Act Now: Support Geothermal

Will he sign?

Governor Cuomo! SIGN THE BILL!

A bill to establish a tax credit for geothermal heating and cooling systems in New York has just landed on the Governor’s desk. This bill is critical because space heating accounts for 1/3 of New York’s greenhouse gas emissions, and heat pump technology like geothermal is our way to a fossil-fuel-free space heating sector. This bill will help reduce demand for fracked gas and fuel oil and save clean energy jobs in New York. With the impending expiration of the federal tax credit for geothermal, our state geothermal industry is facing layoffs unless the Governor acts.

Please call Governor Cuomo today and urge him to sign the geothermal tax credit bill (A9925/S6249). This bill passed overwhelmingly in the NY State Legislature. Now it just needs Governor Cuomo’s signature. It is urgent to call today because he could make a decision on this bill any time within the next 9 days.

The number to call is: 518-474-8390.

Please call and pass this message on. You will be joining over 150 environmental organizations (including Climate Change Awareness & Action), elected officials, and businesses urging the Governor today to sign the bill.

For related material listen to WAER’s Report on this bill: Syracuse Common Councilors Pressure Governor to Approve Tax Breaks for Geothermal Energy Systems

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Photo Designed by Freepik

Opt Outside

REI Closes Shop for Black Friday (Nov.25th)

The popular sporting and out door retail store is closing their shops on Black Friday and asking: Will you go out with us?

This movement started in 2015 encouraging people to go outside and enjoy Black Friday with their families and friends. REI hopes to help people reconnect with the environment and start the holiday season with meaningful moments.

The consumerist lifestyle has been embedded into American life. Black Friday Shopping encourages people to go and spend money to boost the economy. However, consumerism has a dark side. With more products to be made and more things to be had. Each one of those bits has a carbon footprint, expecially with one time use items. If more people #optoutside we can step away from consumerism, enjoy the outdoors, and slow down climate change.

Want to be a part of #optoutside? REI shows you how: https://www.rei.com/black-friday

Visit our Instagram page to see our photos and follow us!

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Photo credit: Pragmatic and Fresh Business Solutions

#NoDAPL

Indigenous Activists Fight the Dakota Access Pipeline

The #NoDAPL Movement comes about as the construction of a 1,172 mile pipeline meant to transfer crude oil from North Dakota across the United States began. This controversial pipeline has made headline news as indigenous people across the world stand in solidarity with The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe who protest this pipeline with concerns over native land and water supplies.

The construction of this pipeline has huge environmental implications. One of which is Climate Change. Similar to the issues with the Keystone Pipeline, this transfer of crude oil supports the use of fossil fuels by making them more accessible. More than ever we should be supporting alternative energies like wind and solar power and transition away from fossil fuels. Yet, the construction of this pipeline makes a big statement: The USA does not want to part with fossil fuels.

Now is not the time to sit back and see how things progress. Now is the time we must speak up and show in actions that we want change. The consequences of Climate Change is bigger than whether or not you are able to fill your car with gasoline that day.

If you want to help contribute to the cause, visit other98 or look for local support. 

Scary Climate Change Facts to Haunt your Halloween

Today is Halloween and in the spirit of this holiday, we have been posting frightening Climate Change Facts on our instagram and facebook page over the weekend. These hair raising facts are scary because they are REAL. If you missed the posts as they were shared over the weekend, here they are in a nice list!

CLIMATE CHANGE FACT #1

Warming Climate means widespread disease carrying mosquitoes and favorable conditions for bacteria.  The World Health Organization concluded “Changes in infectious disease transmission patterns are a likely major consequence of climate change.”

CLIMATE CHANGE FACT #2

Agriculture will get hit hard when regular seasons are disturbed and the water supply will be lost due to extreme drought like what’s happening in California! For updates on the drought visit the California USGS webpage.

CLIMATE CHANGE FACT #3

Extreme flooding, more frequent hurricanes, prolonged droughts, heavier snow storms… These things will be the new normal. How scary!! (NOAA) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration goes into detail about how human-caused climate change affected the extreme weather events in 2014.

