Thank you for publishing the article “Unitarians’ church officially free of fossil fuels,” [Gazette, Dec. 11]. It is important to recognize people and organizations who were involved in this effort over the past decade.
The members of the Climate Action Group, particularly Sarah Metcalf, Lou Pugh, Ed Olmstead and Molly Hale, thoughtfully advocated over several months for the divestment of fossil fuel stocks. They were able to persuade the congregation to pass a divestment resolution by a wide margin.
Sarah Metcalf, Mike Brooks, Russ Carrier, Harriet Diamond and Molly Hale were instrumental in carrying out the capital campaign to place solar panels on our building.
Harriet Diamond instigated and motivated members of committees in the congregation to work on our heat pumps project. Eric Broadbent, Alan Dorman and John Poirier worked tirelessly for two years, sometimes with consultants, to decrease the thermal load of the building and design an efficient and effective heat pump system.
Delta HVACR did an excellent and rapid job of installing the system.
Finally, despite the financial risks and sacrifices these campaigns called for, as a group we agreed that the risks of the climate emergency were far greater.
William Diamond, Climate Action Group chairperson
Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence