“Each year, as a result of our participation in the IAGF, more people know of our existence. The Fair has raised our profile in the community. What’s more, Fair day is fun and congenial, providing us with a rare opportunity to network with other local not-for-profits. It’s a great way to personally connect and share information with new and present donors. The preparation for the Fair is also an important time for us as an organization–it forces us to pause and reflect on what is really needed as we decide on what gifts to offer. We love it and feel honored to be able to participate.” (JG)

“This will be our third year participating in the IAGF. We look forward to the chance to meet our neighbors, talk about the work we do, and provide meaningful gifts. Raising needed funds is important but so is the chance to explain our work to the Ithaca community. We thank all of those who work so hard to put it together. And our clients welcome the opportunity to participate in the fair.” (DD)

“Like many organizations, we find that our funding is being cut at the same time that the need for our services is increasing. The IAGF is a way to reach out to the public directly, to ask for their help. It offers hope that we can weather this current storm and reduce our budget gap.” (PB)

“The AGF is so popular with our community that when we missed last year’s deadline we created our own “alternative gift” to satisfy demand.” (MT)

“The IAGF makes me very happy!. It is awesome to see folks in such a giving mood. The community comes out every year to show how important it is to give back. The IAGF really seems to bring out the best in everyone and I like how important our program feels on this day. I also love that families bring their children and teach them to support local community services. It is great to see children giving back to the community through the gift fair.” (CM)

“The IAGF is an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about our programs and services, which are reliant upon contributions. We see so many of our patrons among the gift fair “shoppers”, and they really seem to like having a chance to support us in a meaningful way. It’s also beneficial to connect with the other agencies and organizations at the Fair; each year we find new possibilities for collaborations through our conversations with nonprofit colleagues.” (SG1)

“The IAGF is the one event all year that our board volunteers most want to attend. The energy in the room is so positive, with a spirit of giving and sharing, that everyone wants to be a part of it. It’s amazing to see so many local organizations working together to share their stories, and inviting people to make simple gifts to help transform lives.” (SG2)

“The IAGF is one of my favorite events of the year – on par with the Ithaca Festival Parade. It represents what I love about Ithaca.” (BR)

Please join us Saturday, December 4 from 10 to 6, at the Presbyterian and Baptist churches in DeWitt Park! Help us surpass the quarter-million dollar mark in donations! For more information, visit www.ithacaaltgiftfair.org, or email ithacaalternativegiftfair@gmail.com

By Hilary Lambert, Nick Vaczek and Danielle Klock

Last week’s Signs of Sustainability column focused on the 2010 Finger Lakes Bioneers We Make Our Future Conference first-day events. This week’s column follows up with a summary of activities for Saturday, Oct. 23 and Sunday, Oct. 24.

Saturday begins with more Breakfast with the Bioneers from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Cinemapolis. Watch presentations on indigenous ecological knowledge, local foodsheds, biomimicry and more by Elizabeth Lindsey, Peter Warshall, Mary Gonzales, John Warner and Andy Lipkis from the 2010 Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California. Tickets are $5 for the entire morning and proceeds benefit Cinemapolis and 7^th Art Cinema.

Saturday morning also marks the fall conference of the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network (CLWN), which is partnering with Finger Lakes Bioneers to offer an examination of water-focused issues that are challenging area municipalities. Bill Kappel of the U.S. Geological Survey will discuss “Hydrofracking and Municipal Decisions, Susan Riha of Cornell University will present “Stormwater Issues and Climate Change” and Liz Moran of EcoLogic, LLC will present “Status Update: Dredging Cayuga Inlet for Recreational Access and Flood Control.” The CLWN conference is free and open to the public and will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Unitarian Church Annex, 306 N. Aurora St. For more information, visit cayugalake.org

Then, at 1:30 p.m. at the Women’s Community Building, Rob Morache of New Earth Strategies, George Frantz, a local planning consultant and Gay Nicholson, president of Sustainable Tompkins, present “Tompkins Transitions” – a customized version of the City Game that Sustainable Tompkins has developed with Medard Gabel of Big Picture/Small World. Gabel worked with Buckminster Fuller for 12 years, and has developed a number of role-playing simulation games to help citizens learn the value of systems thinking and cooperative problem solving.

