Ballard took a preliminary step in becoming the first carbon neutral community in the nation during the "Carbon Neutral Campaign" kick-off last Wednesday at Bergen Place.

The campaign is meant to help educate local residents on how they can reduce their impact on the environment through efficiency, car sharing, conservation and developing new sustainable habits.

The goal is to counteract Greenhouse Gas (GHG) by neutralizing its impact while increasing public awareness on how carbon dioxide emissions damage the atmosphere.

Over 100 members of the community attended the kick-off. "Ballard is showing the way. We re the first community to absolutely accept the challenge to be carbon neutral. It's a step in the right direction," said Mary Lou Dickerson, the 36th Legislative District state representative.

"It's an important issue now and will be more important in the next few years," she said.

Sustainable Ballard, who, along with NetGreen, co sponsored the event, is a non-profit with four-hundred members that is developing a grassroots vision of sustainability in Ballard. They define sustainability as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Their mission is to foster new awareness of community connections and meaningful sustainability due to excess energy dependence and consumption, and the depletion of key resources. The group wants to empower citizens in Ballard to become leaders in collective community self-reliance and autonomy.

Sustainable Ballard holds workshops and public events to get their message across. Their third annual festival is on Oct. 1 at the Ballard Commons Park.

According to NetGreen's statement, "this non-divisive campaign is rooted in responsibility and balance and is designed to raise awareness of the simple things that citizens can do to stabilize and eventually reverse the now-undisputed danger to our planet from global warming. It is intended to spur a regional and national movement to counteract and reduce our carbon footprint community by community, organization by organization, business by business and individual by individual."

The types of project envisioned by Sustainable Ballard and NetGreen include: renewable energy; energy saving measures; power shift sources like cruise line plug ins and truck stop electrification; combined power and heat generation; methane recovery and use (sewage treatment plants); green building initiatives; and capital equipment that reduces energy use in undercapitalized sectors such as schools.

NetGreen is also partnering with an organization named Climate Trust, a non-profit that finds solutions to stabilizing the rapidly changing climate. By investing funds from power plants, businesses and individuals, the money is put into projects to offset their GHG emissions.

In Motion, a campaign by King County Metro to encourage people to take the bus, bike or walk around Ballard was started ten weeks ago.

"Ballard is ready to take on the carbon neutral challenge," said Sustainable Ballard's President Vic Opperman.

A long list of businesses, political leaders, governments, non-profit organizations and scientists are supporting NetGreen.

Attending the "Get Carbon Neutral" event were: King County Councilman Larry Phillips; Seattle City Councilmember and Chair of the Environment Richard Conlin; Director of Seattle's Office of Sustainability and Environment Steve Nicholas; State Representative, 36th Legislative District Mary Lou Dickerson; State Representative 32nd District and prime sponsor of HB2794 Encouraging Carbon Mitigation, Maralyn Chase; Flexcar Co-Founder and Netgreen's Founder and Executive Director Tracy Carroll; and President of Sustainable Ballard Vic Opperman.

Ballard businesses supporting "Get Carbon Neutral" include: Flexcar, Dr. Dan's Alternative Fuelworks, Acclaim Sign and Display, Agape Childcare and Pre-School, King County Metro Market Development, National Dry Cleaners, St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Sustainable Ballard, and NetGreen.

To learn more visit www.AchieveNetGreen.com.