Rockingham Times

City of Portsmouth issued the following announcement on September 23.

The Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Sustainable Practices, in collaboration with the Seacoast Renewable Energy Initiative (SEAREI).

presents a virtual community discussion on Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at 7 pm via Zoom to provide an update on their work in support of Portsmouth’s Eco-Municipality commitment. For the link to participate in the discussion by Zoom, click here.

The purpose of the discussion is to provide an update on the committee’s work in support of Portsmouth’s Eco-Municipality commitment. As part of the discussion, the committee will introduce a workshop on “Drawdown Portsmouth: Climate Solutions 101,” a continuation of the workshop, “How Portsmouth Can Apply Project Drawdown Tools to Help Achieve a Climate-Safe Planet,” that launched in 2020.

Project Drawdown  is a global effort, launched in 2017 by Paul Hawken, to help reach “drawdown”-- the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to decline steadily, thereby reducing catastrophic climate change.

According to the Committee, “Climate Solutions 101 is the world’s first major educational effort focused solely on solutions. Rather than rehashing well-known climate challenges, Project Drawdown centers game-changing climate action based on its own rigorous scientific research and analysis. This course, presented in video units and in-depth conversations, combines Project Drawdown’s trusted resources with the expertise of several inspiring voices from around the world. Climate solutions become attainable with increased access to free, science-based educational resources, elevated public discourse and tangible examples of real-world action.”

The public Zoom dialogue supports Portsmouth ongoing efforts as an Eco-Municipality to meet its commitment to the four core principles of “The Natural Step”:

• Reduce dependence upon fossil fuels and extracted underground metals and minerals
• Reduce dependence on chemicals and other manufactured substances that can accumulate in nature
• Reduce dependence on activities that harm life-sustaining eco-systems
• Meet the hierarchy of present and future human needs fairly and efficiently.

The meeting on October 6th is an introductory session that will be followed by 6 sessions on consecutive weeks to discuss key topics:

• Stopping climate change
• Reducing sources
• Supporting sinks and improving society
• Putting it all together
• Making it happen
• Local actions

For more information on the Blue Ribbon Committee on Sustainable Practices, click here.

Original source can be found here.