PORT TOWNSEND — Taming Bigfoot, a contest in which participants learned how to reduce their carbon footprints by understanding the environmental impact of their actions, exceeded the expectations of its organizer.
“We really hit a home run,” said Bob Bindschadler, a retired NASA scientist now living in Quilcene who developed the program.
“The 100 or so people who participated are now more confident and committed and will do a good job of telling others about the benefit of energy conservation.”
During the three-month competition, 13 teams of seven people each recorded their activities in the areas of home energy usage, public and private transportation, and a few indicators of their food and shopping behaviors.
Awards are to be announced at a ceremony at 7 tonight at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave.
The awards ceremony will include a special guest whom Bindschadler declined to identify, saying only that “it is someone that you will recognize.”
Each team will receive a prize package. Those teams that were most effective in reducing either their overall carbon emission footprints or bested their fellow teams in the separate areas of home energy, transportation and shopping will get valuable awards.
The prizes were donated by 33 county businesses and are valued at nearly $3,000.
They range from free excursions on the tall ship Adventuress or a free night’s lodging at a local bed-and-breakfast to less spectacular prizes such as a cookie and a cup of coffee.
In addition, individual awards will be given for personal carbon-reduction achievements. A special prize is planned for the participant who established the lowest overall carbon footprint during the final two months of the competition.
Local 20/20
The Local 20/20 Climate Action Outreach Group organized and ran the competition, which was designed to help educate Jefferson County residents about the actual carbon emission impacts of various actions — the quantifiable carbon emission trade-offs between various behavior choices everyone makes in their daily lives.
“Through their own experience of measuring the carbon impacts of their own lifestyles, participants became better-informed citizens in advocating for policies to counter ongoing climate change driven by human behavior,” Bindschadler said.
“Along the way, the participants are also helping Jefferson County achieve its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent from 1990 levels by the year 2050.”
In mid-March, approximately midway through the reduction phase of the activity, rankings of the teams were announced to stimulate the teams to explore additional ways of reducing their footprints to either extend their lead over other teams or to make up ground on the leaders.
The final tally data’s tabulation showed the rankings shifted in all the sectors, Bindschadler said.
“I think people were very conscious of how their team was doing,” he said.
“They also made decisions, like whether to drive somewhere or ride their bike, because they didn’t want to let their team down.”
Bindschadler said another competition is possible — but it wouldn’t be exactly the same.
He said he would like to export the concept to other communities and write an article about the experience in a national magazine to help spread the word.
For more on the competition, see http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Taming.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