In the Tompkins Transitions game, attendees will be assigned to one of 15 teams representing various neighborhoods in Ithaca or the outlying villages and hamlets, conservative and liberal media, nonprofits working on social, economic, or environmental problems and the government. Over the course of 3 rounds of play, the nonprofit teams present the problems to be solved to the place-based teams who must then negotiate with the government and each other to find solutions.

“Tompkins Transitions” is designed to give citizens, students and community leaders, including elected officials and planning board members, a chance to explore the complexity of solutions to community problems and the barriers to economic, political, and social change. Role-playing can be deeply instructive, leading to discoveries and insights into the motivations of those defending the status quo and new frameworks for winning the cooperation of others.

We hope that Tompkins Transitions will provide a useful portal for citizen engagement as the City of Ithaca launches its first comprehensive planning effort since 1972 in the coming months.

Saturday evening’s special presentation is an invitation to experience how “water is always fully engaged in speaking water” through its many elemental forms. Expert video documentarians David Brown and Lang Elliot and attuned vocalists Jayne Demakos, Alice Saltonstall and friends will explore and translate this interwoven language for us – via a harmonizing of imagery, voice and instruments. The reward might just be rejuvenation. It will be a chance to conjure up an in-depth immersion in the richness and potency of our local and planetary liquid solvency. This program will start at 8 p.m. at the Women’s Community Building and the audience is invited for refreshments.

On Sunday, Oct. 24, return to Cinemapolis for even more Breakfast with the Bioneers, featuring famed primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall. Make sure you catch the presentation by Lynne Twist before heading up to Ithaca College’s Phillip’s Hall to experience the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium at 1:30 p.m. Twist’s Pachamama Alliance developed the symposium as a way to engage and empower participants to be fully aware of our connections to the Earth and all of it’s inhabitants, and act as change agents through tapping into their personal gifts as a call to action.

The Finger Lakes Bioneers 2010 We Make Our Future Conference will close with a Service Swap, hosted by Share Tompkins organizers Shira Golding, McKenzie Jones-Rounds and Danny Bowers at the Tompkins County Workers Center, above Autumn Leaves Used Book Store on the Commons. From 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Come and be inspired, and discover your own capacity to inspire others!

By Hilary Lambert, Nick Vaczek and Danielle Klock

There is nothing like the curative of seeking knowledge and taking actions ourselves. Rugged independence is an American tradition, after all. But when the empowerment of independent knowledge and action is shared, the image of the lone pioneer in the harsh wilderness can be replaced by a community of change agents. These people are Bioneers, and collectively they are changing the world.

Last year’s inaugural Finger Lakes Bioneers We Make Our Future Conference emulated the format of the national Bioneers Conference, held each year in San Rafael, Ca., with plenary speakers and concurrent sessions featuring more than 60 presenters covering a myriad of topics at Ithaca College. This year’s conference, taking place October 22-24, will feature three afternoon interactive community activities that will engage and empower local participants of many ages to take on climate change, sustainable municipal planning and the authentic expression of each person as a change agent, ready to take action.

While our local offerings to the Bioneers movement may look different from last year, each day of the 2010 We Make Our Future Conference will begin with presentation screenings from this year’s national Bioneers Conference.

From 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each day of the conference, enjoy Breakfast with the Bioneers at Cinemapolis. Free bagels and beverages will welcome you to a morning screening of the national Bioneers Conference first-day plenary speakers. From San Rafael, Ca., James Hansen will present on moral, political and legal dimensions of human-made climate change. John Francis, the “Planetwalker,” will continue his journey linking environmental solutions across nations and cultures. Jessy Tolkan will speak about developing the links between justice and ecology in forging our evolved energy futures and Mallika Dutt will share how the media, arts and culture can be the locus of positive explorations and innovative solutions for sustainability. Gary Hirshberg rounds out the morning’s speakers with business models that restore natural order and resilience and support human options and dignity. There is a $5 entrance fee for the screenings.

