The Harvard Climate Initiative Committee (HCIC) has secured a small grant for a project with a mission to bring the invisible efforts of climate action into view. Let us elaborate on the project's details and how we cordially invite you to participate.
The HCIC aims to make Harvard’s response to climate change more visible since many measures taken to address it often go unnoticed. For instance, heat pumps, solar systems, native gardens, and pollinator gardens are typically placed on less visible sides or interiors of homes. Meanwhile, items such as electric vehicles, induction stovetops, energy-efficient appliances, LED lights, and electric lawnmowers remain hidden within households. Actions like buying local, investing in environmentally friendly businesses, or offsetting carbon emissions from air travel are also not easily observable.
To combat this invisibility, we’ve conceived a plan to place a flag near the roadside of your house, indicating your commitment to going green. By spreading these flags all over town, we hope that people will inquire about their significance, how to obtain one, and ways they can contribute to making their homes greener.
We’re delighted to announce that we currently possess over 200 flags, each measuring 18 inches in length and 13 inches in width, alongside garden flag holders, ready for distribution. If our initiative proves successful, we’ll procure more flags! As a first step, we wish to distribute these flags to you if you’ve taken at least two measures to reduce your carbon footprint. To deliver a flag to your doorstep, we kindly request a few minutes of your time to showcase your sustainable actions.
Here are the steps to follow:
If you still need to do so, please sign up for HarvardEnergize at https://community.massenergize.org/HarvardMA/.
Once registered, kindly document your climate actions by highlighting the measures you have completed and posting a testimonial about at least two of them. Testimonials can consist of a few sentences describing a vendor you would recommend or insights gained from the actions you have taken. Alternatively, testimonials can be in the form of pictures showcasing any of the actions you have implemented, such as heat pumps, solar panels, native gardens, or compost piles. Harvard Energize offers 17 different actions.
All testimonials will be approved before posting, ensuring a streamlined and positive experience without back-and-forth conversations, as one might see on NextDoor Harvard. Here’s one example of a website contributor's perspective on the benefits of this initiative: "I was thrilled to see what others had written too! Reading them generated all kinds of good feelings, renewed my sense of community, and, critically, gave me hope––like a 'we can do it!' feeling."
Your invaluable assistance has already been instrumental in our efforts, and we genuinely hope you’ll join us in taking this next step to make invisible actions visible. The testimonials you provide on HarvardEnergize will serve as an inspiration to others. Moreover, the website will estimate the carbon footprint reduction resulting from your actions, expressed in terms of trees planted, cars removed from the road, or metric tons of carbon saved.
We sincerely hope you will agree to inspire others through your actions! Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Harvard Climate Initiative at harvardmaclimate@gmail.com . We eagerly anticipate witnessing flags throughout the town, making a powerful statement about our collective commitment to a greener future.