PORT TOWNSEND — Teams competing in the Taming Bigfoot carbon footprint reduction contest have set baseline levels of their greenhouse gas impact on the environment and now know how much they must lose to win.
The Tufted Puffins team has set the lowest baseline of 3,887 pounds of carbon dioxide per month per team while the Incrementally Diminishing Guilt team has the highest, with 22,443 pounds.
Taming Bigfoot pits 13 teams of seven people against each other to see who can most reduce the effects of their everyday activities on the environment.
The teams use a calculator that incorporates greenhouse gas production numbers specific to East Jefferson County in a measurement of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions associated with various activities.
Activities — home energy, water, public and private transportation, non-recycled garbage, food and shopping — are measured in pounds of carbon dioxide usage per month per team.
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 contest began Jan. 11 and will end April 14 with announcements of prize winners on Earth Day, April 22.
The first phase of the contest ended last week. Baseline levels for each team in all categories — and the total for each team — were announced Wednesday.
Race to reduce
During the second phase, the teams will work to cut their carbon footprint as much as possible.
Winners will be determined by which teams and individuals can reduce their footprints the most.
Two methods will be used to compute this: absolute reduction in pounds of carbon dioxide from the baseline and the percentage of reduction from the baseline, said Bob Bindschadler, a retired NASA scientist now living in Quilcene who is managing the competition.
More than 100 prizes, total some $2,900, have been donated by 40 sponsors. The prizes will be awarded in team and individual categories.
No team can win more than one team prize package and no individual can win more than one individual prize.
Winners will have the opportunity to swap prizes at the awards meeting.
The competition is organized by the Local 20/20 Climate Change Outreach Group, which is connected to the Climate Action Committee formed by the city of Port Townsend and Jefferson County to cut greenhouse gas emissions to a point that is 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Participating teams
The participating teams are the Kale Krushers sponsored by the Food Co-op, St. Paul’s Pandas sponsored by St. Paul’s Church, Incrementally Diminishing Guilt sponsored by Jefferson County, the Olympic Mudminnows sponsored by Washington State University, ET sponsored by Local 20/20 Energy/TLAB, Chums sponsored by the Jefferson Land Trust and the 4-H PT STEM Club.
The Gray Wolves, the Snow Leopards and the Hellbenders are unsponsored while the Quimper United Universalist Fellowship has sponsored four teams: The Tufted Puffins, the Sea Stars, the Newts and the Songdogs.
Three teams have backed out since the competition began due to challenges in collecting accurate data, Bindschadler said.
The next meeting is set for 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. March 14 at the Cotton Building, 607 Water St., in Port Townsend.
For more information, go to 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.
Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
