What do the towns of Belfast, Biddeford, Boothbay, Freeport, Kennebunk, Portland, Saco and Yarmouth have in common? They are each involved in a nationwide initiative called “Cool Cities,” sponsored by the Sierra Club.

The Cool Cities concept can be tailored to the needs or interest of individual towns or cities. In Maine, the name has been changed to Cool Communities (think Boston as compared to Bangor).

One Cool Communities initiative in Maine focuses on creating clean air zones around schools, called No Idling zones. In Maine, 13 percent of our children suffer from asthma – that is the highest rate in New England. Children are more sensitive to pollution; they breathe 50 percent more air per pound of body weight. Vehicle emissions contribute particulates and air toxics, as well as nitrogen oxides that react with sunlight to form ozone pollution. Vehicle or mobile sources contribute more than 50 percent of our air pollution emissions here in Maine.

In Cool Communities, schools and parents work together to create a clean air zone around their schools by asking the bus drivers not to idle their bus engines.

Another Cool Communities concept is to offer green power information to communities through the Biodiesel for Maine project. The project works with interested towns, cities, municipal departments to understand how cleaner, renewable fuels, often made in Maine, can help tackle global warming. Biodiesel is a great way to make a dramatic reduction in global warming pollution by changing the fuel used by trucks, buildings, municipal and commercial vehicles. Biodiesel is a renewable fuel made from animal or vegetable oils.

Another Cool Communities project is to encourage Mainers to buy and eat organic food that is grown locally. Imagine our food grown with no pesticides, food that did not travel by plane or truck from California, and the jobs that could be created right here in Maine if each of us would commit to buying our food locally.

Across the nation, over 800 cities and towns in 50 states are designated as Cool Cities. Maine Partners for Cool Communities, working with the Sierra Club Maine has sent information to Windham Town Manager Tony Plante, who has expressed an interest in knowing more about this project.

Windham Town Councilor Kaile Warren has also expressed interest in learning more. A representative from the Maine Council of Churches, Andy Burt, a tiny powerhouse of a woman who is associated with many local environmental organizations, and well-known environmental activist Joan Saxe, Sierra Club Maine Chapter energy chair, will be calling Plante to schedule a time to discuss the program.

In Yarmouth, two high school students worked closely with the Maine Partners for Cool Communities following the showing of “An Inconvenient Truth” and a discussion about solutions to global warming. Their unrelenting insistence that Yarmouth become a Cool Community and their persuasive presentation to the town council give us all hope for the future. Do we have Windham high school youth who would take this challenge? They could get plenty of help from the Yarmouth youth and from Maine Partners for Cool Communities.

For more information about Cool Communities, feel free to call Sierra Club Maine at 761-5616.

Sally Breen continues to make cool contributions from her Windham home