EcoTeam r Trainingwww.climateactionbrookline.org

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Outline: 1.5 Hours

• Welcome & Introductions– Have you attended an information meeting?– Are you familiar with the Low Carbon Diet workbook?

• Atmosphere of an EcoTeam • Overview of Low Carbon Diet Workbook • “Team Building” Meeting • “Cool Lifestyle Practices” Meeting • “Cool Household Practices” Meeting • “Empowering Others” Meeting • Support Available from CAB

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Atmosphere of an EcoTeam

• EcoTeams want to…– Have fun, get to know one another, and be inspired to make

changes – Feel safe in sharing their carbon footprint and questions

• Convener ensures guilt free, non judgmental atmosphere

– Know their time will be respected • Convener starts/ends meetings on time and is prepared • Meetings typically last 1.5-2 hours

– Know they’ll be supported by their EcoTeam convener if they get stuck

– Become a team, not have a classroom lecture

Feedback from two All Saints EcoTeams conducted in April-May 2010 – “it was fun!!”

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WHY DOES THE ECO-TEAM ‘DIET’ CHANGE ENERGY BEHAVIOR WHEN OTHER PROTOCOLS FAIL?

1. It’s social:  there’s fun, creativity and support in the process.

2. Peer-accountability: you commit to the other members of the team that you will accomplish certain changes; then, at the next meeting you report whether or not you’ve been able to accomplish them, seeking their help with those changes with which you are still struggling.

3. The program gets accomplished within a concentrated and limited time-period long enough for new habits to take hold.

4. It’s immediately measurable:  each action has the pounds of CO2 reduced by that action printed after it in the workbook.  Participants keep a running tally of the reductions they are making as they work thru the suggested CO2-saving steps.

5. The workbook is a complete, self-contained how-to manual for reducing emissions in each area of energy-use in a household—lighting, heat, waste, transportation, hot water, etc. 

6. No specialists or outside leaders are needed.  The instructions for the convener, who is just one of the team-members willing to ‘step up to the plate’, are completely mapped out in the last section of the text.

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Overview of the LCD Workbook

• Introduction (pgs 1-4) • How the Program Works (pg 5) • Topic 1 - Cool Lifestyle Practices (pgs 7-23) • Topic 2 - Cool Household Practices (pgs 25-38) • Topic 3 - Empowering Others (pgs 41-49) • CO2 Reduction Action Plan (pgs 51-55) • Meeting Guides (pgs 57-70)

– It’s KEY to follow the format!!

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Overview of the Meetings

• 1st Meeting: “Team Building” (pgs 61-62) • 2nd Meeting: “Cool Lifestyle Practices” (Topic 1; pgs 63-

65) • 3rd Meeting: “Cool Household Practices” (Topic 2; pgs

66-68) • 4th Meeting: “Empowering Others” (Topic 3; pgs 69-70)

You can also do the work in three meetings

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Before You Meet with Your Team…..

• Become familiar with the EcoTeam resources on the CAB web site at www.climateactionbrookline.org/lowcarbondiet_resources

• Read the LCD workbook • Confirm a date that works for all team members

– Doodle.com is a great resource for this – Follow up via phone with anyone who didn’t respond via email as phone

tends to be more effective • Let the team know their family can attend as well • Households from outside Brookline can participate too• Prepare for first meeting by reading through pgs 58 and 61-62

“Team Building Meeting Guide” • Send meeting reminder to team couple days before with links and

materials on carbon calculator and action plan• Do your own Carbon Footprint calculation and Action Plan – use the

carbon calculator on the CAB website www.climateactionbrookline.org/lowcarbondiet_resources

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1st Meeting: “Team Building”

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Establish Team Dynamics

• Build the group into a team – group purpose statement; divide up responsibilities – this is the primary purpose of the first meeting

• Establish a group process protocol – careful meeting agenda; group process check in. Are people coming on time? Are people taking actions? Is the meeting following the agenda/ if not why?? How should group handle this??

• Structure meeting to produce tangible outcomes – inspirational start; sharing of action taken; hands on demo of possible actions; share action plans for next step; check in on team performance; review next steps

• Demonstrate expectation of success – take investment of time seriously and be accountable;  convener mustn’t let it slide

• Make it clear from the outset that numbers are important!! Gently insist on this, or the team’s efforts can dissipate into good intentions and nothing else. Distribute the results forms right up front!

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Points to Share with Your Team

• Show the abbreviated PowerPoint to begin the meeting– Particularly important when not all the team members have attended an

information meeting– Share Brookline’s overall goal of reaching 85% of households and

reducing carbon emission by 25% in three years– A CCAB coach can attend this session

• Be sure to cover the average carbon footprint for U.S. households (55,000 lbs) vs. Germany (27,000 lbs) and Sweden (15,000 lbs) when going through the introduction – Brookline’s average household carbon footprint is around

45,000 lbs annually, less than the American average of 55,000 lbs because we have a high concentration of apartments and condos

– Can add that the U.S. is 5% of the world’s population and emitting 25% of the world’s C02

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Team Name, Purpose, Goal

• Team name helps build community– This can be a fun and team-building exercise

• Is the team’s purpose primarily to:– Save each household money?– Build community?– Help the environment?– Building the purpose statement is key to the “glue” of the team

• Goal of each household is to reduce their carbon footprint by at least 25%– Reductions are achieved via actions completed during the

EcoTeam and future actions pledged

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Some General Guidelines….

