Speaker: Michael Helme, Warwick, NY, USA
How (and why) are you taking action on climate change solutions in, for, and with your community?
Michael Helme: Greetings. My name is Michael Helm and I live in Warwick, New York. I'm happy to share with folks a special climate solution action my community is undertaking in 2017, the first version of drawdown calculated that refrigerant management was the number one climate solution. And a few of us got together to study how we could do something beneficial with refrigerant management. Over the years, we have studied proposed laws and policies and often sent letters or spoke at hearings on refrigerant management topics. We have also held recycling drives which we call the coolest recycling drives because by focusing on refrigerant containing appliances and properly recycling them. They are very successful at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Usually in my counties, someone has to take their old machine to a distant transfer station and pay $15 to have it properly recycled. But coolest recycling drives make this service free of charge and we make it convenient by holding local drop off events or even visiting the homes of the elderly to pick up appliances. In 2023 we held four drop off events and collected 100 and 30 appliances. The refrigerant that was recovered from those machines had a total CO2 E or, or carbon dioxide equivalent of more than £500,000. This is like taking more than 50 American cars off the road for a full year and we accomplished this by spending less than $1000 this year. A major company has agreed to support coolest recycling drives which has allowed us to expand from four drop off events to 13 drop off events and cover two counties here in New York. The coolest recycling drives have been warmly received in our communities and I and I hope others will copy the idea and start holding them wherever they live.
