Environment Action Committee

League of Women Voters^®
of Schenectady County

The latest actions of the environment committee.

Environment Committee Report. Contact Environmet Action Committee Chair. RECYCLING STORE OPEN. A REPORT ON THE LWVUS NATIONAL CONVENTION-PRESENTATIONS ABOUT GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE.

Environment Committee Report

The next committee will be on September 8, 2008 at noon. The location will be the ECOS office at 2682 Aqueduct Road.
ANNUAL REPORT--ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE Nancy Peterson, Environment Committee Chair
This has been a very busy, active year for the Environment committee. The goals which we set are:
1. To study water resources with a focus on the aquifer, and work to protect the water resources of Schenectady County.
2. To promote energy efficiency, renewable energy, and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through "green" building practices.
3. To increase public awareness of environmental issues through public information programs.
We presented six programs which were open to the public (our third goal). Four of these were on local energy issues:
September--Clean Energy Forum: Barbara Blanchard and Joseph Suhrada, discussed what the City and the County are doing to promote energy efficiency and clean energy use.
October--Dr. Steven Leibo Revisiting "An Inconvenient Truth"--Dr. Leibo attended a special training with Al Gore to madee local presentations about global warming issues.
November--Step It Up: A follow-up to last April's rally, this event featured local politicians and candidates speaking in the McChesney Room about global warming issues locally.
March--Greening Schenectady: Our presentation on local energy efficiency projects was held in Proctors Robb Alley. Presenters included Phillip Morris, CEO of Proctors; William Sweet, VP of the Golub Corporation; William Connor, architect of the LEED certified Clifton Park Library; and Karen Villeneuve and Chris Reohr of NYSERDA.
We also presented two programs on local water resources:
April--Jason Pelton--the Great Flats Aquifer Jason Pelton, Schenectady County Groundwater Management Planner, presented a very informative Power Point about the Great Flats Aquifer as part of the lunchtime Science Series in the McChesney Room.
May--Tuesday Lunch: The environmental version of the traditional Tuesday lunch, we organized a trip to the Aquifer Pump Station for a tour of the facility, followed by a picnic lunch and hike at the Great Flats Nature Preserve.
In the coming year we anticipate putting more effort into monitoring local governing bodies with authority over the aquifer and energy efficiency regulation. We are deepening our understanding of how our water supply is regulated. We established contact with the County Watershed Rules and Regulations Board. Our County Legislature recently adopted a set of resolutions promoting energy efficiency measures in Schenectady County. These resolutions look good on paper but will probably require serious monitoring.
Members of the committee include: Nancy Peterson, Carol Furman, Pat Rush, Ruth Bonn, Betsy Chase, Elaine Klein, Elmer Bertsch, John Middelkoop, Susan Spring-Meggs, Jan Elliott, Patrick Clear, Jeff Edwards.

Contact Environmet Action Committee Chair

Nancy Peterson, Please see our Contact Information page for e-mail.
We meet regularly on the first Monday of each month at noon, but the location varies. Please contact for more information.

RECYCLING STORE OPEN

The Schenectady Affiliate of Habitat for Humanity decided to launch its own used home improvement merchandise recycling retail outlet. It would be called "ReStore®." ReStore® is a registered brand name coined by Habitat for Humanity International and used throughout the United States and Canada as a way to identify a Habitat affiliate's special brand of recycling store. The ReStore® is one way for local affiliates to add another revenue stream to help raise funds to help build Habitat homes. It is a "win-win" for everyone... prospective customers, people remodeling their homes who had good things to give away, and contractors and remodelers with used materials in good to excellent condition needing an outlet for disposal other than the landfill."
The location for the ReStore® was found in the former Reale's location at 1957 Foster Avenue in Schenectady (off Nott Street) (phone 518-395-3412). With next to no advertising, the ReStore has been making a modest and growing profit in recent months. The inventory ranges from all types of items new and used, like windows, doors, sinks, toilets, kitchen cabinets, lighting fixtures, washers, dryers, stoves, paint and finishing material, good pre-owned furniture, office furniture, garden items and a host of miscellaneous things too numerous to mention. All items are marked at between 50 and 90% off retail prices depending on the condition.

