January 2019
● Guest speakers: Bri McAlevey and Silas Fyler, Heat pumps – how can you heat and cool your house more efficiently?
● SSC/NSGP Sharon residents lobby for a clean energy economy at the State House on
Thursday Jan. 24th
● Sharon’s residential water use of 337 million gallons for 2018 tied with 2017 for lowest since 1985, thanks to water conservation efforts
February 2019
● Speaker: Peter Kane, a proud homeowner of a net-positive house in Westwood, MA
● SSC endorses Green New Deal
March 2019
● Presentation: sustainable plans for the proposed new library (Cheryl Weinstein)
● March Challenge “Bag the Bag” (The SSC 5Rs Committee, Cherry): SSC challenges
folks to refuse plastic checkout bags
● Tips, ideas, and more at our Facebook group about plastic bags (Cherry and others)
● A display highlighting the problems with plastic bag consumption and its impact on
marine animals, Sharon Public Library (Cherry/Debbie)
● A free screening of the documentary Bag It – Is Your Life Too Plastic?, a film about plastic bags that evolves into an extensive investigation into plastic and its effect on our waterways, oceans and bodies. Saturday March 16th, 1:00pm – 4:00pm, at Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary with refreshments and discussion (Cherry)
● Decorate a free reusable shopping bag and share your concerns about plastic pollution –
free, all ages welcome. March 23rd, 3:00pm – 4:30pm at the Sharon Public Library
Community Room (Cherry/Debbie)
● Debbie founded Plastic Free Sharon and secured a Grassroots Fund Seed Grant ($750)
for purchasing and distributing reusable bags, mostly to low-income families. Bags were
distributed in April and December in collaboration with the Sharon Rotary Club, and
were available beginning in December at the Sharon Adult Center.
April 2019
● Speaker: David Zwick of Progressive Asset Management, Socially and Environmentally
Responsible Investing and Fossil Fuel Divestment
● Candidates for School Committee talk about sustainability ideas at meeting and post on
website: Marcy Kaplan, Anna Belak, Adam Shain, Julie Rowe, and Fern Fergus
● Earth Day display highlighting various environmental issues at the Sharon Public
Children’s Library (Debbie/Cherry)
● Organized and retrieved Letters from Children to Planet Earth (Anne and Elana)
● SSC supported statewide plastic bag ban – ENRA committee (Joint Committee on
Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture) (Debbie)
● SSC co-sponsors and attends MCAN and Toxics Action Center, Local Environmental
Action, Sat. 4/27 in Worcester. Part of MCAN panel on local action (Cheryl)
● Mitzvah Day, Temple Sinai, composting activity
and information (Elana and Cheryl)
May 2019
● Sharon Green Day, Saturday May 4th, 12:00-4:00 PM, Sharon High School (SSC Green
Day Committee Chair, Cheryl)
● The SSC new website launched (Simone and four high school interns)
● Paul awarded the Lynn Wolbarst Sustainability Award, and presented with additional
awards from Senators Paul Feeney (present) and Walter Timilty (present) and
Representative Lou Kafka (in absentia)
● The Ad hoc SSC sub-committee of 5Rs, the Plastic Bag Reduction Committee (Chair,
Debbie) succeeded in passing the Citizen Petition – Plastic Waste (Bags) Reduction
Bylaw Amendment at Town Meeting
● SSC Energy and Climate Committee succeeded in passing a non-binding Citizen Petition
– Resolution for Sharon to Adopt a Goal of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Zero
by 2050 (Paul and five high school students)
