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By ANNE GLEASON, Staff Writer Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Kennebunk's new Sustainable Energy Alliance is preparing to launch a monthly climate challenge program, appealing to area residents to get involved in the fight against climate change.

The organization, formed last summer to target global warming, has secured commitments from the town government and the school district to lower carbon emissions.

Last month, the Kennebunk Board of Selectmen signed the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, also signed by four other Maine communities.

The community pledges to reduce greenhouse gases to 7 percent less than 1990 levels by 2012.

School Administrative District 71, which includes Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, also has a team working on energy and environmental issues.

The alliance plans to kick off its climate challenge program Sunday. Individuals who sign up will receive e-mails each month detailing a new environmentally conscious task. The goal, said alliance President Rob Bartlett, is to educate and eventually change habits.

The local challenge is based on the nationwide Campaign Earth effort, founded by Sarah LaChance, also a member of the alliance. She created Campaign Earth five years ago and has accumulated a mailing list of more than 3,000 people who have committed to monthly tasks.

The monthly challenge approach, LaChance said, tends to be more manageable for participants. "It's not going to require major changes or take much out of your already busy day," she said.

Kennebunk's challenge program will involve such tasks as composting, washing clothes in cold water, purchasing renewable energy and using compact fluorescent light bulbs.

While individuals in the United States produce an average of 20 tons a year, those who undertake and continue with each of the 12 challenges can reduce carbon emissions by about a ton over the course of a year, according to the alliance.

Just setting the washing machine to warm or cold saves between 20 and 27 pounds of carbon dioxide a month, LaChance said.

The alliance has been encouraged by the response it has received from the public so far, Bartlett said. About 400 people showed up for a screening in Kennebunk last fall of "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's Oscar-winning film addressing global warming.

Bartlett said this year's town meeting, which includes a few over-the-cap spending items to help the town achieve its new carbon-emissions goals, will be a "real test" of public support for the local environmental efforts.

Residents Terry and Bill Burrows are likely to join the challenge. Terry Burrows said she has long supported environmental efforts. Her mother taught her to compost.

"I'm happy to do whatever," Burrows said. "If nothing else, it's important to leave the world a better place for (my six grandchildren)."

LaChance said she would be thrilled to see 5 percent of the town join the challenge effort.

"Any lifestyle change doesn't typically come easily," she said.

FOR MORE information on SEA and its climate challenge program, visit: www.seachange happen.orgOR WRITE to: SEA, P.O. Box 786, Kennebunk, ME 04043OR CALL 294-2961 -->