A REPORT ON THE LWVUS NATIONAL CONVENTION-PRESENTATIONS ABOUT GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

Submitted by Carol Furman
A resolution was passed at this year's national convention for the League to conduct a multi-level education and advocacy campaign to fight global climate change. A task force will be developing a "tool kit" of resources for local League chapters to use in developing their programs. Several "white papers" on topics related to global climate change on the LWVUS web site (lwv.org with a link to Climate Change.)
Local Leagues are being encouraged in advocacy efforts for strong action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Some suggested local initiatives might be:

-Develop a local action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Exchange ideas with other local Leagues whose communities are participating in the Cities for Climate Protection Program or who have signed the US Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement.
(The city of Schenectady has done this)
-Sponsor a city-wide incandescent light bulb/CFL replacement program and establish a
recycling program for CFLs to ensure that the mercury is disposed of properly.
-Work for "greener" ordinances/practices e.g. Energy efficiency standards for buildings, city purchase of electricity from renewable energy sources; campaign against vehicle idling.

Scientists have warned of serious damage to our climate system by a global rise of two degrees Celsius above the world's pre-industrial level. Recently Dr. James Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies indicated that data shows the long term sensitivity of the climate to concentrations of CO2 is greater than previously thought and we are already in a danger zone. He feels that our action plan should be to cut green house gases by 80% by 2020. He urges a "massive mobilization". He writes "The scale and urgency of the challenge we face has no precedent, but what we need to do can be done. The choice will be made by our generation but it will effect life on earth for all generations to come."
The USA contributes 20% of the carbon emissions in the world through use of petroleum, natural gas, and coal in transportation and production of electricity. Per capita USA, Canada, and Australia emits 6 times more CO2 than India and 13 times more than China. India and China account for 45% of the growth in energy demand. It is estimated that energy demand will grow 55% from 2005-2030. China is now the largest consumer of energy.
Regional consequences of global warming include increased intensity of hurricanes, more evaporation from oceans, frequent heat waves, more intense rainfall and flooding, severe drought, melting ice, acidification of the ocean, increased sea levels, and faster melting of snow packs.
Global warming will affect the poor of the world more substantially and there is a global justice issue which must be addressed as the impact of global warming will be greatest in many of the under developed countries. There will be less fresh ground water, a loss of vegetation, and an increase in diseases like Malaria and Cholera which will also be more intense in the aftermath of flooding. HIV/AIDS can be exacerbated by environmental stress. We will see great numbers of "climate refugees", people who migrate due to poor conditions in their home lands. Violence will occur as people feel they need to compete over resources.
Women in underdeveloped countries often have to carry water. It is estimated that they will need to go further, for less and poorer quality water. Firewood will be more difficult to find and crop yields will be reduced. It is estimated that 75-85% of peoples in Africa depend on agriculture for their living. It is estimated that there will be a 30% reduction in the maize crops in Africa with global warming of 2 degrees C.
The UN development Agency projects a need for 50 billion dollars a year for "adaptation costs" to help developing countries prepare for climate change. One adaptive project is to build "cereal banks" a system of storing some grain for times of poor crops so that families can survive and pay back grain when crops are more plentiful. Another project in the Andes would be to build warming huts for Alpacas and to grow barley to feed them when there are periods of extreme cold. Climate change has increased the frequency of "cold shocks" which results in death of these animals. Still another project would be to replace cooking wood stoves in India and China with clean fuel technologies. Cooking stoves in poor areas of these countries not only contribute huge amounts of particulate emissions which form "brown clouds" which travel all around the world creating a barrier to the sun and leaving dark particles in ice packs where it causes faster melting also cause respiratory diseases as these homes are full of smoke
The environment committee will be planning for educational sessions in the upcoming year on this topic. There is much to learn in order to advocate for meaningful change.

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