Five college students bicycled into Keene July 6 for a week-long visit as part of the New England Climate Summer. Vanessa Rule, a graduate of Environmental Studies Department at Antioch University New England (AUNE), is the community outreach director for the project, which has five similar teams biking throughout New England.
The aim of the internship program is to highlight local environmental solutions and raise awareness of climate change. All in all, the six teams will visit forty-two communities this summer.
The Transition Keene Task Force sponsored a “Celebration of Local Sustainability Initiatives: A Welcome To The New England Climate Summer Rider” at AUNE Wednesday, July 6, to welcome the riders and introduce them to the community.
Keene Mayor Dale Pregent read a proclamation thanking the New England Climate Summer riders at the city council’s July 7 meeting.
Over the next few days, until departing on July 11, the group met with local environmental supporters, officials, and organizations such as the mayor and city council, Keene Rotary Club and the Transition Keene Task Force. They joined a “crop mob” on Fertile Fields Farm, an organic farm in Westmoreland, New Hampshire, and went to the Keene Farmers Market. Saint James Episcopal Church housed the students during their Keene stay.
At the end of the New England Climate Summer tour, members of all the teams will meet to write and publish the 2011 State of the Movement report. It will give details about local climate protection and sustainability initiatives throughout New England.
Steve Chase, director of the Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability program in AUNE’s Environmental Studies Department, organized the Keene visit of New England Climate Summer for the Transition Keene Task Force.
See the presentation of the mayor’s proclamation here.
Read more about the team’s visit to Keene here.
Find out more about New England Climate Summer here and here.
Read Steve Chase’s guest blog My Adventures with the NH Team in Keene.
Find out more about the Transition Keene Task Force.
