At a time when "Thinking Globally and Acting Locally" has never been more
important, SAVE prepares to enter its 36th year. We are so encouraged
by the growing "green" awareness in the world and especially in our own
country. Based on the type of commercials we are seeing lately, it appears
that many major businesses and agencies are starting to get the message
that global warming is real and that there are issues facing our environment
that need to be addressed.
Over the past year we have held our annual Prankers Pond Day - a time to
really relax and enjoy this very special place so close to home. As always,
we had a table at Founders Day. As many of you know, this is a great time
to meet with people, share ideas and educate people about issues effecting
our environment. Last year we had a Carbon Footprint Calculator at the
table. It was interesting both for us and for the people inputting their
calculations to see even a rough gauge of what each was contributing to
Global Warming and where they might be able to scale back. We also had
large reusable shopping bags for people to purchase and it was a great
opportunity to "talk up" the bags and encourage their use over plastic
or paper.
In October and again in February, we held a free showing of the movie
"An Inconvenient Truth" complete with light refreshment - at the very
beautiful Christopher P. Dunne Visitor's Center at Breakheart. It was, again,
a great opportunity to provide the public with some important information and
to encourage small changes that each of us can make to reduce our carbon
footprint.
One of the most exciting and encouraging developments of the past year
was SAVE's partnering with Friends of Breakheart. For those of you who
are not familiar with Friends, they are a volunteer organization dedicated to
the preservation and appreciation of one of Saugus' best locations for walking,
biking, swimming, hiking, etc. They have a diverse membership and are very
active within the Town. We are hopeful that, with this new ally, SAVE will
have an even greater ability to make an environmental difference.
We held an Environmental Candidates Night so that we all would have a
chance to question the candidates for Selectman on their environmental
views and concerns.
Our Book Wrapping event at Barnes &Noble was, once again, very
successful in that we had a chance to talk with people about our organization
and about environmental concerns, while gift wrapping for them with the
materials that Barnes & Noble generously provided. We topped past years
by making $292.39 and we all had a lot of fun.
In March, we held our first ever SWAP --"It's New to You" -- at the
Breakheart visitor's center. In effect, this was a free yard sale with the goal
of keeping usable goods out of the waste stream. Anyone was welcome to
drop off or select items at no charge. The people who attended thought it
was a great idea and expressed the hope that we would do it again. We
have plans to repeat in October at the Breakheart October Festival.
In April, we held an Earth Day Hike at Breakheart - the people who turned
out had a wonderful time, but it was a disappointing attendance.
As many of you are aware, SAVE offers an Environmental Scholarship to
persons graduating from local high schools. Recipients are expected to
show the intention to pursue a career that will in some way have a positive
impact on the environment. Unfortunately, none of the applicants this year
met SAVE's criteria so instead, the decision was made to offer the $500 to
the Youth and Recreation's "I Bought A Book" program. This idea was
suggested by Mike Downing of the Youth Commission and was much more
in keeping with our goals as we are hopeful that the funds will be directed
toward science books, if possible.
Also, in May, SAVE participated in Saugus's first "Green Fair". The
attendance was less than had been hoped for, but the interaction with
like-minded people was both exhilarating and encouraging and certainly
worth SAVE's being a part of. With advanced planning, it could be done
again on a day to co-ordinate with hazardous waste pick up or some other
town event.
SAVE also supports the Tree Committee throughout the year, especially
with Tree Farm maintenance and we also network with many other
environmental groups both local and national and try to respond and
participate when possible (events and online bulletins).
We are still attempting to go forward with some of our other projects, such
as "Bucket Brigade" and our "How and What to Recycle" brochure. Both
projects need time and manpower. Which brings me to my next point…
Unfortunately, over the years we continue to see a loss in participation.
For SAVE to remain relevant, that must not continue. The SAVE Board
members, many of whom wear several hats in addition to holding regular
jobs, have been stretched thin and, often, we are not able to take part in
events and plans that we would like to because of scheduling conflicts and
time constraints. The SAVE board will continue in its efforts to educate
and encourage, but we hope that by looking over the above events, our
members might see a place where they might have been able to contribute
their time and energy and make that effort in the coming year.
Getting in touch with the board is even easier now since SAVE has gotten
a new web site at saugus.com It is a great way for us to keep current
and to share information and ideas on a larger scale. Susan Thomas
generously donated to us our own domain name so we can be accessed
directly at www.SaugusSAVE.org . In keeping with our appeal for more
active participation, it would be great if we had one member who took on the
task of making sure that the site is kept right up-to-date with upcoming events,
environmental tips, news, etc. So please, take a few moments in the near
future to think about the activities or events that you might be able to
participate in and let us know.
We need your help to keep our organization as strong and vibrant as it has
been for the past 35 years!
Respectfully Submitted, Ann Devlin, President
June 2008 
