SAVE ANNUAL DUES AND MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
(SAVE’s 2012 Fiscal Year runs from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012)
Many thanks to all those members who have submitted their dues to date or who have
joined as new members – and to those who so generously included additional monies
earmarked for either the SAVE Scholarship/Educational Fund or the Environmental Fund.
Dues continue to be just $5 per year for the first family member to join,
plus $3 for each additional family member who joins.
Student dues are only $1 per year.
Monthly Meetings are held at Breakheart Reservation
Christopher P. Dunne Visitor Center, 177 Lynn Fells Parkway, Saugus usually on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 7:00 pm Next Meeting is Wednesday March 14, 2012 at 7:00 pm
With more participation, we can accomplish more goals.
Upcoming SAVE Events Sponsored by Saugus Action Volunteers for the Environment Movie Night at Breakheart Featuring the movie - “Happy Feet”
FridayFebruary 17that 7:00 pm
Enjoy the movie in the warm and cozy Visitors Center
at Breakheart Reservation, 177 Forest Street, Saugus
Light refreshments will be served.
The public is welcome.
SAVE General Activities include:
Monthly Board Meetings All SAVE members are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Meetings are generally held the 3rd Wednesday of the month
at 7:00 pm at the Breakheart Visitors Center, Saugus.
Three General Meetings Each Year: Annual dinner/meeting General "Potluck Meeting" General Meeting with a Speaker
Saugus Tree Farm Maintenance The Saugus Tree Committee invites anyone who is interested
in helping, to get their hands dirty while constructively ensuring
the growth and development of our homegrown trees.
Earth Day April 22, 2012 SAVE volunteers annually celebrate Earth Day by helping out at the Saugus Tree Farm.
What better way to celebrate our environmental stewardship than to
join SAVE and the Saugus Tree Committee at the Tree Farm for
whatever period of time you can spare on that day?
Annual $500 Scholarship SAVE offers a $500.00 Environmental Scholarship toa Saugus Resident
who is a Senior graduating from any accredited High School who will be
attending a two/four-year college or other educational institution and pursuing
a degree in an area that would positively impact the environment. click here to print the 2012 scholarship application Pranker's Pond Day Bring the family and join us for an afternoon of fun on Pranker's Pond. Activities include canoe rides around the Pond.
Discover this gem in our town where you can relax and breathe fresh air. Saugus Founder's Day Saturday September 8, 2012 The SAVE booth is manned by volunteers who will answer
questions and collect old sneakers to be recycled into Nike Grind.
Candidate's Night Wednesday October, 2012 Saugus Town Hall Auditorium An opportunity for the community to present their environmental questions to our candidates for electedoffice - Selectmen and State Representative.
Barnes & Noble Gift Wrapping Scholarship Fundraiser Please remember to join us at our annual gift wrapping fundraiser
(and last event of the year) in December at Barnes & Noble. Remember to encourage your friends & family to do their
bookstore shopping so that we can wrap their gifts! Any SAVE member who would like to help out,
please call Ann Devlin (781) 233 - 5717
FOR KIDS Visit these fun websites with your children to help them learn about recycling.
US Environmental Protection Agencyhttp://www.epa.gov/recyclecity/
Saugus Action Voluteers for the Environment helped out at the Saugus Tree Farm
for their participation in the 350.org Event
What are we trying to SAVE?
Saugus has a rich variety of natural habitats and an abundance of native plant and animal life that is well worth preserving. SAVE's involvement with the maintenance of the Saugus Tree Farm with
volunteers from the Saugus Tree Committee helps to protect and nurture
trees that are provided to locations throughout the town. The Saugus River is an important element in the history of Saugus.
The river made the settling of the town practical in the early 1600's and provided the electricity
for early American industry. Today the river remains picturesque in addition to providing an
environment for numerous fish, waterfowl, river otters, and other animals.
Our freshwater bodies, including Birch Pond,Hawkes Pond, Stevens Pond, Prankers Pond,
Peckham Pond, Walden Pond, Long Pond, Spring Pond, Griswold Pond, Pearce Lake,
Silver Lake, and many more provide a friendly environment for a variety of wild life.
Saugus has both typical fresh water marshes, some examples of which can be found in
Breakheart Forest, and atypical salt water marshes, notably Rumney Marsh.
A portion of Rumney Marsh is set up as Rumney Marsh Reservation and the bulk of
Breakheart Forest is set up as Breakheart Reservation and are thus currently protected, however, neither of these areas are protected in their entirety.
What are our Priorities?
- the preservation and protection of all natural resources, particularly our wetlands.
-national/state/local legislation to reduce or eliminate pollution
-the careful, long-range planning of remaining open space in town.
- laws to protect and preserve all sites of historic interest to Saugus.
SAVE is committed to encouraging and supporting local, state and national legislation
that promotes, establishes, and expands programs for solid waste management based on
"reduce, reuse, and recycle", so that each day we get closer to the goal of 'zero waste'.
