City of Ithaca hiring Sustainability Specialist
The City of Ithaca is accepting applications for Sustainability Specialist, a temporary contract position that will help implement the City’s Green New Deal. Applications are due July 28.
LED Flares: A Lake Friendly Alternative for Ring of Fire
Every summer, incendiary highway flares create the beautiful red glow we know and love during the Ring of Fire. While creating an exciting fizz and bright light, they also leave behind potassium perchlorate burn-off, which contaminates the air, soil, and lake, in addition to leaving behind metal spikes that can pollute the lake. Consider a new lake-friendly tradition this summer: LED flares.
Show up for Green Amendment Day on July 13th!
Green Amendment Day is dedicated to education and engagement on the power of constitutional Green Amendments for protecting the rights of all people, including future generations, to a clean and healthy environment–with a particular focus on how Green Amendments transform our legal system to strengthen Environmental Justice. We’re challenging you to speak up and take action to demand environmental rights for ALL and to help spread the word across your community, state, and our nation.
Water Quality Cruise on Cayuga Lake for Kids
Join the Community Science Institute (CSI) on an exploration of Cayuga Lake aboard the Floating Classroom on Sunday, July 11, 2021 from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM. For the 16th year running, CSI’s 4-H2O Youth Education Program will be partnering with the Discover Cayuga Lake (DCL)’s Floating Classroom to collect and analyze water samples from Cayuga Lake. Participants will learn how to collect water samples using a Van Dorn sampler and will analyze them while on board the Floating Classroom’s cruise ship, the MV Teal. Data collected by youth volunteers will be included in CSI’s online water quality database.
Sign the petition to #MakePollutersPay!
Have you heard? Congress is finally getting ready to vote on a bill that would make polluters, not everyday families pay to clean up Superfund sites. Right now, we need to let our legislators know why bringing back the Polluters Pay Tax is so important — and we need your help to get out the message! If you believe polluters should pay to clean up their messes, use this link to send a letter to your representatives in support of the Superfund Polluters Pay Restoration Act of 2021. Polluters Pay is essential to protecting our communities from corporate pollution and holding polluters accountable for their toxic messes. Let’s show our reps in Washington that we will fight for Polluters Pay!
Please consider donating now through June 30th! #GivingisGorges
Thank you to our generous donors who have helped us raise $5,795 of our $10,000 goal! There is still 2 days left to donate. Please help us support our young staff – the next generation of sustainability stewards – so we can keep delivering our climate change & equity programming to the community 💚 #GivingisGorges
Give on June 23rd for your chance to win an upcycled lamp!
Giving is Gorges is tomorrow! Even though early giving has already started, this year’s main event on June 23rd has something special in store for all Sustainable Tompkins supporters. Our dear friend Jon Jensen has kindly donated a one-of-a-kind, fully functional upcycled lamp that will be raffled off to ANYONE who donates between 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. on the 23rd. Share our fundraiser on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and get an extra entry per platform!
A setback for activists in the crypto fight…
Assemblymember Anna Kelles, who is the sponsor of A7389, the bill that would put a moratorium on Proof-of-Work cryptocurrency mining, recently gave an update on the bill’s progress. The bill was vetoed in the last few days of the legislative session, which ended on June 10th. This was attributed to union opposition, mainly, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, who are an electrical union that represents 40 contract workers employed by the Greenidge mine in Dresden.
Job Openings!
Job searching? Here’s some current openings at sustainability-minded organizations in the region…
Volunteers needed to monitor harmful algal blooms this summer
Monitoring HABs is a fun way to spend time on the lakeshore and participate in an important community science effort! This fast and accurate information about HABs helps lake-goers make safe decisions about recreating on the lake and betters our shared understanding of the risk these blooms may or may not present.
Family-friendly science event this Saturday at Salt Point
The Community Science Institute (CSI) invites you to a free, water science education event for kids and families at Salt Point Natural Area in Lansing this Saturday, June 12th at 1:00 PM.
1,000 Conversations About Our Future
How do you envision the future? What could a Green New Deal do for you? Tonight from 6-7 PM on Zoom, join the new City of Ithaca Sustainability Director Luis Aguirre Torres and his colleagues for a brief information session on a new project, called 1,000 Conversations About Our Future.
Refrigerant Webinar
Refrigerants are thousands of times more potent compared with carbon dioxide and are among the fastest-growing climate pollutants in the world. Today at 3:00pm, join The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education for a webinar on refrigerant management. Tilden Chao, recipient of Sustainable Tompkins’ Youth Climate Challenge Grant back in 2018 will be on a panel of experts including a researcher at Project Drawdown. Tilden now directs the Yale Refrigerants Initiative and is an EPA Section 608-certified refrigerant handler, with Universal certification. We are so proud of Tilden! Watch the webinar here.
June Events
How will you support the sustainability movement this month? Will you thrift to fund grassroots initiatives? Take an educational hike to learn about invasive species? Rally with us to fight bitcoin mining? Explore the full calendar of events here.
Bitcoin Protest Saturday, June 5th in Avon, NY. Bus rides available!
“In our efforts to nip an extractive, exploitative industry in New York in the bud, we are hosting a critical demonstration at the DEC Region 8 Headquarters this coming Saturday, June 5th. We have media interest from Germany, Italy, France, Japan, China, and national news (CBS, NBC, ABC, Now This News). This is our opportunity to put pressure on Governor Cuomo to put his money where his mouth is, If he wants to be a leader on Climate, he must act on the extractive industry of Proof of Work cryptocurrency, which could cripple New York’s climate goals. Please share these memes, tweet them, do whatever you can to encourage people to SHOW UP on Saturday, June 5th.