Today environmental leaders and government officials met in Silver Spring to weatherize a home in a low-income neighborhood as a show of solidarity in the fight against climate change.

One of over 7,000 events in 188 countries celebrating the 10/10/10 Global Work Party

Silver Spring, Md. – Today environmental leaders and government officials met in Silver Spring to weatherize a home in a low-income neighborhood as a show of solidarity in the fight against climate change.

The Montgomery County “Climate Work Party” included appearances by Director of the Maryland Energy Administration Malcolm Wolf, Montgomery County council members George Leventhal and Nancy Floreen, and Mike Kennedy, Director of the Maryland Energy and Sustainability Cooperative.

Susan Hawfield of Rebuilding Together helped to organize the event. “The work we are doing today is important,” Howfield explained. “Typically, low-income homeowners live in homes that are older, in greater disrepair, and much more energy wasteful than average.  With the recent jump in heating fuel and electricity prices, many of our clients now spend 20 to 35 percent of their household budgets on energy, which is four to five times the median. Families often risk losing their homes because they can’t afford these bills.”

Local environmentalists and volunteers from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Rebuilding Together, and Clean Currents weatherized the home of the Lopez family. The groups recently conducted an energy audit of the Lopez family’s home and found several areas needing significant improvement. On 10/10/10, a team of volunteers made upgrades to the home including installing new CFL light bulbs and weather stripping, reinforcing chalking, and installing an energy efficient hot water heater. The Maryland Energy Administration funded the project, along with four other home weatherization sites in Montgomery County.

The Montgomery County home weatherization were organized as part of the 10/10/10 Global Work Party, a day of climate action coordinated by 350.org that is uniting over 7,000 events in 188 countries and may be the most widespread day of environmental action in history.

“Today in Montgomery County and around the world, people are taking amazing action to mark this amazing date,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Real people are installing real solar panels and weatherizing real homes and planting real trees. All to say: Congress, you need to get to work too! Solve the climate crisis!”

Highlights from the 10/10/10 Global Work Party included:

• In the United States, over 1,200 events were planned, from parishioners weatherizing their church in Atlanta to a hip-hop show at a community garden in Oakland, California.
• In China and India, over 300 universities joined 10/10/10 as part of the Great Power Race, a student clean energy competition.
• In Afghanistan, students planted hundreds of trees in a valley outside of Kabul.
• In Congo, refugees planted a “Forest of Hope” outside of Goma, home to thousands of refugees from regional conflicts.
• In Mexico City, the Mayor signed a commitment to cut carbon emissions 10% over the next year and joined thousands for a solar-powered festival in Chapultepec Park.

Other climate work parties in the Washington, DC region included a huge rally with hundreds of activists at the White House, Georgetown’s first-ever residential solar panel installation, and a world-record breaking vegan potluck dinner with hundreds of preparations of eco-friendly fare.

The 10/10/10 Global Work Party was coordinated by the international climate campaign 350.org and 10:10 Global. Photos and video from thousands of simultaneous events across the planet will also be available for the media at 350.org/media.

“We’re mad that our politicians have largely failed to act on climate, but instead of just complaining we’re trying to show them the way forward,” said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org. “It’s not a tea party, it’s a work party.”

###