After Breakfast with the Bioneers on Friday, enjoy lunch on your own before heading to the Women’s Community Building at 1:30 p.m. to join our sponsor, Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative, in welcoming Medard Gabel, long-time colleague of R. Buckminster Fuller, to play the Climate Change Game to explore the interdependent systems and policies that affect climate change on planet Earth.

In alignment with this year’s conference theme of personal and civic responsibility, discover what you would do if they put you in charge of slowing or stopping global warming. Is it really that difficult to get things done? Come find out – be a player in the Climate Change Game.

The Climate Change Game is a half-day event for all ages high school and older. It is a lively, fast-paced and fun multi-generational learning experience. In half-hour rounds, this role playing game may pit grandparents, parents and children against each other, as energy industry executives and global government representatives who try to make alliances for climate controls that would lead to greenhouse gas reductions within a few years.

Over the course of this role-playing game, many struggles are fought, won and lost. Can climate change come out the winner? With up to 150 playing this game together, the thrill is in creating alliances and moving forward toward greenhouse gas reductions – or holding the line to protect long-established government and business interests. Within each group the Status Quos must obey the game’s rules to resist arguments supporting greenhouse gas reductions, while the Change-Makers struggle to convince them, via deals and alliances, that change is in their best bottom-line interest. Who will prevail? Can reductions be negotiated? The clock is ticking! Come play! (Entrance fee is $10.)

Then, building on the excitement of the Climate Change Game, Friday evening’s events will move to Wildfire Lounge. From 5:30-7:30 the Sustainable Enterprise and Entrepreneur Network (SEEN) with Scott Hamilton will host a reception followed by a presentation by Ravi Walsh on the Paradigm Shift Behind the Triple Bottom Line. Learn how mindfulness and self-inquiry can lead us toward action in support of social, ecological, and financial success for our business and family, community and planet. ($5/SEEN members, $10/non-members)

After the SEEN event, stay for Friday’s salon, “Re-Imagining Water: An Evening of Water Wisdom and Art.” As the audience arrives they will hear selections of Lang Elliott’s latest natural soundscapes. Then, Mara Alper, award-winning media artist and Ithaca College professor, will present films, animations and interviews that are poetic and profound, with insights that can help us re-imagine our relationship with this essential resource. As part of the evening, Helena Cooper will screen her riveting close-up photographs of water. Each is a tribute to the colors and modes of water here in Ithaca- with unprocessed, natural images. Local musicians will also be on hand to lend ambient appreciation to the proceedings as the first evening of the 2009 We Make Our Future Conference winds down.

In next week’s Signs of Sustainability series, learn about Saturday and Sunday at the 2010 We Make Our Future Conference. For additional information about this year’s conference visit www.wemakeourfuture.org

Hilary Lambert, Nick Vaczek and Danielle Klock serve on the steering committee for the Finger Lakes Bioneers. Hilary Lambert as Watershed Stewardthe Cayuga Lake Watershed Network.

Bring what you can, take what you need. It’s a simple but powerful concept that inspired the formation of Share Tompkins in May 2009. Since then, the volunteer-run group has been organizing monthly events that enable people to share and barter goods and services from foraged mushrooms to massage and everything in between.

Community Swap Meets have been hosted in people’s homes and public spaces around Tompkins County including Ithaca, Newfield, Trumansburg and Lansing. Open to anyone and everyone, the swaps are fun, social happenings that often include potluck food and live music.

After putting out their offerings into “for barter” and “for free” areas, participants go around in a circle so that each individual or family can express what they have to offer and what they need. This is an opportunity to let people know about services like photography and gardening as well as goods that might be too big or inconvenient to bring like lumber for a wood stove.

At one swap, three different people expressed that they needed help moving in the coming weeks. They arranged a three-way trade in which they all helped one another on moving day. Another person at the event offered free use of his truck in exchange for a hand-knitted hat from Teresa Porri, one of the movers.

“Everyone involved seemed pleased and excited about how well this system worked. I have no idea how we would have managed our last-minute move if not for Share Tompkins,” reflects Porri.

At the group’s first annual Holiday Swap, hosted by the Southside Community Center last December, a creative trade between two families ended up bringing them together in ways they never could have expected.

