About BLUER

The West Chester BLUER committee is an all-volunteer ad-hoc committee formed by West Chester Borough Council. BLUER's mission is to help our entire community (including our municipal and County government operations, residents, businesses, and nonprofits) reduce greenhouse gas pollution 10% over 2005 levels by the year 2015. This will help us break the trend toward rising greenhouse emissions and put West Chester on a track toward further greenhouse gas reductions, and toward a more sustainable economic and environmental future.

We will help ensure that the West Chester community:
• becomes aware of its own contribution to the cause-and-effect relationship between human-generated CO2 pollution and global climate change, and
• takes real measures to reduce its CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions through energy conservation, waste reduction, and conversion to cleaner, renewable energy sources.

West Chester's Borough Council committed to participate in the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign, sponsored by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) through adoption of Resolution #3 of 2002. The resolution signaled that West Chester Borough would take a leadership role in promoting public awareness about the causes and impacts of climate change and undertake the five milestones of the Cities for Climate Protection. Establishing West Chester BLUER puts West Chester Borough's resolution into action. The proposed plan will follow the five-milestone framework for reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gas pollutants, as recommended by the ICLEI Cities for Climate Protection program. We meet the first Friday of every month at 1:00 PM in the Borough Hall. Our meetings are open to the public and we encourage you to attend.

What can I do?

Your help is needed. Every resident and business has a role in reducing GHG emissions. Over the course of preparing our Climate Action Plan, the BLUER Committee will be providing you with information on what you can do as a resident, business owner or homeowner to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On our Act Now page we give you FIVE Actions that you can take to minimize your greenhouse gas emissions.

Strategy

BLUER is reducing emissions using the 5-step strategy designed by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives. The steps:

1. Calculate the Borough's emissions
2. Select a reduction goal
3. Create a climate action plan
4. Implement policies and measures
5. Monitor progress

BLUER will implement its Climate Action Plan for the different sectors of the community (e.g., business/commercial/industrial, nonprofit/religious institutions, municipal government operations, county government operations, and residences) and gauge emission-reduction progress for each sector, recognizing that each has different needs and capabilities. BLUER will reach out to the West Chester community in an effort to engage the entire borough in this partnership. Specifically, BLUER will offer incentives to the business/commercial/industrial sector, recruit the participation of the Borough?s religious/nonprofit institutions, work in support of our municipal and county government operations to achieve greenhouse-gas reductions as cost-effectively as possible, and enable residents to take personal steps to reduce their own greenhouse-gas pollution. Through all of these efforts, BLUER will seek to make West Chester a model (energy-smart) community that practices energy conservation and waste reduction and relies substantially on cleaner, renewable energy sources for its remaining energy needs.

To view our complete mission statement and goals, click here.