PORT TOWNSEND — Thirteen teams saved a total of 30.5 tons of carbon dioxide, which represented an average reduction of just over 10 percent from their baseline carbon footprints, said the organizer of a three-month contest, Taming Bigfoot.
Benefits will continue, Bob Bindschadler, a retired NASA scientist now living in Quilcene who developed the program, told about 50 people at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Friday when winners of prizes announced.
“We are not finished. We have just begun,” Bindschadler said.
“The purpose of what we have done in the last three months was to inform people as to what can be done to lower their emissions,” Bindschadler said.
“We’ve learned a lot as to how changing one aspect of your footprint can make a difference.”
The teams of seven people each cataloged their energy use and worked to cut their carbon emissions in the areas of home energy usage, public and private transportation, water, non-recycled garbage, food and shopping.
Activities were measured in pounds of carbon dioxide usage per month per team.
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.
Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, warming the Earth’s average temperature and causing a change in climate, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The competition began with 17 seven-member teams, with 13 making it to the finish line.
First place
The Incrementally Diminishing Guilt team, which began with the biggest baseline carbon footprint with 22,443 pounds, won first place in the contest by demonstrating the greatest overall reduction in carbon emissions.
The Tufted Puffins, which had the lowest baseline with 3,887 pounds, came in fourth in the amount of reduction.
Other teams were Sea Stars, Absolute Chums, Newts, Hellbenders, St. Paul’s Pandas, Gray Wolves, Snow Leopards, Kale Krushers, 4-H PT STEM Club, Songdogs and Mudminnows.
Each team and several individuals received prizes, drawn from 33 items donated by local merchants.
The Tufted Puffins shared a specific list of emission-reducing steps the team had taken.
Among the team’s actions were buying electric assist bikes for use in town, building a composter, buying a Prius and passing on the old vehicle to someone with a lower-efficiency car, replacing high-use lights with LEDs and consolidating laundry while air drying larger items.
While they worked in teams, individuals learned new habits.
“It has been very interesting seeing the increase and decrease of my carbon footprint and has really made me think about how my actions can affect our atmosphere and climate change issues,” said Evan Dobrowski, a member of Incrementally Diminishing Guilt.
“If everyone could do this, we might actually see a huge reduction in greenhouse gas emissions just by everyone recognizing their needs versus their wants and how that can create a big impact.”
During the competition, Dobrowski went from driving to Silverdale several times a week to creating lists so he could shop only once a month.
“I also figured out how to take the bus to my work in Port Townsend from Hadlock, which has been a really enjoyable experience,” he said.
A visit from Bigfoot
Bindschadler promised a special guest who everyone would know, which turned out to be Bigfoot himself, depicted by Port Townsend High School senior Steve Riepe.
Bigfoot mugged as Bindschadler spoke, handing out awards and posing for pictures with the teams.
After about 15 minutes, he spoke and asked if he could remove the mask, revealing Riepe, who apparently had a non-carbon-related warming issue.
“I swore that I wasn’t going to take it off,” Riepe said.
“But I have never been that hot in my life.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
