Meet up with Sustainable Tompkins at Green Fest August 5-7, 2011 at Alfred University in Alfred, NY. On Saturday August 6th, from 4-5 pm, join Gay Nicholson for her workshop: Finger Lakes Energy Challenge: Taking Responsibility for Our Fossil Fuel Consumption. Most of the folks showing concern about gas drilling are also interested in living more sustainably – but how do we prove it? How can we demonstrate that we “walk our talk” when it comes to opposing drilling for natural gas? This presentation will showcase Sustainable Tompkins’s Finger Lakes Energy Challenge, an online platform to demonstrate your commitment to reducing fossil fuel consumption (and give you the tools to do so). Read the rest of this entry »
Posts tagged Marcellus Shale
The Truth About Energy Security
Apr 11th
By Gay Nicholson, Ph.D., President of Sustainable Tompkins
The theme of our recent Energy Fair was community energy security. Real energy security.
Most of us associate “energy security” with fossil fuel industry lobbyists who try to convince Americans that we will be more secure if we stop relying on imports of foreign oil and just let them expand drilling offshore or in the rural lands of America.
But is that really a plan that will make us more secure? Consider this:
Energy efficiency has never polluted the Gulf of Mexico or slimed the shores of Alaska.
Solar panels never gave a child asthma or blew off a mountain top.
Wind turbines have never threatened millions with cancer-causing radiation.
Energy conservation has never polluted drinking water supplies or destroyed a rural landscape.
We’ll never be really secure if we continue to base our economy and our way of life on fossil energy. We know it’s a tightening noose with constantly rising prices and amplifying environmental damages. Read the rest of this entry »
Drinking Water and Gas Drilling: What are the Risks?
Apr 16th
Dusty Horwitt, JD, Environmental Working Group | April 18th, 7PM | Unitarian Universalist Church
In the interest of sharing important information and elevating the conversations about gas drilling in our region, we are joining several New York State groups in sponsoring programs featuring Dusty Horwitt, who is Senior Counsel for the Environmental Working Group in Washington, DC.
Tina Wright reports on the Marcellus Challenge
Mar 15th
Local green builder Sarah Highland had an epiphany during a recent visit to her native West Virginia. Driving by mountains torn up by strip mining, she made the connection with her use of coal produced electricity in Ithaca. She began to see the prospect of unconventional gas drilling coming to upstate New York as “chickens coming home to roost in terms of our energy use.” Read the full article on Wishing Well Magazine>>>
Beating the Marcellus Blues
Mar 9th
Energy Fair and Pledge-In a Great Success!
Our Marcellus Challenge pledge-in and energy fair on March 3 was just what we needed to counteract a long, snowy winter and a protracted battle over gas drilling. About 150 people crowded into the auditorium at the Womens Community Building to listen to a series of excellent speakers “connect the dots” on consumer demand for fossil fuels, and talk to local energy experts before taking their pledge. Lisa Wright of Shaleshock Action Alliance wrote us to say “Thanks for the opportunity to take part in a fabulous and fun event. The more we reframe our circumstances from victims to empowered citizens, the more effective we will be in controlling our destinies in the face of this daunting challenge from Big Oil and Gas. This was a great success! Thanks, everyone!!” We are working now on taking the Marcellus Challenge on the road across our region! Read the rest of this entry »
ST Hosts Energy Teach-In for Marcellus Challenge
Jan 14th
Mark Pierce from Cornell Cooperative Extension was one of five guest instructors at last Saturday’s Energy Teach-In for twelve leaders from the Shaleshock Alliance. The energy teach-in was hosted by Sustainable Tompkins as part of its Marcellus Challenge which aims to help local citizens reduce their demand for natural gas and fossil fuels through conservation, energy efficiency, and investment in renewable energy. Attendees spent the day exploring options for energy savings from air sealing, insulation, elimination of phantom electrical load, and a wide variety of conservation behaviors accessible to everyone.
