Make the FLx a National Heritage Area!
As you may know, the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance (FLTA) is working to secure a National Heritage Area designation for the Finger Lakes. Here’s why it’s important and how you can help.
URGENT: GREENIDGE RALLY SATURDAY, APRIL 17TH @ 2:00 PM – DRESDEN, NY
We learned over the weekend that the Torrey Town Board, despite what they said at their last meeting (about holding a special meeting for Greenidge later in the month), has rather quietly MOVED THE MEETING UP TO APRIL 19TH.
Tonight at 7pm – Make your voice heard on climate, jobs, and justice!
Join NY Renews tonight at 7:00pm for a town hall with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris to talk about the THRIVE Agenda and the CCIA. And they’ll be spending most of the time taking questions directly from YOU. New Yorkers need a real recovery NOW, at every level of government! Click here for details and to register.
Electricity and heat aren’t luxuries; they are necessities. Let’s fight back!
Our utility system is set up to prioritize making money for a small number of wealthy people over us, our homes, our health, and our well-being. Join Alliance for a Green Economy and other members of the New York Energy Democracy Alliance at 6PM on April 8th to learn how we can fight back against the system and demand debt cancellation, energy efficiency, and public power!
No more road salt!
While we need to use road salt to keep roadways safe in the ice and snow, the accumulation of salt that washes into waterways has unintended consequences on aquatic life. It also largely contributes to Harmful Algal Blooms, which have been a major problem in the Finger Lakes Region for years. Using this much imported salt is also expensive in terms of both money and carbon emissions. Fortunately, practical alternatives are starting to emerge; namely, salt brine and live-blade plows (which you can learn more about in the article below). Over the course of 2 years testing these alternatives, communities around Lake George cut their salt usage in half, “a drop that maintenance officials say can’t be explained by weather variations”.
Eliminate Gas Leaf Blowers in NYS May 1 – Sept 30
The gas-powered leaf blower is responsible for a significant amount of fossil fuel use, as well as noise and air pollution. Our cars and trucks require strict emissions testing and regulation. The 2-stroke engines in gas leaf blowers (GLBs) lacks emission control components, releasing 300 times the levels of hydrocarbons as vehicles on the road. According to the California Air Resources Board, running one for 1 hour is equivalent to the pollutants released by driving a car 1100 miles.
Ask Cuomo to protect the Finger Lakes!
Please call Cuomo’s office and put pressure on him and the DEC to protect quality of life and our local economy in the Finger Lakes. WE RESIST BEING A SACRIFICE ZONE FOR WALL STREET! Call him today at 518-474-8390 and tell him he can make it up to his constituents by getting involved and telling Wall Street and greedy outside corporations to take a hike. Our lakes can’t take any more human pressure on them – especially for something as wasteful as bitcoins.
Stop Utility Shutoffs!
Will you help get 100 emails to the Public Service Commission (PSC) today? This would help in the efforts to head off a flurry of utility shutoffs slated to start next week. New York’s utility shutoff moratorium ends on March 28, and word is that the utilities are getting ready to start shutoffs on Monday, March 29. It’s important for the PSC to tell the utilities NOT TO DISCONNECT ANYONE.
Vote for the Green Amendment in NY
Watch for it and vote yes! This November, we will decide whether the state constitution should be amended to include a right to clean air and water, as well as a “healthy environment”, aka the Green Amendment! Who wouldn’t want that? Turns out, we may be facing some tough opposition. Read this article to learn more.
Climate, Jobs & Justice Action Week
We will be engaging in over 40 lobby visits, dozens of distributed rallies, a huge kick off call, daily social media actions, a town hall with Senator Schumer himself, and much more. And we’re doing all of this in a single week. Here are two ways you can take action now!
Cornell Students: Become a Residential Composter!
Looking to compost on campus? Want to manage your food-related waste better this semester? Interested in reducing your impact on climate change? Become a certified Residential Composter. Available to students & staff living in on-campus housing.
Global Climate Strike Today!
Today, March 19th, is the day of Global (Virtual) Climate Strike. This is your CALL TO ACTION! Make a sign, snap a pic, tag your reps & hashtag it, & Demand Climate Justice! More info provided by Sunrise Ithaca here.
Seneca Lake needs YOU tonight!
While the Finger Lakes is being considered for a National Heritage Designation by Congress, the small Town of Torrey and Greenidge could make a decision that would forever harm this gem of a region we call home. Burning dirty fossil fuels, warming our water, killing our aquatic life, and generating noise is completely antithetical to our way of life- one that would negatively impact our air, our environment, our water, and our agri-tourism economy- for generations to come- in the midst of global climate change. It’s inconceivable. We cannot allow this to happen.
Tell NYS Assembly: We want more environmental justice!
YOU CAN HELP get an energy efficiency NYS Assembly bill moving toward a vote! What to do…
Let’s fight off dirty fuel this Thursday!
New York’s Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act (CLCPA) mandates that we get off of fossil fuels and invest in frontline communities — eventually, the fossil fuel industry will be irrelevant. Unsurprisingly, they’re pushing back. NY Renews just released a new report detailing five “false solutions” that the gas industry puts forward to seem “clean” and “green”, but in reality are just as dirty as their fossil fuel counterparts. So what to do?