• Don’t let meetings degenerate into social cross-talk. Give enough room to air questions and issues, but make sure everyone has enough time to share – not just the talkative members

• Ask for a volunteer timekeeper – the “bad cop” who keeps the team on schedule

• Meetings should be planned based on the schedule of the busiest person on the team so that everyone can make every meeting. Moving forward together is important

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Carbon Calculator

• Carbon Calculator sheet (in Excel) is on the CAB website – Carbon calculator website mentioned in the Low Carbon Diet

workbook is NOT being used

• Ask if all team members are comfortable entering values into an Excel file – Provide paper copies of blank calculator to these team members

to complete – Determine who will enter their data electronically and provide

them a print out by the next meeting

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Action Plan and Results Collection

• Use the Action Plan in the workbook throughout the sessions (it’s also available on the CAB web site)

• Results collection – the last meeting

– “C02 (Pounds) Reduction by Final EcoTeam Meeting” column

• Actions taken in sections 1 and 2 of the book during the EcoTeam

• These are the totals counted towards CCAB’s overall reduction goal

– “C02 (Pounds) Reduction Pledged for Actions After Final EcoTeam meeting” column

• Actions team members plan to complete after the EcoTeam finishes

• These reductions will be counted towards the goal once team members have completed them and notified CCAB

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More Points to Share

• Ensure the team is aware of the Low Carbon Diet FAQs (available on the CAB web site) so their carbon footprint and action plan will be completed correctly

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What About….

• Some team members may feel they’ve already completed many of the actions in the workbook– Ask them to look at each action carefully – there may be more

they can do– Assure them how important it is to participate – others can learn

from what they’ve done

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Set the Next Meeting

• Make sure you set the next meeting date, time and location at this meeting– Support the busiest person’s schedule – EVERYONE needs to

be there

• It’s OK (and fun) to meet at different households; you can even have different leaders for each meeting

• However, one person needs to be responsible overall (the “Convener”)

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What Needs to Be Completed Before the Second Meeting?

• EcoTeam Convener – Check in with each household to see if they need help

completing their carbon footprint & draft action plan – Send meeting reminder few days before 2nd meeting

• EcoTeam Member – Calculate household’s carbon footprint and print out a copy to

bring to the next meeting – Decide on household’s carbon reduction goal

• Goal is to reduce at least by 25%

– Complete pgs 52-53 of the action plan and print out a copy to bring to the next meeting

– Determine which actions you’d like to take to meet your carbon reduction goal

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2nd Meeting: Cool Lifestyle Practices (Topic 1)

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Share Carbon Footprint and Reduction Goal

• Double check each person’s carbon calculator was completed correctly – Problem solve with household on any incomplete work

• Ask team members to report which two areas are the highest contributors to their carbon footprint – E.g. oil used in the home, car miles driven, etc. This helps each

household start to focus on where they can make the most impact

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When Discussing Each Lifestyle Action

• Expect lots of questions to come up – People start saying “you know, I wanted to do this before but…” – Problem solving begins to happen in the team on how to

overcome each household’s challenges

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Lifestyle Actions with Largest Reductions

Action # Action Carbon reduction (lbs CO2 annually)

10 Going vegetarian 700 - 5000

1 Reducing your garbage 1560 - 3120

8 Reducing miles driven by 20%

450 - 4000

5 Turning down the heat 1400

1 Recycling 100% 1300

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What Needs to Be Completed Before the Third Meeting?

• EcoTeam Convener – Check in with each household on how they’re doing with their

lifestyle actions and if they need help – Send meeting reminder few days before 3rd meeting

• EcoTeam Member – Complete the lifestyle actions agreed to in Section 1 of your

action plan • Discuss these with all household members and obtain their buy-in

– Update your action plan for the next meeting if any changes to it

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3rd Meeting: Cool Household Practices (Topic 2)

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Household Actions with Largest Reductions

Action # Action Carbon reduction (lbs CO2 annually)

16 Switching to NSTAR Green (there are also alternatives)

10,000+

17 Engine tune-up and maintaining tire pressure

1,500

15 Air sealing; Insulating walls and attic

1,200

19 Purchasing carbon offsets You choose

Let your team know that taking Action 16 alone will many times get to a 25% or more reduction

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4th Meeting: Empowering Others (Topic 3)

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Summarizing Results

• Double check each person’s results have been filled out correctly – It’s really hard to get results collected after the meetings are

over; make it a point to get the results sheets at the last meeting!!

• Have each household report: – % reduction they were able to achieve during the EcoTeam

Acknowledge each household’s efforts and thank them for reducing their carbon footprint!

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What’s Next?

• At the last meeting, it’s important to motivate team members to continue working towards the Brookline goal

• Ask who will:– Commit to having an information meeting at your

home and recruit neighbors to attend– Become an EcoTeam convener and/or encourage

Brookline households to join an EcoTeam – Help your workplace reduce its carbon footprint – Become part of CAB and help plan for the project’s

success

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CAB Website Resources

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Resources for Team Members