CLIMATE CHANGE FACT #4

Ecological changes are occurring too quickly for many species to adapt to, causing massive die offs and extinction. One example is the bleaching of coral reefs. The National Wildlife Federation has warnings about the fragile coral reef ecosystems and delpetion due to climate change.

CLIMATE CHANGE FACT #5

Zombie pathogens rising from the melting permafrost where it was being held captive for thousands of years… Check out zombie anthrax in Siberia in this Live Science article.

CLIMATE CHANGE FACT #6

Sea levels can rise by as much as 19inches by 2050 displacing millions of people in major cities in the US Alone. States like Florida, California, Louisiana, New York, and more will feel the stress of global warming induced floods and storms. (NASA) National Aeronautics and Space Administration created an interactive model of how sea levels can affect our landscape.

CLIMATE CHANGE FACT #7

Lost natural resources, increases in million dollar disasters, damages to property and infrastructure, and mass migration are inevitable if we choose not to take action. TIME.com breaks down the costs and dangers of climate change and economics.

Smackdowns and Climate Change Skeptics

Recently, there has been news circulating around Facebook with headlines like:

“Astrophysicist Katie Mack lays the smackdown on mansplainer with droll Twitter burn”

Where Katie Mack replies to a climate change skeptic’s Twitter comment. (to read the twitter conversation click on the title above)

Katie had posted her tweet just after a televised Q&A panel between Physicist Brian Cox and Australian Senator Malcom Roberts. During the Q&A session, Brian Cox displays empirical evidence that climate change is happening. Senator Malcom Roberts replies to his evidence by saying that the numbers have been manipulated by NASA. With no proof or evidence to back his claims, Senator Malcom Roberts, is a clear example of a climate skeptic. Watch the video: “Experts and Empirical Evidence Q&A full episode 8/15/2016”

Those who know that climate change is happening must address the fact that there ARE climate change deniers, and that there are many of them. To me these public bouts on twitter and the television have brought up several questions such as:

Why are there still climate change deniers, even with the vast amounts of scientific evidence? 

What is it that makes them turn away from scientific evidence? 

How do we communicate with climate deniers? 

What can we do to make them understand? 

but even if we cannot convince the skeptics and deniers that climate change is real, I feel like one of the biggest questions is: What can we do NOW? 

Other related articles:

What Climate Change Skeptics Aren’t Getting About Science

How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic

What’s Going On

CCAA to hold regular meetings.

The Climate Change Awareness and Action Committee will be holding regular meetings on every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at 6pm. The next meeting will be held on August 9th, at 113 Cammot Ln, Fayetteville, NY.

The meetings are subject to change depending on holidays and attendance. Meeting location may also change so be sure to check out our calendar! If you’d like to join us, subscribe to our emailing list and meet with us. We’d love to see you there!

>>Click here to view our calendar<<

>>Click here to subscribe to our mailing list<<

Theresa May Closes Climate Change Department

Worrisome news for those concerned about Climate Change. Only weeks after taking over as the new Prime Minister of Britain, Theresa May has made the decision to close the Department for Energy and Climate Change and replace it with  the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

This has many people concerned that it is a step backwards and does not help to make climate change a priority issue.

For more information about this, please read the article below from Independant.co.uk

Climate change department closed by Theresa May in ‘plain stupid’ and ‘deeply worrying’ move

 

 

Support the Transition Away From Fossil Fuels

The New York State Assembly  passed the most ambitious climate bill in the country, one that would require the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from major sources to zero by 2050. The bill was passed Wednesday night with support from a broad coalition of organizations, including labor groups, environmental groups, and community leaders.

Send an e-mail (stirpea@assembly.state.ny.us)  to Assembly Rep. Al Stripe, 127th District and thank him for his support of the Climate and Community Protection Act. It is important we support representatives who move the public policy agenda forward on climate change.

