The Climate Crisis and How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Tuesday, May 30th
7:30 – 9:00pm
Online via Zoom; Link: bit.ly/ClimateLyceum
Are you worried about climate change or interested in climate justice? Do you want your own home to be more friendly to our planet? Then this Lane Lyceum is for you! Ed Quinlan will briefly review the sources and growth in global greenhouse gas emissions and review the sources of carbon emissions in a typical Needham home. We will explore what things homeowners can do to reduce their carbon footprint including weatherization, converting to heat pumps, solar and EVs. Claire Galkowski will provide a brief presentation on how they accomplished this with their home.
Ed Quinlan worked as a consulting engineer for 40 years helping large building owners make their buildings more energy efficient, primarily through modifications to the buildings HVAC systems. Since his retirement 4 years ago, Ed has been working as a Technical resource for Green Needham, helping Needham homeowners who are trying to navigate the process of lowering their home’s carbon footprint.
Jan Galkowski has a B.S. in Physics and an S.M. in EE and Computer Science. He was a test and embedded software engineer from 1976-1996, and quantitative analyst from 1993-2010. From 2009-2019 he specialized in Internet modeling and devising Internet experiments. From 2009 onwards he has been both a student of climate science and climate activist. Most recently he has been interested in solar power engineering and in Bryology He works with his wife, Claire, to make their home efficient and zero emissions. Jan also studies mosses in the vicinity of Westwood, their phenology, and practices macrophotography and microphotography.
Claire Galkowski’s growing concern for human environmental impacts inspired her to change careers. She was hired as the Executive Director of the South Shore Recycling Cooperative in 1998, which she still runs. She helps its 18 towns reduce their waste, and advocates for better waste policies in her hometown of Westwood and in Massachusetts. She is also a member of FPN’s Green Congregation Committee. When she met Jan in 2010, her focus on waste reduction broadened to include other forms of climate action. Together they have converted their mid-century split level into a zero carbon home.