Danielle Klock of Wishing Well Magazine swapped a cello with McKenzie Jones-Rounds, a cellist who’d been looking for a new instrument, in exchange for a year of guitar lessons for Danielle’s son. McKenzie’s husband Jamie, who is providing the lessons, is passionate about the benefits of this kind of sharing.

He put it this way: “Share Tompkins strives to bring Tompkins County an alternative to the normal monetary capitalism that has made our current economy so difficult to thrive in. The real heart of this project is to demonstrate to ourselves that we are each wealthier than we realized, even if we don’t have the money to buy all the brand new objects and services we want and need.” Ever since their musical swap, the two families have become close friends and the weekly guitar lessons provide a welcome excuse to get together.

Building on the success of Community Swap Meets, the group decided to take the sharing spirit to another level by organizing a series of Really Really Free Markets (RRFMs), a concept that was created by G8 protestors in 2001 and which has been duplicated by like-minded groups around the country.

In the tradition of the Diggers of San Francisco who opened Free Stores in the late 60s, everything is free at a RRFM, providing an alternative to consumerism and helping to redistribute surpluses. Share Tompkins has held three RRFMs to date including one as part of the Southside Community Center’s weekly Congo Square Market and another in partnership with the North Star Market, a new farmers’ market that takes place Saturdays in Fall Creek.

Organizer Ari Moore is one of the first faces you see at a Share Tompkins RRFM, sitting at the welcome table. “I love explaining to people that ‘Yes, everything is free!’ Their faces light up and they immediately feel included. In so many forms of activism you are trying to get people to do something. It feels great to be able to offer something to the community with no strings attached.”

While participants in events are encouraged to take back home with them any goods that aren’t scooped up, there are inevitably leftovers and Share Tompkins volunteers make sure they are delivered to charitable organizations and sustainability-focused groups like the ReUse Center.

One of the group’s goals is to point people to other resources that they might now know about. They have invited groups including Ithaca Carshare, Birthnet of the Finger Lakes, Ithaca Health Alliance and Free Clinic, SewGreen, IthaCan and Alternatives Federal Credit Union to table at events, helping them to reach even more people in a context of sharing.

Many of the Share Tompkins organizers are also very involved with the Ithaca Freeskool, an all-ages, anti-hierarchical educational initiative that invites anyone to teach classes on topics that foster self-reliance and creative expression. Freeskool calendars are always on offer at Share Tompkins events.

In addition to in-person gatherings, the group is very active online using Facebook, Twitter, email lists and its own blog to let people know about opportunities for sharing. Members of the group’s listserv regularly post haves and wants and get rapid responses from others in the community.

Share Tompkins’ website (http://sharetompkins.wordpress.com) features a directory with over one hundred and thirty resources organized by categories like Food and Housing. The list includes local groups like the Ithaca Crop Mob and Ithaca Hours as well as national platforms like NeighborGoods and CouchSurfing that enable people to trade and share online.

In May 2010, Share Tompkins celebrated its one-year anniversary and is looking forward to many more years full of sharing. They invite anyone in Tompkins County to get in touch with them about hosting an event at their home or community space.

Shira Golding is a filmmaker, musician and designer and a Co-Founder of Share Tompkins. www.shirari.com

The Finger Lakes Bioneers return October 22-24 with the second annual We Make Our Future conference. Each day of the conference offers a chance to get deeply engaged with fellow citizens to co-create new responses to the challenges we face.

The main theme of this year’s conference is personal and civic responsibility. What happens when we put ourselves in the drivers’ seat? If you were in charge of setting policy on global warming, what would you do? If you were the Mayor of Ithaca or the Director of Transportation, how would you guide development in our county? If you were free to tackle anything you want, where would you make a difference? Throughout the conference, we’ll be exploring our role as individuals and as a community in creating our shared future.

Join us for three afternoons of creative play:

• Friday, October 22 – Play the Climate ChangeGame with Medard Gabel of Big Picture/Small World. Residents, policymakers, students, and business people will have an equal opportunity to see if they can navigate the complexities of solving the global climate crisis. Players act as leaders of governments, corporations, and as individuals as they make decisions that impact the global climate. While doing this, they learn about the options we have and what they can do to help avert climate change disaster. This simulation gets you thinking and acting from a new and empowered perspective. The game unfolds over an intense three-hour period.

