Sustainable Energy Day

Selectmen voted unanimously to designate Saturday as “Sustainable Energy Day” in Wellesley when a slate of activities is planned as part of a worldwide rally to draw attention to climate change.

The local events are part of a coordinated effort around the area, the country and the world organized by 350.org, an international group of grassroots volunteers dedicated to solving the climate problem “from the bottom up” by calling on elected officials,  businesses and communities to move away from dependence on fossil fuels.

The local program is geared toward people of all ages.

There are three events planned locally starting with an “ice-cream fueled bike ride between sustainability sites of interest in and around Wellesley.”

The bike tour will begin at 11 a.m. at the Municipal Light Plant building and proceed to solar panels on private homes and at Wellesley College, backyard farms, organic and native plantings, and to a LEED Gold residents’s house.

An EXPO at the Municipal Light Plant from 10 a.m. to 2 will offer sustainability solutions including demonstrations on how to save energy and activities for kids among other things.

And at 2, those up to it will ride their bicycles into Boston for the “Rally for Solutions” taking place at Columbus Waterfront Park by the Aquarian T station where people participating in local festivities across the state will gather.

Selectmen signed the proclamation urging people to take part in the Sustainable Energy Day.

In 2010 Town Meeting voted that a sustainable energy plan to reduce the town’s greenhouse gas emissions 10 percent from 2007 levels within 3 years, or by 2013.

Anyone interested in taking part in the event can sign up by visiting the website at www.moving-planet.org, which gives general information about the worldwide events and leads to more specific information about what’s being planned here in Wellesley.