Ghost of Midnight

Build Igloo for Chocolate… before it’s too late!

A group of Lakeside Neighborhood Forum members in Burlington’s South End recently formed the Lakeside Climate Club… or something to that effect. They gather to take a hard look at global climate change and discuss a personal and neighborhood response.

But this group isn’t letting a little cataclysmic manmade disaster get in the way of some fun. Witness their first action… a neighborhood igloo building contest… “before it’s too late!” I love it.

And the kicker, all neighborhood participants (kids and adults) will get a treat from neighboring Lake Champlain Chocolates, with the grand champion carting home something even better from this favorite local sponsor… a chocolate polar bear? Have to wait until Sunday’s judging to see, I guess (March 4 at noon).

And this isn’t the only neighborhood group forming locally to address global climate change. Others in the South Union, Five Sisters, The Addition, and Lakewood Neighborhood Forums have met at least once. Some are using a program called the Low Carbon Diet from the Empowerment Institute.

In fact, my wife just told me that we’re hosting the second meeting of just such a group in our neighborhood this weekend… but, alas, no mention of igloos or chocolate. Gotta work on that.

Anyone in Chittenden County interested in getting something going in his/her neighborhood, it’s simple… post a notice on your neighborhood forum, hold a first meeting/social event, and get rolling. Use the Low Carbon Diet, watch Al Gore’s award-winning movie, or forge your own path.