• Saturday, October 23 – Solve today’s problems with the future in mind as a participant in Tompkins Transitions, a new customized version of the City Game presented by Big Picture/Small World and Sustainable Tompkins. This fast-paced multimedia simulation puts you in a leadership position in Tompkins County and allows you to make a difference as we steer towards our preferred future. You’ll be challenged with our current real world problems, and work together to address the complexities of our urban/rural interface. How will you deal with unemployment, shrinking municipal budgets, poverty, gas drilling, traffic congestion, housing shortages, increasingly expensive food and energy? Tompkins Transitions will put you into a collaborative problem-solving environment where limited resources, real world challenges, and your vision, values and creativity collide. Our problems are all interconnected. Our solutions should be too.

• Sunday, October 24 – Immerse yourself in the celebrated Awakening the Dreamer symposium from the Pachamama Alliance, and awaken to the reality of our shared stewardship of a jewel of a planet, and imagine a future where our intelligence and love of life can be expressed through creative re-design of our economy, our way of life, and our relationships. Using vivid multimedia material and interactive episodes, we’ll explore a series of questions: Where are we? How did we get here? What’s possible for the future? Where do we go from here? The aim of the symposium is to identify the assumptions underlying the way we see the world and our place in it, and to empower every human being to take steps – both individually and cooperatively – to move the world in a new direction.

This year’s events will take place mostly downtown to allow easier participation. Beaming Bioneers presentations from the main stage in California will be offered in the morning at Cinemapolis. Local programming in the afternoon will be in the Womens Community Building on Friday and Saturday, and the Emerson Suites at Ithaca College on Sunday. Evening programs will also be downtown.

Sponsorships are available for this inspiring community event. Contact Gay Nicholson at gay@sustainabletompkins.org or 533-7312 to learn more, or visit www.wemakeourfuture.org.

Gay Nicholson is president of Sustainable Tompkins and chair of the Finger Lakes Bioneers Steering Committee.

Read the full article in the Ithaca Journal…
 

If you haven’t been to the Cayuga Nature Center lodge in the past two months, you may be surprised to hear that it is warm indoors thanks to a new super-efficient biomass boiler.

Biomass boilers burn organic materials such as wood and agricultural crop residues to produce heat as an alternative to burning petroleum oil or natural gas.

The European-designed, wood-fueled demonstration boiler was installed at the Cayuga Nature Center in November thanks to the tireless efforts of many organizations and volunteers.  Spearheading this project has been Nature Center Advisory Council member and volunteer Tony Nekut.

Other key collaborators essential to the success of this project are: Advanced Climate Technologies (ACT) of Schenectady, Cornell University, Clarkson University, and Cornell lecturer Francis Vanek and the students enrolled in Cornell’s “Engineers for a Sustainable World” class.

The commercial-sized boiler at the Cayuga Nature Center was funded primarily by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) as part of a larger research project. In 2008 NYSERDA awarded funds for nine projects across the state valued at more than $2.5 million to study energy and emissions performance for a variety of wood-burning equipment, including wood boilers, pellet stoves, wood stoves, and emerging grass-pellet technologies.

After several years in the design and planning phase of the project, the new boiler replaced the old, inefficient propane fueled boilers at the Nature Center, resulting in a significant savings in heating costs as well as a significant increase in heating output.

The new 400,000 BTU/hour boiler system passes stringent European air quality standards and boasts efficiency rates of up to 90 percent, in comparison to many residential wood boilers that operate at 50 percent efficiency. This type of boiler produces less than five percent of the particulate emissions of less efficient wood boilers typically used in the United States. Emissions are roughly equivalent to typical oil or gas boilers used in the United States.

Local woodlots and forests in New York State can supply clean, renewable fuel for wood boilers, and in the process, support local economies by retaining dollars currently shipped overseas to purchase fossil fuels. The Cayuga Nature Center has over 100 acres of land, which through sustainable harvesting has the potential to provide some of the wood chips to fuel the boiler; the Nature Center has been planting fast-growing trees for future fuel.  Planning is also underway to add a demonstration of sustainable forest management at the Nature Center.