● SSC Youth raise $1800 and arrange with town to plant trees at Deborah Sampson Park
(Sara and Jess)
● Speaker: Artie Crocker from NEC Solar and Green Needham to discuss how to solarize
Sharon even more and cross-pollinate ideas for our towns
● Exercise class fundraiser for SSC; Saturday May 11th, 8:00 AM, at THE MAX Challenge,
Canton (Cheryl)
● Toad & Co. van stops in Sharon, May 31st, Green drinks at The Square (Bri)
June 2019
● Litter Cleanup Campaign, Lake Massapoag, June 15, 9:00 – 11:00 AM (Cherry, Debbie,
Kathi, Ricky, Aneeza)
● Sharon Single-use Food Container Distribution Survey (Debbie, Cherry)
● SSC Annual Meeting; vote in FY 2019-2020 SSC Board Members and Committee Chairs
SSC Board FY 2019-2020:
President: Cheryl Schnitzer
Vice President: Ellen Bordman
Treasurer: Ruby Gu
Secretary/Clerk: Kathy Farrell
Stuart Brown
Cherry Chun
Tim Humphreys
Paul Lauenstein
Bri McAlevey
Kathi Mirza
Kat Nasti
Ricky Stern
Simone Tamkin
Debbie Tatro
Sandra Widland
SSC Committee Chairs FY 2019-2020:
Arts and Culture (Chair: Kat Nasti)
Communications (Co-chairs: Aaron Tamkin and Jason Grillo)
Democracy (Chair: Paul Lauenstein)
Education (Chair: Artie Crocker)
Energy (Chair: Kathy Farrell)
Food (Chair: Bri McAlevey)
Green Day (Chair: Nivedi Das): Saturday May 4th 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Sharon High School
Communities, Interfaith and Multicultural (Chair: Stuart Brown)
Fundraising (Chair: Vacant)
Strategic Planning (Chair: Sandra Widland)
The 5Rs (Chair: Cherry Chun)
Water (Chair: Paul Lauenstein)
Transportation (Chair: Sandra Widland)
Youth (Chair: Aneeza Ahmad)
July 2019
● Litter Cleanup Campaign, Lake Massapoag, July 4, 8:00 – 10:00 AM (Cherry, Debbie,
Kathi, Ricky, Kathy, Judy, Ellen)
● Speaker: Cheryl Schnitzer, The Science Behind Global Warming
● Presentation: The Goloboy brothers kicked off “Sponsor a Street” for litter cleanups, started Google Doc to keep track
● SSC submitted more information to Imagine Sharon for climate change and sustainability
issues and plans in the town’s master plan
● Advertised rare community solar slots available (Kathy)
August 2019
● Square Jam, August 1, 6:00 – 8:30 PM (Cheryl, Ellen, Kathy, Artie, Bri, Simone)
● Speaker 8/14, Laura Smead, Canton Town Planner, MVP and Other Grant Ideas
● Presentation: The Goloboy brothers kicked off “Sponsor a Street” for litter cleanups, started Google Doc to keep track
● SSC Submitted more information to Imagine Sharon for climate change and sustainability issues and plans in the town’s master plan
● Advertised rare community solar slots available (Kathy)
● Square Jam, August 1, 6:00 – 8:30 PM (Cheryl, Ellen, Kathy, Artie, Bri, Simone)
● Speaker 8/14, Laura Smead, Canton Town Planner, MVP and Other Grant Ideas
● Presentation: The Goloboy brothers kicked off “Sponsor a Street” for litter cleanups, started Google Doc to keep track
● SSC Submitted more information to Imagine Sharon for climate change and sustainability issues and plans in the town’s master plan
● Advertised rare community solar slots available (Kathy)
September 2019
● Speaker:
Rep. Lou Kafka (and Ted Phillips) talked about the legislative process of a bill
● Presentation: Girl Scout Troop 65090 and composting http://sharontv.com/video/composting
● Discussion: Lake Massapoag algal bloom and pesticides
● Redesigned SSC 5Rs website – (Debbie & Kathi)
● First Ultra-High-Efficiency Toilet (UHET – 0.8 gallons per flush) installed in Sharon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBRH-H-Sg2E
● Chinese Mid-Autumn
Festival, composting information (Ruby)