Why Join Saugus Action Volunteers for the Environment? To be part of a long-established volunteer community group working to improve Saugus, our environment, and our outlook.
"Think globally, act locally" describes our actions well. SAVE members have, among other projects,
helped establish curbside recycling in Saugus, conserved historic and environmentally sensitive
land on Vinegar Hill, and established an Environmental Scholarship Fund.
As a member you will meet others with similar goals. We encourage all membersto attend
our monthly meetings, lend your voice, share your ideas, volunteer to helpwith our events.
Do as much as you like, or just support our activities with your name and dues.
Help shape our agenda.
We look forward to welcoming you to our our next General Meeting at the Breakheart Visitors Center. All members are encouraged to attend.
Information on Current Environmental Issues
From Ann Devlin, President SAVE
The updated Bottle Bill
went before the House of Representatives on July 24th (HR3515).
MASSPIRG presented over 7,000 signatures in favor of the bill. Still in discussion.
July 10, 2011 EPA Announces New "Cross-State Air Pollution Rule" On July 7th, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced a strong new clean air rule
that will slash air pollution from power plants, save lives, and make the air healthier
to breathe for 240 million people across the eastern U.S.
The "Cross-State Air Pollution Rule" - otherwise referred to as the "Good Neighbor Rule" -
will put tighter limits on the amount of acid-rain causing sulfur dioxide and smog-forming
nitrogen oxide pollution power plants in 27 eastern states will be allowed to emit.
These pollutants, carried in the atmosphere across state borders, contribute to dangerous -
and sometimes lethal - levels of particulate and smog pollution in downwind states.
Please take a moment to send Administrator Jackson a thank you email. Click here and tell her how important strong clean air standards are to you.
The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule replaces the Bush-era Clean Air Interstate Rule
(CAIR), which was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2008 because it did not
adequately cut pollution and protect human health.
As EDF President Fred Krupp said in our press statement, the new rule
"will provide some of the greatest human health protections in our nation's history…
and will help all of us live longer and healthier lives."
The health and economic benefits of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule are enormous.
Starting in 2014, the rule will:
Save up to 34,000 lives per year;
Prevent 400,000 asthma attacks per year;
Avoid 1.8 million sick days per year; and
Provide benefits of $120 to $280 billion per year.
This is a great day for clean air and for environmental progress.
Caution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of rubble
like this week’s shots from Joplin, Missouri, you should not ask yourself: I wonder if this is
somehow related to the huge tornado outbreak three weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, or the
enormous outbreak a couple of weeks before that—together they comprised the most
active April for tornadoes in our history. But that doesn’t mean a thing.
It is far better to think of these as isolated, unpredictable, random events. It is not advised
to try and connect them in your mind with, say, the fires now burning across Texas -
fires that have burned more of America by this date than any year in our history.
Texas, and adjoining parts of Oklahoma and New Mexico, are drier than they’ve ever been-
the drought is worse than the Dust Bowl. But do not wonder if it’s somehow connected.
If you did wonder, you’d have to also wonder about whether this year’s record snowfalls
and rainfalls across the Midwest - resulting in record flooding across the Mississippi -
could somehow be related. And if you did that, then you might find your thoughts wandering
to, oh, global warming. To the fact that climatologists have been predicting for years that as
we flood the atmosphere with carbon we will also start both drying and flooding the planet,
since warm air holds more water vapor than cold.
It’s far smarter to repeat to yourself, over and over, the comforting mantra that no single
weather event can ever be directly tied to climate change. There have been tornadoes before,
and floods - that’s the important thing. Just be careful to make sure you don’t let yourself
wonder why all these records are happening at once: why we’ve had unprecedented
megafloods from Australia to Pakistan in the last year. Why it’s just now that the Arctic
has melted for the first time in thousands of years. Focus on the immediate casualties,
watch the videotape from the store cameras as the shelves are blown over.
Look at the anchorman up to the chest of his waders in the rising river.
Because if you asked yourself what it meant that the Amazon has just come through
its second hundred-year-drought in the last four years, or that the pine forests across the
western part of this continent have been obliterated by a beetle in the last decade -
well, you might have to ask other questions. Like, should President Obama really just have
opened a huge swath of Wyoming to new coal-mining? Should Secretary of State this
summer sign a permit allowing a huge new pipeline to carry oil from the tar sands of
Alberta? You might have to ask yourself: do we have a bigger problem than
four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline?
Better to join with the US House of Representatives, which earlier this spring voted 240-184
to defeat a resolution saying simply “climate change is occurring, is caused largely by
human activities, and poses significant risks for public health and welfare.”
Propose your own physics; ignore physics altogether.
Just don’t start asking yourself if last year’s failed grain harvest from the Russian heatwave,
and Queensland’s failed grain harvest from its record flood, and France and Germany’s
current drought-related crop failures, and the death of the winter wheat crop in Texas,
and the inability of Midwestern farmers to get corn planted in their sodden fields might
somehow be related. Surely the record food prices are just freak outliers, not signs of
anything systemic.