Several different efforts are underway in the Ithaca area to explore wood burning technology and supply options. Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County is working on public education regarding different energy sources for heating including options and supplies for efficient wood heating. Tony Nekut, working with the Community Biomass Energy collective, is exploring options for the creation of a local wood pellet processing mill in Caroline.

Cayuga Nature Center Executive Director Tom Trencancsky states,  “This project fits perfectly with the Cayuga Nature Center’s mission to cultivate awareness, appreciation and responsibility for the natural world through outdoor and environmental education.  If you haven’t been to the Nature Center in a while, come visit us this winter, and make sure you stop inside the lodge to warm up.”

Catherine McCarthy is Cayuga Nature Center Board President

At New Roots Charter School, a new public high school in downtown Ithaca, our faculty, staff and community partners are preparing our students to understand that:

A)   They are not too young to make a difference.

B)    They have both the responsibility and the privilege to positively influence and transform the path that our community and world is taking.

An excerpt from our charter with New York State about why our approach is so important now:

The Imperative for Sustainability-Oriented Education:

“Our environmental crisis has resulted from technologies, lifestyle choices, and ways of thinking that human beings have developed and passed down over centuries. The solution to this crisis will require an education that directly addresses it, helping tomorrow’s citizens to develop new technologies, new lifestyle choices, and new ways of thinking. Sustainability education supports young people in developing the knowledge and skills they will need to create sustainable communities that are in balance with the ecological systems that support us. Not simply environmental education, sustainability education integrates the social, economic, and ecological dimensions of the human endeavor, emphasizing the relationship between all three of these critical realms and building young people’s competence as systems thinkers.”

Some of the ways that New Roots students are currently learning about and contributing to the sustainability of our local community include:

- Farm-to School Program:  At New Roots, students gain hands-on experience with the many facets of our local food system. Each day, students help prepare and enjoy a healthful meal using as many local, seasonal and organic ingredients as possible.  This fall, all students visited local farms including West Haven Farm and Littletree Orchards.

- Service-Learning Program: All New Roots students learn first-hand about community needs through ongoing service-learning, a method of teaching, learning and reflecting that combines academic classroom curriculum with meaningful service. Research consistently shows that service-learning is a powerful way to engage students with diverse learning styles and levels of academic achievement.

Current service-learning projects include reading/homework buddy groups at GIAC and Fall Creek After-School Program; teaching technology skills to older adults at Lifelong; playing games and doing crafts with residents at Beechtree Care Center; sewing fuel- and money-saving “door snakes” for low-income residents using salvaged fabric at Sew Green; building cold-frames with Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County for a Town of Ithaca community garden with locally-harvested locust wood; refurbishing and recycling used computers through the Ithaca Youth Bureau’s Computer All-Stars program; and forming a peer education mental health role-playing theatre troupe in collaboration with Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service.

- Community Internships and Apprenticeships: We are fortunate to live in a community where the old-fashioned value of learning-by-doing, alongside a caring and knowledgeable mentor, is still very much alive.  These experiences strengthen ties in the community, support the work of local organizations and build student’s skills… Students are currently placed in St. Paul’s Preschool, IACC Day Care, Serviente Glass Studio, The History Center, Ithaca Bakery, Scissorhands Salon, Greentar/Oasis, and Maguire Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Nissan.

Expeditionary Learning: To develop innovative solutions to the challenges we face as world citizens, our students must experience, and learn from, the ways that our social, environmental, economic and other problems are currently being addressed. Our tenth grade conducted a multi-disciplinary investigation of the proposed Marcellus Shale drilling issue, exploring its social, economic, and environmental dimensions.  This project allows them to connect an important current issue in their community with their New York State Regents curriculum of global studies, geometry, and biology.

We anticipate that as New Roots students continue to develop their knowledge-base and leadership skills, we will help change perceptions about what teenagers can do, how they can contribute, and the responsibility of adults in the community to include teenagers in the problem-solving process. For more information, call New Roots Charter School at 882-9220 or visit us on the web at: New Roots Charter School.

This is the last of our series in which Sustainable Tompkins introduces you to “Signs of Sustainability” in the category of new sustainability programs or activities by existing businesses or organizations.

Sustainable Community Development

Alternatives Federal Credit Union offered a holiday market for its business members to sell crafts and products.

