Environmental summit features experts, vendors

KENT — More than 350 people attended the first-ever Kent Environmental Summit, held at Kent Center School on Saturday, Feb. 20.

Local farmers, builders, environmental experts and elected officials converged to talk about ways to go green — and the importance of doing it now.

Vendors of environmentally friendly products also took part in the summit.

Kent Center School science teacher Michael Green and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal introduced the event.

“We live on a dangerous planet,� Green said, during his 9 a.m. speech in the brightly lit school cafeteria.

“Homes, cities, civilizations and all of our institutions are instabilities in nature,� Green said. “To build our institutions, it took plenty of cheap and readily available energy. In order to maintain it, we need more of the same.

“It turns out that our principal energy sources have contributed to another instability, which is elevated greenhouse [gas] levels leading to a rapid climate change.�

Save trees, save the planet

The science teacher also talked about the dangers of deforestation and overlogging forests, and explained why trees keep the environment healthy.

“Trees produce oxygen and when you destroy them, you’ve removed an element that removes both carbon dioxide and methane from the atmosphere,� he said. “Therefore, it adds these two greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, causing it to heat up. When you heat the atmosphere, you heat ice sheets like glaciers in Greenland and in west Antarctica, which are now melting at a progressively higher rate than before. Deforesting is a very bad idea.�

Plenty of ideas to take home

The program for the summit was passed out on 7-page-long printouts. Vendors at the summit also handed out brochures that attendees could take home, with ideas on how to save the forests and improve green building.

Next to speak was Attorney General Blumenthal, who said that America is on the verge of an exciting era thanks to the  environmental activism being carried out now.

“As many reasons as there are to be cynical and pessimistic, it’s an exciting time to be alive,� he said.

Blumenthal used the successful grassroots efforts to defeat a plan to build a golf club at Yale Farm in Norfolk as an example of how communication works in a struggle.

Last year, developers pulled their plan to turn the 780-acre property into a golf course after  residents in Norfolk and North Canaan asserted their opposition.

“We had to fight a development that could have potentially destroyed aquifers and other water sources,� Blumenthal said. “Our fight was successful thanks to citizen activism. People were able to able to relate, communicate and connect with each other.�

Water, water everywhere ...

The menu at the event reflected environmental concerns. Fair Trade coffee was served in paper cups, yogurt was available in individual serving sizes but there was no bottled water.

“Bottled water is the enemy!� said Kent Land Trust Director Connie Manes, who was also one of the event organizers. “There are so many conservation issues surrounding bottled water, including its recycling. So, in consideration of the environment, bottled water will not be the refreshment of the day.�

Walking the walk (or

driving the drive)

Although most cars in the parking lot were still traditionally fueled, one of the hybrid cars out there belonged to the attorney general.

“I own three hybrid cars,� Blumenthal said. “Two of them just happen to be Toyotas, but that’s another topic. Hopefully within the next 10 years, people will be driving more hybrid cars.�

A refined awareness of ‘green’

In the school’s gymnasium, approximately 35 vendors promoted a wide variety of eco-friendly goods, from farm products to solar energy.

One of the vendors, Guy Mauri of Old Mill Builders in Kent, said his primary environmental concern is companies that introduce building products and market them as “green.�

“A lot of the ‘green’ products these companies introduce are actually petroleum- and plastic-based,� Mauri said. “They usually end up in landfills. I would advise people to be well-educated and to do their research before they make any purchases.�

Former Selectman Vincent LaFontan, owner of Mountain View Farm, said he is concerned that consumers think all fruits and vegetables they find in the grocery store are healthy, even though often they are not.

“Do you even know how many pesticides are in a grocery store-purchased potato?� LaFontan said. “Usually, at the very least, they spray a pesticide on the crop while it’s growing in the field. Then they spray pesticides on them during storage to prevent them from sprouting.�

LaFontan, whose farm was the first certified organic farm in Kent, said it is possible to raise and sell affordable, organic, pesticide-free crops.

“It’s not impossible to make a profit in selling affordable organic foods,� he said.

After the summit, co-organizer Karren Garrity (who is a selectman) called the event a  success.

“We were hoping for at least 200 people, but we had 350 attend, so we are thrilled,� she said. “Once we recover from organizing the event, we will talk about what to do with it next year.�

Garrity said it cost around $4,000 to $5,000 to organize and put on the summit. She did not know how much was raised from admission, vendor and sponsor fees, but said she hoped that the organizers would “break even.