What's Sustainability?
Sustainability is the practice of conserving natural resources and protecting the environment in order to give present and future generations the highest quality of life possible.

About Us
Sustainable Winchester is a nonprofit organization founded for the purpose of educating and raising awareness about sustainability so that residents, officials, and community organizations can be educated and empowered to take action in their day-to-day lives to incorporate sustainability into our community.

Meetings
You're invited! Our meetings are open to the public. We meet on the first Tuesday of every month, from 7-9 pm, usually in Town Hall, 71 Mt. Vernon Street, at the big table in front of the Clerk's office. There we develop current projects and discuss new issues.

Current Projects and Volunteer Opportunities
We have a lot of projects in the pipeline that need volunteers. Let us know if you have some time to devote to a worthy local organization, where you'll have fun working with fellow residents to achieve a common goal. Contact Carolyn Starrett at the info below if you may be interested.

• Cool Winchester project (ongoing): Our goal is to help 85% of Winchester households reduce their carbon footprint by 25% by 2020, through the following ways:



EcoTeams: To date, 145 Winchester households have completed the EcoTeam Process. They have reduced their CO2 emissions by over 1.6 million pounds per year, equal to taking 135 cars off the road-permanently! You are invited to get involved as an EcoTeam participant or EcoTeam leader.

Energy Upgrades: We have two partners which provide no-cost energy assessments and also quality insulation work at the lowest cost available. Learn more at Cool Winchester

Solar Installations: Starting with the Solarize program of 2011 and continuing with our own SolarWin project in 2012, we have assisted residents to go from 4PV solar installations in town to 40 to date.

Community Outreach: We collaborate with various environmental efforts in Winchester and nearby communities, and provide information through our web site, news media and public events. We also support non-environmental efforts in Winchester to help make it a healthy, diverse yet cohesive community.

• Cool Cities Program: The town, with assistance from SusWin, formed a Climate Action Task Force which created a Climate Action Plan, now being supported by the Climate Action Plan Advisory Committee.
• Winchester Environmental Fair, held October 15, 2011, in conjunction with the Farmers Market.
• Recycling at Town Events: Recycling volunteers are needed annually for the En Ka Fair and Town Day .
• Winchester Farmers Market (Runs Saturdays on the Town common from mid June to late October): Help is needed for setup/takedown each week, as well as manning the SusWin table. If you contact Carolyn Starrett at the info below to be added to the volunteer list you will receive a weekly signup opportunity reminder during the season.
• Rain Barrel Program

Past Projects

• 2009 FREE "Home Energy Savings" seminar
• Recycling Day 2009
• Winchester Solar Challenge 2008
  The 4kw solar electric array has been installed on the High School!
• Eco Festival 2008

Points of Interest

• Video Interview with President Starrett about Sustainable Winchester
• The Story of Stuff - a 20 minute video about the underside of our production and consumption patterns.

Contact
President: Carolyn Starrett. 781-729-9022 (home), 617-899-1849 (cell), cstar10@concentric.net