Chewonki sets goals to reduce carbon emissions

A Maine foundation that operates environmental education programs, including boys and girls camps, announced plans Tuesday to reduce the organization’s carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

The Chewonki Foundation, which is based in Wiscasset but owns land around the state, set goals of reducing emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by 10 percent within two years and by 20 percent by 2015. By 2050, the foundation hopes to have lowered carbon emissions by 80 percent from 2005-06 levels.

“Chewonki’s campus already provides an excellent example [of] how long-term thinking and investments in insulation, water conservation and alternative lighting and heating methods can pay off over the long term,” Joshua Marvil, president of the Chewonki board, said in a statement. “The latest move by our board provides an important public statement that our organization will continue to do its best to preserve our planet’s fragile resources and to model sustainable behavior.”

The Chewonki Foundation has operated a boys camp in Wiscasset since the 1960s, although the camp predates the foundation’s involvement. This summer the foundation plans to open a girls camp on Fourth Debsconeag Lake in the North Woods.

Chewonki also owns and operates Big Eddy Campground on the West Branch of the Penobscot River and owns several islands along the Maine coast. In addition to the camps, Chewonki offers wilderness trips, a traveling natural history program and a semester-long residency program for high school students.

Willard Morgan, head of school for the Maine Coast Semester program, said the foundation likely will start off its carbon reduction goals by purchasing more of its electricity from renewable, green suppliers. The organization also will work to maximize efficiency at its locations by upgrading heating, hot water and other systems.

Over the long term, Chewonki also will look at moving away from fossil-fuel-based energy by switching to solar and other renewable resources, Morgan said. The foundation also is looking in the short term at ways to reduce the carbon footprint of its fleet of vehicles as well as those of its employees.

“That’s a challenge because part of our mission is getting kids out into the wilderness,” Morgan said in an interview. “But we’re excited that the challenge will spur innovation.”

Some Chewonki vehicles already use a blend of biodiesel fuel or hybrid technology.

The reduction initiative grew out of a project by past Maine Coast Semester students who calculated the foundation’s carbon footprint and recommended additional reductions. Chewonki President Don Hudson noted that the foundation emits the equivalent of about 17 U.S. households, this despite serving roughly 40,000 students annually.

kmiller@bangordailynews.net

990-8250