Moving Forward to a Green World

 

Concerned environmentalists have many options to shift our homes, communities, states, country and world to become more sustainable.

 

We’re fortunate that the New York State government has taken major steps to move our communities to Climate Smart, Energy Smart Communities. The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has a comprehensive, multifaceted Climate Smart Communities (CSC) campaign that supports local governments to look at all aspects of their operations to make them sustainable. The DEC’s CSC tools guide governments and concerned residents to evaluate their energy use, their greenhouse gas and other emissions, planning and zoning, transportation, building codes, protection of green space, including “green infrastructure” to protect water resources and wetlands, and many other functions. Some NYS communities have gone all the way to be certified as Climate Smart Communities, including my city of Albany. Even in the certified communities there’s still much more to do.

 

To me, the Climate Smart Communities program is an excellent place for communities and concerned residents to identify and focus on key priorities to take action. DEC staff makes presentations at public forums and for government officials and key stakeholders on CSC. The DEC has an excellent CSC website and offers webinars on many aspects of this initiative. They offer help for localities to undertake “smart planning” for their communities and partner with the NYS Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) on technical aspects of these efforts.

 

Planning comprehensively with all stakeholders for green/sustainable communities means focusing on all aspects of energy use, conservation and efficiency in all sectors, including power, housing and transportation. It means protecting natural resources, including water resources and critical wetland and farmland, from pollution and exploitation. Energy use in housing and other community building is a critical area that needs sophisticated, long-term planning and management. Lisa DiCaprio’s article in this Sierra Atlantic summarizes major steps that New York City has taken and is advancing to meet its top priorities to transition to sustainability ASAP. The Power Authority of the State of NY has developed a “Five Cities Energy Program” to share information on municipal energy planning.

 

NYSERDA has developed options for localities to take specific actions, such as community solar initiatives, and offers technical support and grants to bolster communities. See Ellen Banks’s article in this Sierra Atlantic about the initiatives the Town of Amherst is taking with the help of a $250,000 NYSERDA grant.

 

NYS requires localities to submit grant requests for the CSC and Energy Smart Communities programs through a unified grant process organized under the state’s Regional Economic Councils. The grants require localities to fund 50 percent of a project’s costs. Localities can use their own staff time to meet the 50 percent requirement. All communities, particularly small ones and those with limited staff and financial resources, could benefit from the support of the Sierra Club and other stakeholders in providing resources, experts and volunteers to work on these initiatives.

 

The Sierra Club and other stakeholders have developed campaigns for localities to make aspirational pledges to change their energy sources for government operations to renewable ones. The Club’s “Ready for 100” campaign uses SC staff and volunteers to urge local governments to sign pledges that they’ll reduce energy consumption and increase energy efficiency while turning to renewable energy. SC volunteers working with others in their communities can apply grassroots activism to urge communities to take these pledges and support them in their efforts. This approach is not as comprehensive as the CSC campaign but the pledges can be a strong impetus for localities to plan and act.

 

To become involved in Club efforts in these areas, please contact SC Atlantic Chapter Energy Committee Chair Bob Ciesielski at rmciesie@yahoo.com and Susan Lawrence at shlawr2@aol.com and reach out to your regional SC group leaders (see the bottom of this page for links to the regional groups - email atlantic.chapter@sierraclub.org if there are issues) and watch our website. We hope to hear from you about what you’re doing in your communities and what support — including sharing news of actions across the state and grassroots tools — we might provide.