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Date: 2/19/2019
AGAWAM – The Town of Agawam has decided to take drastic steps in an effort to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their carbon footprint. The energy commission has titled this movement “The Agawam Cooler Community Challenge.” The Agawam Energy Commission encourages all residents in town to get involved, and are helping to spread awareness of the cause through the students at elementary schools, middle schools and the high school in town.
Agawam was made a designated green community in 2017 and the Energy Commission was formed in 2018 in order to help seek out other ways to improve energy use within the community.
“This is a big idea for Agawam,” said Mayor William Sapelli. “We’re excited about the Agawam Cooler Community Challenge because when we’re smarter about energy use, our whole community benefits.”
The idea for the Cooler Community Challenge came from a similar successful program that Concord implemented in 2017. Representatives brought the Concord effort to the attention of Agawam’s Energy Commission at a commission meeting from ener-G-save, a program sponsored by the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation. The end goal of this challenge is to engage the community to learn about and take advantage of a wide range of energy conservation opportunities. Through these opportunities the community will use less energy and residents will see a difference in their energy costs.
“Our goal is to provide opportunities for community-wide engagement around energy use and climate change in Western Massachusetts,” said Uli Nagel, project director from ener-G-save. “We hope to reach people who have not been active in ‘green’ efforts previously, as well as young people to recognize and celebrate their solutions related to energy efficiency.”
Mark Morris, the vice chairman of the Agawam Energy Commission, said they are in the early stages of producing informational videos and a website but they are excited to see how this project pans out.
“We’re not interested in telling Agawam that they ‘have to do this’ or ‘have to do that,’ said Morris. “We just want to spread awareness and suggestions that could really help the community and help residents save money on bills!”
An essential part of this challenge is that they are incorporating the project in the Agawam schools and connecting it to the student’s science curriculum. Leslie Joseph, another member of the Agawam Energy Commission has been involved with what programs will be taking place in the schools. Kindergarten classes will be producing energy saving posters; second graders will be working with LEGO education sets called LEGO WeDo. The WeDo set is a hands-on STEM solution that combines the LEGO bricks, classroom-friendly software, engaging standard-based projects and a discovery based approach. The WeDo set the second graders will be using will teach them about recycling. Third Graders will be working on writing energy saving poetry and fourth graders will be writing persuasive essays on why to use energy saving methods.
The Middle Schools will be focused on plastic pollution and the impact it has on the environment and oceans. Some classes will also be learning about solar energy and how the two solar farms in Agawam work and help the environment. Seventh grade classes will be exploring the benefits of composting and will be helping to compost waste from their cafeteria.
The High School students will be taking a closer look at how well the high school does as a whole with recycling and will track that data to assess. The high school has a green house on their grounds so the students will be using that to grow their own plants, succulents and lettuce. All of the programs will be tied into the science classes at these schools. The students efforts and the results of the programs they are taking part in will be on display at the Agawam Cooler Community Expo, a public event that is scheduled to take place May 23, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Agawam High School. In addition to presenting what the students have learned, there will also be environmental board games to play, an environmental rapper singing about energy saving and green house tours. The high school students will also be selling the plants and succulents they grew in their greenhouse at a plant sale during the expo.
Although the expo in May will feature the success of the Cooler Community Challenge, the Energy Commission hopes that energy awareness will continue to be an ongoing effort in the town and among the students.