Grassroots organization Homer Drawdown is meeting on Tuesday evening to choose a project reducing community carbon emission for the year. The group is supported by Cook Inletkeeper and the Kachemak Bay Conservation Society.
Cook Inletkeeper lower inlet community organizer Satchel Pondolfino said the group began in 2019 to address climate change issues locally.
“It's a community led program where people get together and decide how we can improve our community by not just driving forward solutions that lower carbon emissions, but also meet different community needs in, you know, the various sectors of our community,” she said.
Homer Drawdown’s approach is based on a “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming.” It addresses climate issues and solutions across many parts of a community.
In the past, the group completed a project raising awareness on the importance of peatlands in fighting climate change. They also advocated for improving non-motorized transportation as the city of Homer updated its master transportation plan in 2022.
This year, the group narrowed the project down to two choices. The first focuses on improving energy efficiency. This would be done by connecting Homer residents to funding opportunities for increasing energy efficiency, helping people make home improvements and looking into barriers to accessing heat pumps.
The second solution focuses on community food cultivation. Drawdown members would install and revitalize community gardens, add composting areas and run workshops around composting and food preservation.
Work groups will present more information at the meeting, and attendees will vote on which solution to work on for the year. Pondolfino said selecting the solution is a democratic process.
“It'll be completely determined by the people in the room and the people that, or the people that show up on Zoom,” she said, “and then we'll be, we'll be talking about next steps and starting the new project for the year to come.”
Homer Drawdown will meet in person at the Kenai Peninsula College Kachemak Bay Campus tomorrow at 5:30 and on Zoom.
