Happy New Year Devens! As we usher in 2025, we celebrate a time of making resolutions and setting goals for the coming months. If committing to big climate actions – like getting an electric vehicle or electrifying your home or business – feels like a daunting challenge, why not start smaller? Try making one of the following four resolutions and take on achievable actions to set you up for a sustainable new year!
Waste Less
When resolving to take climate action, wasting less is a good place to start for both residents and businesses. Oftentimes, simple changes to how we consume and discard materials can make a big impact in the amount of waste we produce. When we produce less waste, we send less material to landfill. When we send less waste to landfill, we reduce methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Here are some simple actions you can take to waste less in 2025:
- Compost your food waste. MassDEP is working towards a statewide goal of diverting 780 thousand tons of food waste and organic material from disposal per year by 2030. Food waste makes up approximately 20% of trash from homes and businesses. Devens residents can get a backyard home composting bin for $25 and kitchen bin for $5 from the Devens DPW here. Businesses can also get a ton of great resources for composting from MassDEP and Recycling Works.
- Donate your commercial materials. Take advantage of the Devens Eco-Efficiency Center and ensure your unused commercial materials like office supplies and furniture don’t go to waste!
Start a Climate Conversation
While most people hear about climate change on the news or social media fairly often, very few of us actually take the next step of bringing those conversations into our lives. A very easy way to take climate action in 2025 is starting there: just talking about climate change! Use these resources to get started:
- Utilize a climate conversation guide. Use this guide to learn how to identify common interests and connect them to climate change.
- Share the dashboard. After starting your conversation, direct your conversation partner to this dashboard! The Devens Forward Dashboard is the best place to keep up with our community’s efforts to address climate change.
- Talk to us! The Devens Enterprise Commission and the Devens Eco-Efficiency Center can help residents and businesses tackle climate change issues locally that can have regional impacts.
Save Energy
Saving energy is a triple threat of a sustainability resolution. It saves you money on your home or business utility bills, improves indoor comfort, and reduces your greenhouse gas emissions. Try these simple actions to save energy within the first few weeks of 2025:
- Use free tips for low-cost weatherization and energy efficiency. Utilize this online tip sheet for to reduce your wasted heat or AC and save energy.
- Take your business sustainability to the next level. Use our Devens Forward Climate Action Toolkit for Businesses to learn how to optimize your commercial energy practices for efficiency.
Travel Cleaner
While it can feel daunting to switch up your daily transportation – especially if you rely on a personal vehicle – try slowly incorporating some of the following simple options (maybe just on weekends to start!) to see if you can make your commuting or personal travel cleaner:
- Utilize the commuter rail. Devens is an MBTA Adjacent Community, meaning our community has access to stations in neighboring towns. Find your closest train stop here.
- Don’t forget you can take the Devens Regional Shuttle to the downtown Ayer MBTA station!
- Ride the bus. Check out the Montachusett Regional Transit Authority (MART) bus and on-demand shuttles to get around town.
Thank you for reading, we hope you have a happy and sustainable New Year!