It’s Getting Hot In Here

Over the weekend, students from across the state of Maine participated in Operation Keep ME Warm, a project of the state government that sends volunteer teams to winterize the homes of low-income seniors. This year, the Maine Climate Campaign facilitated the largest student volunteer contingent in the program’s history. Students from Bowdoin College, Unity College, College of the Atlantic, U-Maine Farmington, U-Maine Orono, the University of Southern Maine and other schools around the state set off on a day-long blitz to winterize homes by caulking around windows and doors, covering windows and foundations with plastic sheeting, insulating electrical outlets, and replacing standard lightbulbs with CFLs - the donation of which was arranged by students from Unity.Volunteers also gave participating residents information about energy saving strategies and climate change. The expanded educational aspect of the program was also an initiative of the Maine Climate Campaign. Student leaders have been working with the governor’s office and the state community service commission since March to infuse some young energy and a stronger emphasis on the connections between energy use and climate change into the three year-old program. The Maine Climate Campaigners hope to consolidate numbers and lessons-learned from the weekend to help facilitate an even larger college and university volunteer presence next year.