Climate Crisis Essay Contest

The global warming crisis is upon us. Scientists agree that unless we begin to substantially reduce our CO2 emissions, erratic climate patterns will continue and intensify leading to sea levels rising by 25 feet or more, as well as famine, disease, and homelessness on a scale never before witnessed in human history. Our community must begin to conserve, to reduce our energy use, and we must do it now. The Green Decade Coalition/Newton with funding from NSTAR and the Newton Schools Foundation is offering an essay contest on this topic, and we hope to read the winning essays in our local paper later this year.

Newton Student Contest Rules

Newton energy consumption continues to climb in spite of increased awareness of the harm caused by CO2 emissions and global warming. The purpose of this essay contest and the publicity it will generate is to increase awareness of the issue amongst Newton residents and to encourage them to choose more energy efficient products and to waste less energy.

You may want to consider tackling one or more of the following questions in your essay:

1. Do you think that people understand the consequences of global warming on the future livability of the planet? Do they understand that conserving can mitigate the trend of global warming? If not, how can this awareness be created?
2. Once people understand the need for reducing energy consumption, what ideas do you have to help people conserve?
3. Should people be rewarded for conserving?
4. What are you and/or your friends doing to conserve energy consumption? What is your family doing to conserve? How are you helping?
5. People sometimes equate conserving with sacrifice rather than merely cutting out waste. This can be a barrier. What are your suggestions for removing this psychological barrier? What would motivate you, your family, and your friends to conserve? What, if any, barriers need to be overcome? How can this be achieved?
6. What creative or new ideas do you have about conservation? Have you tried implementing them? What was your experience?

In addition to the essay, you must list 20 actions that you and/or your family can take to conserve energy. There are many websites and books focused on energy and climate that can help you; please choose your favorite actions with care!

Eligibility

The Essay Contest is open to all students in grades 1-12 who either live or go to school in Newton.

Essay Requirements

Essays should be no longer than 1500 words (excluding the 20 key action points), typed and double-spaced. Students must produce their own work, using information from other sources where appropriate. All references must be clearly marked and can appear as parenthetical citations, endnotes or footnotes. Materials used for research that are not cited in the student's essay should be listed in a bibliography page at the end.

Students must include a title page with their submission stating their name, address, telephone number, school, and grade level. They should not include their name on any other page of their essay.

Prizes

Elementary	Junior High	High School
1st Prize $75	1st Prize $150	1st Prize $300
2nd Prize $50	2nd Prize $100	2nd Prize $200
3rd Prize $35	3rd Prize $75	3rd Prize $100
4 Distinction Prizes @$25	4 Distinction Prizes @ $25	4 Distinction Prizes @ $25

Submissions

Student submissions should be sent to: The Green Decade Coalition P.O. Box 590242, Newton, MA 02459 post-marked no later than March 15, 2007.

Dear Newton Resident:

Here is your chance to shine. While the students are working on their conservation essays, it is your turn to do the actual conserving!

Contest Objective:

To reduce household energy consumption in Newton.

The Contest will allow the residents of Newton to flex their conservation muscles by demonstrating who can reduce their energy consumption the most.

How to Enter:

1. Submit copies of either your electric or heating bills for any one month period ending no later than April 15, 2007 along with the same period in 2006.
2. On a separate sheet of paper included with your submission, state your current usage consumption, the usage for the same period in 2006 and percentage reductions for electric and/or heating. For example, if you used 250 therms this period, and 400 therms the equivalent period last year, the percentage reduction would be (400-250)/400 = 37.5%. Also include your name, address, and telephone number.
3. Tell us how you accomplished your reductions. You must be able to demonstrate that reductions were achieved through conservation alone.
4. Submissions should be sent to: The Green Decade Coalition P.O. Box 590242, Newton, MA 02459 post-marked no later than April 15, 2007.

To Win:

Reduce your electric and/or heating bill by the greatest percentage of any Newton household.

Prizes:

The winner of both the electric and heating categories will each receive a $200 gift certificate from Whole Foods Market. All winners will be announced on Earth Day, April 22, 2007.

Examples of Disqualifiers:

Energy usage reductions achieved by:

1. leaving town for the month of March.
2. reducing the number of people in the household.

View a printable copy at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ajfmqrj9wk72_4fkfxcv