August 14, 2020

Climate action can be categorized by three terms: Reduce, reuse and recycle.

Heritage Museums & Gardens does these three things to become sustainable and stem the impact on the climate. You can do the same in your home or apartment.

REDUCE: To reduce energy consumption Heritage has taken a great deal of action. They turned to the experts at Cape Light Compact for their energy assessment services. These services are available to everyone who owns or rents a home or apartment. Cape Light conducted an assessment of several buildings. Heritage reviewed all of the suggestions and identified the ones they wanted to complete over time.

Based on this list, Heritage has insulated ceilings with high-efficiency insulation and replaced all windows and doors in key buildings. They have replaced heaters with high-efficiency heaters in several buildings. They have also deployed the use of heat pumps for efficient heat and cooling. Future plans include replacing large garage doors on their maintenance building and solar panels to generate electricity. You can have the same thing done with your home or apartment.

For the Gardens Aglow celebration, they have converted to LED lights. While more expensive than traditional string lights, LED lights last some 50,000 hours and use much less energy. Homeowners should know that Cape Light will replace all your lights with LED lights at no charge for materials or labor.

In 2020, Heritage began purchasing 10 percent of consumed energy from Acushnet Solar Farms through a program called Changing Visions of Energy. The program donates one dollar for every panel installed to local nonprofit environmental organizations. In your home, you can purchase renewable energy through the Cape Light Compact as well. Go to www.capelightcompact.org/clcgreen.

REUSE: This is one of the most charming examples of reuse I have ever run across. For the McGraw Family Garden of the Senses, Heritage wanted to create a waterfall. This garden engages all the senses and a waterfall can be heard, touched and experienced on many levels. They had a beautiful hill for it but needed stone. At the same time, there was an old barn on the property that had seen better days. They tore down the barn and realized they had a source of lovely large stones for their waterfall. Old stones that held up a building for centuries now provide the therapeutic sound and charm of this garden. For a look at this wonderful garden and the waterfall go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KW7nuqQYNw.

RECYCLE: For many years, Heritage has incorporated recycling into their waste management. The public experiences this at the café, where virtually all materials used for food containers are recyclable. But wherever you look at Heritage you will find signs of recycling—even for old sod stakes. Recycling is also present in Heritage’s propagation of plants. Since 2013, in no small measure, Heritage has grown many of its own plants. That was the year they constructed a greenhouse in the maintenance area. In the spring, you will find the greenhouse filled with seedlings.

Heritage is developing strategic plans to improve and increase their sustainability efforts.

You can too. Look at your situation. Where can you reduce your energy use and consumption? Where can you reuse materials for a new purpose? And where can you recycle your waste materials more effectively? The folks at Heritage are certainly demonstrating how to live sustainably and curb the impact on the climate.

Climate change is real. You can take action to restrain the effects of climate change. In these stressful days of crisis upon crisis, this is one crisis where you can have a huge impact right in your own backyard. It feels good to take action that counts for a lot.