BREWSTER – The Brewster Community Network (BCN) is hosting a forum at the Brewster Ladies’ Library next week to help residents understand and discuss three environmental protection articles to be presented at Spring Town Meeting.
The articles seek to reduce the town’s energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and plastic pollution.
The BCN says Brewster’s Vision Plan 2018 calls for a “green economy,” but provides little guidance on what that entails.
Meanwhile, seven other Cape communities have received the State’s “Green Communities” award, with 13 of 15 towns having adopted restrictions on single-use plastic bags other single-use plastics.
The forum, to be held on March 21, will feature local experts to explain local articles addressing these opportunities, take questions and hold discussions.
Colin O’Dell, of Brewster’s Energy Committee, will present the energy-saving bylaw.
It is a “stretch code” already adopted by over 200 towns and cities in Massachusetts, requiring verified high levels of energy efficiency in new buildings. It would make Brewster eligible for the “Green Communities” designation, which opens access to grants for new clean energy upgrades to municipal buildings, schools, and vehicle fleets.
Meg Morris, of Brewster’s Recycling Commission, will discuss a bylaw to ban distribution of single-use thin-film plastic bags at our retail checkout counters. Over 90 communities across the state have similar bans in place. If passed, the ban would begin in June 2020.
Madhavi Venkatesan, of the non-profit Sustainable Practices Ltd, will explain a citizens’ petition bylaw to prohibit municipal purchasing, distribution, and sale of single-use plastic water bottles, except in emergencies. Sustainable Practices Ltd leads community-based initiatives to pass similar bans in other towns across the Cape.
The forum will run from 6:30 p.m. through 8:30 p.m. at the Brewster Ladies’ Library on March 21.
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center
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