December Calendar of Events
Have you visited our calendar of events lately? This month, stop by the CAP-a-Palooza Art Sale, donate to a food pantry, or help out on a community orchard! See the full calendar here.
Schuyler County Farm Trail Weekend this Saturday and Sunday
Have some family fun down on the farm during the 2nd Annual Schuyler County Farm Trail Weekend, Saturday and Sunday, September 25th and 26th (10:00am-4:00pm unless noted). Ten of the finest farms in the Watkins Glen area and throughout Schuyler County will be open to the public, offering tours, tastings, hay-rides, demonstrations, apple picking, farm-market shopping. Meet the farm animals, too!
September Calendar of Events
Hit up Brighton’s annual Eco-fair, clean up a community garden, or learn about digital literacy with the Alliance for Science! September is full of ways to plug into the sustainability movement. See our September calendar of events here!
Neighborhood Mini Grants funds observation board celebrating Six Mile Creek
Flowing through forested gorges and farmland, winding through the City of Ithaca to Cayuga Lake, Six Mile Creek is the city’s water supply and a part of home for people in diverse communities. Titus Triangle Park in Ithaca’s Southside now hosts an observation board celebrating the creek and those who live along it, created as a collaborative project led by Southside resident Adrianna Hirtler and supported by a Neighborhood Mini-Grant from Sustainable Tompkins.
Community Food System Gathering: September 29, in Ithaca
FREE! Tompkins County Residents, municipal officials, and food system stakeholders are invited for a discussion of the local food system and a light meal. The Tompkins Food Future team will share the results of a baseline assessment of the Tompkins County Food System with you and would like to hear your insights, innovations, and hopes for the future. Your thoughts and contributions will be incorporated into a shared Food System Plan over the coming year. Dishes and refreshments will be provided by various guest chefs if it feels safe to do so.
City Roots Community Land Trust
City Roots is a collaborative of homeowners, renters, youth, allies and partners that helps to establish and promote permanently affordable, equitable housing in Rochester. They want to help cultivate the perspective that socially-owned land can help affirm housing as a human right, build community wealth, and allow for investment in our communities without displacing those who live there. In addition to the work that they do, they recently kicked off Weekly Pull-Ups! At these meetings, attendees are invited to eat pizza, do yoga, participate in small group projects that benefit the community, and connect with other members. They also host volunteer clean ups, potlucks, and bike repair events!
Exciting new activist opportunity for young people!
City and county governments that are not adequately addressing the climate crisis need to be called to account for failing to protect the basic human rights of their citizens, and who better to do this than the young people whose rights are being, and will be, most dramatically impacted? Enter Youth Climate Courts, a program where you can get together with other young activists (ages 14-26) and participate in real, local human rights trials about climate change. These youth courts contain youth judges, youth prosecuting attorneys and youth jury members. Youth leaders organize these trials and summon members of local government to attend and explain themselves against charges that that government is failing to adequately protect the basic human and constitutional rights of its citizens, especially of the children, in face of the threats of climate change.
Increasing a Sense of Belonging in Dryden
Dryden residents are invited to a FREE Community Café Conversation at TC3 on Wednesday, August 18, 6:30 – 8:30pm to talk about increasing a sense of belonging for all Dryden community members. Community Cafés are a great way to engage and empower people within our community to make changes together! Come and voice your opinion!
Apply for the national award-winning Citizens Academy!
Citizens Academy is an interactive educational program of FOCUS Greater Syracuse that informs citizens about how local governments are organized and how services are funded and delivered. It is a place to learn about citizen involvement through an integrated approach to economic vitality, social equity and a healthy environment. Anyone can be an activist. But if you’re nervous to get involved because you don’t know the ins and outs of local government – this is the resource for you! Classes will run every Wednesday from September 15, 2021 through November 17, 2021 from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. Apply here by July 31st to be considered for this National Award Winning opportunity!
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.
Social justice education for kids
Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County is proud to coordinate sessions of Chicana Motherwork’s 6-week curriculum for Tompkins families. This education plan is for parents seeking to teach their children about historical oppression, social justice, and how to create a socially just world. Current sessions are intended for ages 4-10 but can be modified for all ages. Class sessions will be hosted online only. Register here. Groups of 3-4 families will be engaging in intimate discussions surrounding race, racism, sex, class, gender, and LGBTQ+ issues. Registration is rolling. Please email tompkinsfamilies@gmail.com with any questions.
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.
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.
Submit a 3-5 minute film for chance to win a scholarship or gift certificate!
On Friday, June 11, 2021, at 7:00pm, Ithaca Asian American Association is holding the Perspectives 360 Film Festival. Keeping with the “Virus has no Nationality” campaign (created in response to recent hate-crimes against Asian-Americans), IAAA encourages you to “be bold and brave in challenging issues of racism, sexism, xenophobia, ableism, heterosexism, classism, and all -isms.”