montpelier, Vt., to compete with Olympia (cooperatively) to become the greenest capital in the nation.

Collaboration

A few of our members also serve on the Thurston Climate Action Team, which includes members of a few local city councils, Thurston County and the Thurston Regional Planning Council, as well as some members of the business community. They are active and well organized. Keep an eye on this column for updates.

Olympia Climate Action is also scheduling regular monthly climate-related events that will typically take place from 7 to 9 p.m. on the second Monday of each month in the Mixx96 meeting room at 119 Washington St., Olympia. This month's program is next Monday, when Brent Foster of Northwest Infrared will be giving a talk and demonstrating the use of infrared cameras and other tools for doing home energy audits. The talk is called "Weatherize Without Going into Debt." We will also have a demonstration and short talk on energy-efficient window coverings by Gita Moulton.

We also operate a listserv for members to discuss and keep informed on climate issues and climate-related events and actions.

For more information or to sign up for either listserv, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OlyClimateAction.

Jack Zeiger is an energy engineer and member of Olympia Climate Action. He can be reached at jackzeiger@hotmail.com or 360-943-5112.