The bill seeks to codify into law certain climate goals put forth by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has said in the past that he wants the state to generate half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. In December, Cuomo mandated that the New York Department of Public Service begin establishing a plan to transition to at least 50 percent renewable electricity by 2030. Without making these goals into laws, however, Cuomo’s targets could be reversed by whoever holds the governorship next.

The bill passed Wednesday night by the Assembly — dubbed the Climate and Community Protection Act — would apply to major sources of anthropogenic carbon pollution, such as major electrical producers or large industrial factories, and would regulate the carbon emissions from any industry that emits 25,000 tons or more of greenhouse gases annually or any power plant that is 25 megawatts or larger. The bill also requires New York to hit a set of incremental targets for the percent of electricity generated from renewable sources: 27 percent by next year, 30 percent by 2020, forty percent by 2025, and 50 percent by 2030.

The bill was first introduced to the state Assembly on May 23 by Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D). There is currently no equivalent bill in the state Senate, and with only eight days left in the legislative session, it’s unclear whether the bill will make it to Cuomo’s desk for a signature before the legislative session ends.

New York’s climate legislation would be the most ambitious — but not the first — state-wide legislation aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions. California was the first state to pass statewide climate legislation in 2006, which set limits on the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. Earlier this year, Oregon also passed a bill that requires the state’s two largest utilities to completely phase out coal by 2030. And Washington appears to be on the brink of regulating its own greenhouse gas emissions, with the Department of Ecology recently proposing a Clean Air Rule that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions statewide by 1.7 percent each year. If the Clean Power Plan is ultimately upheld by the D.C. Circuit Court, all states will eventually have to come up with similar plans for curbing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

If Assembly Rep. Stripe does not represent your district go to http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=A10342&term=2015&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y to find out if your Assembly Rep. Supported this legislation

CLIMATE IMPACTS WE MIGHT SEE IN UPSTATE NEW YORK

CLIMATE CHANGE AWARENESS AND ACTION

Less Snow = Less Skiing & Winter Tourism

Skiing, snowmobiling and other winter tourism in the Adirondacks and elsewhere across Upstate New York faces a challenging future.  The group Sea and Ski New York reports snowpack has dropped since 2000 and will lose a quarter or more in average depth in the next three decades.  Other industry groups see almost of third of ski areas going out of business for lack of snow days.  Winter is the most profitable season for many businesses in the Catskills and Adirondacks.  Fewer days during which people can ski, snowmobile or snowshoe could make survival of businesses that rely on those tourists unsustainable.  That means restaurants, hotels, book stores, gas stations and other businesses also wouldn’t be there for summer tourists.  

Decline in Maple Syrup Production

The maple trees that produce the sap that eventually gets boiled down to syrup might face a 1-2 punch when it comes to the impacts of climate change.  Warmer and volatile temperatures during winter months make it harder for the more than 2000 maple producers in the state to predict the flow and gather the sap.  This hurts smaller producers more who don’t utilize vacuum sap collection methods.  Reduced snowfall also threatens the trees.  The Cary Institute reports less snowpack exposes roots and young trees to temperature swings and freezing, which can kill maple trees.  

Pricier Milk & Produce

Many areas in New York host dairy farms.  The cost of operating those farms could increase if longer periods of warm weather cause farmers to have to spend more on air conditioning to keep the cows producing milk.  The Nature Conservancy also reports access to water will make dairy and other types of farming more expensive due to irrigation needs.  Periods of drought followed by heavy rains, a pattern already noted, increases erosion and makes some farmlands harder to plant and harvest.  New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation envisions parched soil in some areas, higher erosion in others and flooding that can ruin a crop.

John F. Tucker & Sons

3031 Rickard Rd, Skaneateles, NY 13152

Facilities: Wind

Out in Skaneateles, John F. Tucker & Sons made space for a 50kW Endurance wind turbine. The dairy farm uses the energy to not only power two residences by the farm, but also to help supply the energy needed for their dairy farm of 135 cows, 95 calves, and a crop drying system.

You could say that their use of electricity and low environmental imprint is… Moo-ving! This is our only site with wind power so don’t miss your opportunity to ask them: why wind?