Signs of Sustainability

Tompkins Weekly    8-14-24

By Cathleen and Eric Banford

OJI:SDA’ is an Indigenous women-led, non-profit organization based in the Finger Lakes. They recently hosted a volunteer day at their gardens at The Soil Factory where locals came together to harvest tulsi, mint and lemon balm for tea making. A general sense of community connection was infused with the heady aroma of the harvest, making for an afternoon of joyous work and conversation.

“The plant program here in Ithaca is the result of figuring out that people wanted to know more about how to reconnect with their own plants,” shared Tahila Moss, OJI:SDA’s founder and executive director. “We wanted to reconnect in sustainable ways, including the education programs for Indigenous circles. We share with individuals who gather their own circles, and they share with their circle and we provide everyone with teas. It means that community can come and learn about plants and engage with plants together, supporting us sending out plant medicine to Indigenous folks. At the basis of the organization is nurturing support, awareness, learning and sharing in community, with the Earth as an equal part of the community, as opposed to people above Earth.”

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Tompkins Weekly    7-24-24

By Lauren Stavros

On July 16, 2024, Cayuga Lake Environmental Action Now (CLEAN) and the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network hosted the Cayuga Lake Summit.

There was an amazing turnout of environmental leaders and active community members alike who were able to learn from the presentation of the two sessions. The first session was a presentation by the keynote speaker, Phil Sexton. Sexton is a contractor who specializes in winter and landscape management.

Sexton is the founder of WIT, which is a business focused on supporting and educating businesses on sustainable solutions and environmental impact through a different approach to practice. His graduate thesis from Harvard University is titled “A Sustainability Analysis of the Commercial Winter Industry’s Use of Salt,” which is what his Cayuga Lake Summit presentation was focused on. To summarize Sexton’s insightful knowledge, salt is a force to be reckoned with. Because of non-point source runoff from rain, sodium chloride and other blended materials permanently pollute the lake and damage infrastructure. Salt in the Cayuga Lake causes a difference in weight problems so when the lake wants to mix in the fall, excess salt can change the ecosystem within the watershed, causing an imbalance of nature.

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Tompkins Weekly      7-10-24

By Sora Takahashi

There are many studies that show the negative effects of climate change on mental health and teenagers may have it the worst. This is a collection of statistics and studies based on how teenagers are affected by climate anxiety.

According to Sarah Lowe who is a clinical psychologist and professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Yale School of Public Health, climate anxiety is distress about climate change and its impact on the landscape and humans. This can entail intrusive thoughts or a feeling of hopelessness and fear of the long term effects from the issue. Lowe also says that there are different constructs related to climate anxiety such as ecological grief (the feeling of sadness based on observed changes in the ecosystem), and Solasaliga (a feeling of nostalgia for how things used to be in the environment).

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Tompkins Weekly           6-12-24

By Leo Walsh

My name is Leo, I am 12 years old, and I am a resident of Ithaca, NY.

My idea is to make the Ithaca Festival Parade a fossil fuel-free event, first focusing on clean energy sources for moving through the parade, meaning the parade participants would build their floats on wagons, bikes, electric vehicles, etc. or they could simply walk!

I acknowledge that many participants come from or build their floats out of town and must drive to the parade, which encourages them to build their float on their car and just drive through the parade.

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Tompkins Weekly   5-22-24

 By Claire Nickell

I came to climate activism late in the game.

In 2019 I was in my mid-40s. I had started trying to educate myself on the science of climate change (albedo, radiative forcing, carbon cycle, and so on). I started writing a blog with what I was finding. I wanted to help people understand the science of climate change but also to find hope and to see how they could have an impact by making changes in their life and behaviors.

Then I came across the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2018 special report which warned that “humankind has less than 12 years to avoid potentially irreversible climate disruption.” More specifically, they were referring to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7F), the number agreed to at the Paris Accords in 2015 which should be the preferred upper limit of warming.

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Tompkins Weekly   5-8-24

By Gail Patrice Lockert Anthony

Most of us living in the United States have similar dreams, ambitions, cares, and concerns. We weep, laugh, and have pride in many of the same things. For some, though, (those who’ve been historically and systemically marginalized, brutalized, oppressed); we live in two separate nations. The first is where we are beautifully human and full of potential and possibilities. The second is about sustaining life itself in a country built for protecting and prospering whiteness and putting systems into place that  serve as gatekeepers against “other” being protected or prospering.

If we are choosing to do the work of putting justice in food systems…and operating for long term well-being; we must reassess our what, why, and how in the current food system. What makes a healthy food system accessible? Why don’t we already have healthy food systems accessible to all? What are the causal symptoms of the system’s inequities? And in the face of all of that, how do we create one which does serve us all? We should begin by asking ourselves what is the current social infrastructure that frames access to healthy food today? What kind of social infrastructure is needed to assure all ease of access to fresh nourishing food all the time?

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Tompkins Weekly     4-24-24

By Eric Banford

I recently received an invitation to a party at “The Greenest Home in Ithaca” celebrating some friends disconnecting their NYSEG gas line from their home. This self-proclaimed title of “greenest home” intrigued me, so I checked in with co-owner Todd Saddler about this bold statement.

“Back when we built the house, some friends of ours wrote an article about our home in Fresh Dirt Ithaca Magazine titled ‘The Greenest House in Ithaca.’ Instead of asking analytically if it was true, we just embraced it,” he shared with a laugh. “If it caught your attention then it’s serving its function, which is to get people to think about what we can do.”

Over the past few years, as climate change has become more problematic, Saddler and his partner Laurie Konwinski came up with a five year plan to “get off gas,” which was still being used for backup heat, water and cooking. Last September they were able to achieve “net zero,” which is when a home makes all of its own energy. “We installed a 400 amp electric panel, a demand electric water heater (for backup), heat pumps, a charger for our electric car, and an induction range,” said Saddler. “As of September we haven’t used any natural gas, and this week NYSEG disconnected our hookup.”

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Tompkins Weekly      4-10-24

By Aaron Fernando

While traveling years ago, I made friends with perhaps the only person I know who has a negative carbon footprint.

He plants trees for a small stipend. He doesn’t own a vehicle, and when he needs to get around, he borrows a small motorcycle. Mostly, he walks. He has never taken a flight. His family lives in a dwelling made of cloth, scrap metal, and plastic. His home has no electricity, and when he charges his phone, he uses solar power from nearby buildings because the electrical grid has been non-functional for years. He has little education and no meaningful economic opportunities. His name is Krichna, and he is a 26 year-old Haitian.

If we focus on a simple, individualistic metric—the carbon footprint—Krichna is doing amazing. But if we understand the world in all its fullness and empathize with real people, we know that all is not right with this oversimplified understanding of sustainability. If you feel Krichna is not thrilled with his life, you would be correct. He wants to move to the United States, where our carbon footprints are massive. He wants this because the quality of life he experiences with a negative carbon footprint—in the inequitable and unjust world we have arrived at today—is completely untenable.

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Tompkins Weekly    3-27-24

By Dan Antonioli and bethany ojalehto mays

On April 22, 1970, one of the world’s most significant environmental movements, Earth Day, was launched. Earth Day set in motion an ecological focus to highlight the vulnerability of Planet Earth in the face of Anthropocene ecocide.

In 1970, social protests were raging. The “ecology movement” was born out of the radicalism of the anti-war movement and a host of other social movements that were inextricably linked to the organizing of the 60s. Earth Day thus had punch, drama, and made bold statements.

At the time, there was no Environmental Protection Agency, no penalties for corporate polluters, and little impetus to address environmental problems.

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Tompkins Weekly          3-13-24

By Sasha Paris