Needham celebrates Earth Day

By Lisa Kocian, Globe Staff

All over Needham, residents are driving a little more conscientiously, turning off computers, or maybe eating more veggies, all in an effort to meet the 10% Energy Challenge.

The Green Needham Collaborative is marking Earth Day with an awards ceremony this afternoon for those who have accepted that challenge, to reduce their carbon footprint.

The 10% Challenge was announced in January as a way to encourage Needham families, businesses, and town staff to be a little nicer to Mother Earth, with the help of an online tool, at challenge.greenneedham.org. Participants can commit to eating one vegetarian meal weekly or to driving the speed limit, for example, and the site will calculate the pounds of carbon dioxide emissions cut as a result.

So far, 175 Needham households have committed to curbing about 1.3 million pounds of CO2, the equivalent of taking 130 mid-size cars off the road, according to a press release from Green Needham.

About one third of members, 60 households, of the First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist Church have accepted the challenge, as have almost 40 percent of the Needham League of Women Voters, and the entire Health Department, according to the release.

The awards ceremony, which will also include remarks from Schools Superintendent Dan Gutekanst on plans to save energy in the schools and to recruit families to join the challenge, will be at 4 p.m. today at Town Hall.