Sustainable Stockton

“small things add up to big change”

Description:

A citizen group working towards a sustainable community by promoting a functional and healthy economic, ecological, and social climate within the Town of Stockton, WI.  The group will work to support individuals, businesses, and the Town government in making decisions that protect and enhance the quality of life for both humanity and natural systems, now and in the future.

Mission Statement:

To create and implement a shared, community vision for a sustainable future in the Town of Stockton, Central Wisconsin.

Structure:

The Committee shall be made up of any interested residents of the Town of Stockton as well as other interested parties. Resident Committee members in attendance will have a vote.  The Committee shall meet on the first Thursday of every month at 7:00 pm in the Town of Stockton Municipal Building unless otherwise stated.  The Committee will elect, by simple nomination and majority vote, two Committee Co-Chairs, a Committee Secretary, and a Committee Treasurer.   One or both Committee Co-Chairs will administer the meetings; Committee Secretary will take minutes and disperse any necessary information; Committee Treasurer will be responsible for Committee financial matters.  All issues will be decided by simple majority vote rules.  The Committee strives to keep the atmosphere of its meetings relaxed and inviting to encourage a diversity of attendees and open-minded thoughts.  Meetings are open to the public.  The Committee maintains an e-mail list.  Anyone requesting to be on this list will be added.  The Committee reserves the right to create subcommittees and to communicate via e-mail/phone/in-person between meetings.

Goals

1. To Facilitate the Education of our Community on Sustainability.
2. To Promote and Support Sustainable Practices.
3. To Create a Long-Range Vision for Sustainability in our Town.
4. To Annually Re-Evaluate our Mission Statement, Description, Structure, Goals, Etc. to ensure they follow sustainable criteria. (As referenced in The Natural Steps for Communities)
   
   • Reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
   • Reduce dependence on chemical usage that can accumulate in nature.
   • Reduce dependence on activities that harm life-sustaining eco-systems.
   • Meet present and future human needs fairly and efficiently (social justice and economic equality).

Projects

Compact Fluorescent Light bulb (CFL) Projects

There are two projects sponsored by Sustainable Stockton to encourage increased use of fluorescent light bulbs and to help residents of Stockton understand the benefits in using compact fluorescents bulbs versus the standard incandescent bulbs.

The first project involves gathering data from one household in Stockton as they move from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescents.  The family kept records of usage and costs first using all incandescent bulbs and are currently in the process of keeping records after the incandescents have been replaced by compact fluorescents.  There are many anecdotal records of families in Stockton who say they have reduced their electricity bill by as much as one third after conversion, but this project will give more exact numbers and, hopefully, these results will encourage others in Stockton to go through a similar conversion.

RESULTS: The family agreed to track light bulb usage hours of three major use areas for a total of four months, two with incandescent bulbs and two with CFLs.  The family changed all of their lights over to fluorescents (except in the workshop) for the second two-month period.  When comparing energy costs over this four month period it was calculated to cost the family $0.24/hour during the first two months and $0.18/hour during the seond two months of the trial -- an impressive savings of $0.06/hour.  This equated to an approximate $77 savings in their electrical bill for two months or $460 per year.

The second project involves a grant application to the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board (WEEB) done in cooperation with the City of Stevens Point and Marathon County.  The goal of this grant request is to raise the environmental literacy level of residents and provide compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) to enable residents in Stockton to begin to experiment with use of the CFLs.  If funded, light bulbs will be given out to residents along with literature explaining the advantages of CFLs.  The message will be: what residents do in their own homes to conserve energy will provide economic savings and environmental benefits.

Donations and in-kind support for these two projects come from: Lowes; Cindy Davis; Whitefeather Organics, LLC; Pawsitively Unleashed; Home Safe Building Performance; Midwest Renewable Energy Association and others.

For more information go to:

Energy efficient home lighting (PDF)

Mercury and energy efficient lighting (PDF)

“Economic and environmental factors are driving the need for energy conservation.  In 2006 Wisconsinites spent over $4 billion for residential energy, most of it imported from other states and countries.  The most recent Wisconsin statistics show that from 1970 to 2005 state-wide residential energy use increased by 31 % and residential energy costs increased over eight –fold.  Since 1980 Wisconsin’s carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change have increased by over a third.”