Brunswick Sustainability Group

Who are we?

The Brunswick Sustainability Group is a grassroots collaboration of community members, students, business owners, and activists who aim to bring the issues of the environment and sustainable living to the forefront of community discussion and action, for global benefit. The BSG was founded in 2003 by four conscientious Brunswick citizens, and has grown recently into a group listing more than 100 members. We live in Brunswick, Topsham, Harpswell, Bath, Bowdoinham, Durham, Richmond, Woolwich and beyond. We even have members in California and Connecticut!

What do we do and talk about?

Though we have common values, we have many diverse interests; our members are involved in community gardens, town recycling, smart growth efforts, environmental education, the arts and sustainable businesses, to name a few. We gather to share ideas on projects we are involved in and wish to be involved in. We discuss local happenings as well as national projects and global problems.

Our main concern is education: we would like for everyone to know what they can do to reduce their global warming emissions and live “lightly”, to act on that, and to hopefully pass that knowledge on. We believe that education is the most contagious form of action. In order to facilitate education and awareness, our group is also making an active effort to bring together all of the groups in the Midcoast area who share our passion for environmental consciousness and sustainable living. We would like to hear from you if you are involved in another such group! With our new website, we will compile lists of events happening all around the area and post them so that they can be seen by lots of people. The more people we have working towards a common goal of reducing carbon emissions, the more effective we will be amongst our neighbors, citizens groups and town and state governments.

What projects are we involved in?

The Brunswick Bike Fair; the Sierra Club’s Cool Communities effort to reduce global warming emissions within individual towns; the National Step-it-Up Challenge; efforts to Buy Local; Community Supported Agriculture and local and organic farming; sustainable development of the Maine Street Station, the possible new Brunswick Elementary School, the old Brunswick High School and the Naval Air Base; Smart Growth for our town; CFL distribution; and various alternative energy projects.

What is in the works?

Our group is relatively new but growing. Our big upcoming event is the Brunswick Bike Fair on Saturday, April 26. We will also continue our film series, in which we showcase highly acclaimed films that not only inform us, but also inspire us and offer solutions for change. We have discussions as well as refreshments after each showing, and often invite an expert speaker to offer perspective and insight.

We also have discussed the possibility of highlighting a local business that is interested in promoting and practicing sustainability in their daily operations. We would evaluate their practices and discuss what each can do to improve, and then publish the results in a local newspaper series. The aim would be to foster friendly competition and community leadership in the interest of acting sustainably.

When do we meet?

We meet once a month, on the fourth Monday, from 7-8:30pm. Currently, we are looking for a new permanent venue; details to be posted once we know where that will be. For March 24th, we will meet in the Morrell room at Curtis Public Library in Brunswick. Everyone is welcome, just walk in!