It’s very important to stay completely calm. If you got upset about any of this, you might
forget how important it is not to disrupt the record profits of our fossil fuel companies.
If worst ever did come to worst, it’s reassuring to remember what the US Chamber of
Commerce told the EPA in a recent filing: there’s no need to worry because “populations
can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of range of behavioral, physiological,
and technological adaptations.”
I’m pretty sure that’s what they’re telling themselves in Joplin today.
Bill McKibben is founder of the global climate campaign 350.org,
and Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College.
A Compilation of SAVE's Monthly Environmental Tips
Bat Houses There are safer ways to deal with the mosquito population than
spraying with poisons. One very good way to eliminate mosquitoes
is to encourage bats to visit or even live in your yard by providing a
bat house or two on your property. Bats are extremely important.
Yet due to years of unwarranted human fear and persecution, bats
are in alarming decline. By putting up a bat house you are helping
by giving them a home.
You will also benefit from having fewer yard and garden pests, and will enjoy learning
about bats and sharing your knowledge with friends and family.As the primary
predators of night-flying insects, bats play a vital role in maintaining the balance of
nature. And, as consumers of vast numbers of pests, they rank among humanity's most
valuable allies. A single little brown bat can catch hundreds of mosquito-sized insects
an hour, and a typical colony of big brown bats can protect local farmers from the
costly attacks of 18 million root-worms each summer. Bats are not blind, and are actually very clean animals. They do not get caught in
peoples' hair or chew through the attic of your house. Bats will not interfere with
feeding backyard birds, and they will not be disrupted by pets or children. Read more about bat houses at: http://www.eparks.org/wildlife_protection/wildlife_facts/bats/bat_house.asp
To keep your trees healthy, be sure to avoid "Volcano Mulching" This refers to the shape of the pile of mulch built up around the base of your tree.
Piling mulch high up tight against the tree trunk is bad for the tree. It can cause
splits and cankers on the trunk and allow disease and pests to attack.
Consider using organic fertilizer on your lawn this season.
And try to encourage birds into your yard to help with insect control
by keeping a bird bath filled with water in your garden.
"Some mower facts: Set your blades high.
Don't be a victim of golf course syndrome".
Many Americans believe that a healthy lawn looks like a manicured golf course
butthe opposite is true. For most types of grass, the proper length is 2" to 3" high.
This encourages longer, healthier roots, and provides natural shade for the ground
around each plant - which enables it to retain moisture in the soil."
Don't trash it - reuse it! Be creative - look for new ways to reduce the amount or kinds of household waste.
Give cardboard tubes to pet hamsters or gerbils.
Plant seeds in an egg carton.
Make a flower pot out of a plastic ice cream tub.
By thinking creatively, you will often find new uses for common items and
new ways to recycle and reduce waste.
Why not try composting? According to the Citizens for a Better Environment, between
15-20% of the total municipal waste stream is organic material.
All of these materials are very bulky, quickly using up valuable
landfill space.
Composting is the process of turning organic material that you
would normally throw away - from grass clippings to apple cores -
into a rich fertilizer. The simplest way is to just pile leaves, grass
clippings, and weeds in a corner of your garden. (This isn't ideal
as composting goes, but the clippings will decompose, and won't
use landfill space.)
Or you could purchase a composting bin through Lorna Cerbone at the Saugus
Inspectional Services Department at Town Hall -- it's easy to set up and works great!
Lorna Cerbone (781) 231- 4036
Holiday Recycling -
Cardboard:Please recycle all of your cardboard boxes. Flatten and either fold or cut to a size not larger than 2 feet by 2 feet. You may bundle cardboard, put it in a paper bag, place it under your recycling bin,
or place it standing in or between recycling bins.
Gift Boxes and Wrapping Paper: Gift boxes and all non-foil wrapping paper
can be included with paper recycling. Tape & twine are OK, but no ribbons please.
Holiday Cards, Catalogs, and Calendars: Holiday cards (including envelopes and gift tags), catalogs, and calendars can be
included with your paper recycling. Spiral binders, tape, and staples are OK
Christmas Trees and Wreaths: Special collections take place in early January. Please remove all tinsel/garland and DO NOT put in plastic bag.
Hints for the Christmas Holiday Season ~Keep your house cool. In addition to saving on your heating bill
and reducing your energy use, some foods stored outside the fridge
(especially fats like butter and oil) will last longer.
~When using ribbon to decorate your gifts, purchase sturdy cloth ribbon
that can be reused year after year, as most ribbon cannot be recycled.
~Only preheat your oven for 10 minutes before you plan to bake your
holiday goodies. That’s all the time it needs to heat up. And then leave the door shut. You lose about 25 degrees of heat every time you
open that door to peek!
~Use LED Christmas lights on your tree…not only do these save
money and energy, they are built sturdier for withstanding the yearly
packing up, unpacking and restringing involved with decorating.