Comet Skateboards commissioned local artists to creatively alter skateboards. Sale of one skateboard, decorated by local preschoolers, funded art supplies for the school. 

The Dryden Community Center Café is a hub for community conversation and activity. The “Kids at the Café” program offered fun ways to reuse items.

Amy Cochran devised the “No Drive” Food Drive in which participants were restricted from using personal motorized vehicles to travel between stores to purchase food items to donate to Loaves & Fishes.

The Ithaca Alternative Gift Fair expanded to support more than 50 organizations, offering extended sale hours and web sales.

The Roots and Shoots homeschool group created reusable cloth shopping bags from recycled fabric for Immaculate Conception Food Pantry participants.

SewGreen piloted a summer apprenticeship and jobs program in which teens learned about sewing, reuse, and workplace responsibilities. 

The SufferJets roller derby team shared the proceeds of home games with local non-profits, including Foodnet Meals on Wheels, Ithaca Family Reading Partnership, Books Thru Bars, Ithaca Skate Park, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Recycle Ithaca’s Bicycles.    

Sales of TCAT’s Summer Fun Youth bus passes benefited the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes to help patients with transportation costs. 

Tompkins County Red Cross opened the Homeless Services Friendship Center & Shelter, offering homeless adults emergency shelter and permanent beds, kitchen and shower facilities, and telephones and computer access to search for jobs and apartments.

The Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency voted for sales tax abatement on energy efficiency projects for small business and landlords.

The Whole Community Project unveiled its Healthy Passport initiative to encourage kids to be physically active and interact with their community.

Sustainable Enterprise

Alternatives Federal Credit Union offers special discounts on loans for green home renovations, solar panel installations, and hybrid vehicle purchases. 

Ehrhart Propane offers biodiesel to replace #2 fuel oil and runs its fleet on propane to reduce emissions. 

Experience! The Finger Lakes offers a Sustainability Tour to those who want to learn what makes Ithaca one of the Top 100 Green Places to live.

Ithaca Guitar Works offers musicians: Wheatware™ guitar picks made from compostable bioplastics. 

Local First Ithaca was certified as a member network of BALLE, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. 

Shari Landsman, EcoBroker at RE/MAX in Motion, earned the National Association of Realtors Green Designation.    

SewGreen opened its “Rescued for Reuse” store to sell fabric, yarn, and sewing machines; proceeds benefit SewGreen’s youth programs. 

Sustainable Operations

Acme Pest Control earned the QualityPro designation for its Integrated Pest Management services.

Angelo Dry Cleaners packages cleaned clothing in biodegradable plastic garment bags.

The Ithaca Journal uses a print format that trims newsprint consumption by 50 tons a year, prints on 30% recycled paper with soy-based ink, and recycles aluminum printing plates.

NYS DEC selected La Tourelle Resort to participate in the GreenLeaf Eco-Rating pilot program to measure resource conservation, recycling and composting, and use of environmentally safe cleaning products.

Sheldrake Point Vineyard received the 2009 Lake-Friendly Farm award from the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network for its sustainable farming practices.  

Wink’s Body Shop uses environmentally-friendly waterborne basecoats.

Transportation

Andree Petroleum is the first local retailer offering biodiesel to the public.

The City of Ithaca Engineering Office installed bike lanes on some city streets and is experimenting with “sharrows” to support cycling on streets too narrow for separate bike lanes.

Cornell University’s entry remains in the Progressive Automotive X Prize competition to design a vehicle that exceeds 100 miles per gallon. 

Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Way2Go program supports community members in transportation choices that promote individual, community and environmental wellbeing.

Dominos Pizza delivers pizzas in its logo-branded SmartCar. 

Ithaca Dispatch includes a Toyota Prius in its taxi fleet. 

The Tompkins County Alternative Fuels Consortium attracted a supplier for B20 biodiesel. 

The Tompkins County Legislature approved a “Green Fleet” policy. 

Pritchard Automotive is the first upstate NY dealership for the Wheego Whip electric vehicle.

These entries are excerpted from the complete list of Signs of Sustainability 2009 citations that can be viewed at: www.sustainabletompkins.org