Here it is December, and I would like to challenge you to make a difference in the fight to reduce humankind’s carbon footprint, no matter how small your effort may seem. Consider helping here at CCAA with technical support and article contributions for this newsletter or taking up the job of treasurer. How about writing a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper that urges your state legislators and the governor to support legislation to fulfill the promises of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA)? Maybe try familiarizing yourself with the provisions of the CLCPA, since it is the most far-reaching state climate bill in the country. You might try attending talks and workshops on environmental topics to keep yourself informed of current progress, to name just a few. We can all contribute in some way.
Image provided by Roseann Lorefice
This newsletter may seem like preaching to the choir, but I think it serves a purpose by keeping us informed about what’s going on in climate change and providing ways to share that knowledge with our friends, family and community when the subject comes up. A good way to start that process might be listening to people’s concerns and understanding what is a stumbling block to their grasping the severity of the situation and then discussing it with them and not proselytizing.
There are a fair share of negative thoughts going around during this holiday season, but it really should be a time to celebrate with family and friends and be thankful for what we have. Yes, there are still too many who don’t have a lot to celebrate, so we must look out for them and try, in our own way, to help them improve their lives.
Here are some positive events that we can focus on to boost our spirits:
Governor Hochul is back on board with the tax on commuters entering lower Manhatton.
Regarding CCAA:
We have a new secretary in Reena Tretler. Hooray!
On November 12th we had a well-attended informative presentation by Dale Sherman.
We are moving ahead with the application for permanent incorporation in NYS and are on our way to a 501-c3 not-for-profit organization.
In our travels, my wife and I found laundry detergent sheets, hand washing soap and shampoo tablets that don’t require plastic packaging or containers.
The United Kingdom closed their last coal fired power plant.
The sun will rise tomorrow.
Happy Holidays!
Climate Superfund Sit-In and Teach-In
Submitted by Ethan Gormley (egormley@citizenactionny.org)
Join activists from across the state for an intergenerational, intercultural, interfaith mobilization for a multi-day sit-in at the New York State Capitol Building in the “War Room” outside the Governor’s Office. The sit-in will include teach-ins featuring legislators, scientists, and activists.
We’ll assemble Tuesday morning, December 10, beginning at 10 a.m. in the War Room. We will maintain the sit-in through Wednesday, December 11 and Thursday, December 12, when we will join the Renewable Heat Now rally at 12 noon.Participants are welcome to come and go anytime throughout the sit-in.
The Climate Change Superfund Act was passed by the New York State Legislature on June 7, yet it has not been signed into law by Governor Hochul. To demonstrate the critical importance of this legislation – and the dire consequences for New York taxpayers and municipalities should the Governor not sign the bill – climate organizations throughout New York State are mobilizing for this sit-in to demand that the Governor comply with the will of the people of New York expressed through our State Legislature.
Co-conveners include Citizen Action of New York, Third Act Upstate New York, Food & Water Watch, 350 NJ-Rockland, PAUSE/350org (Albany), 350Mass, and many more.
Join NY Renews to Demand Climate Funding on January 22
Submitted by Ethan Gormley (egormley@citizenactionny.org)
In 2025, New York State’s landmark Climate Law is under attack. With fast approaching deadlines and a climate change denier headed to the Oval Office, New York can and must be a climate leader for the rest of the nation.
Thankfully, in 2025 New York State will start collecting substantial amounts of money under the state’s Climate Law for the first time. It’s our job to ensure that money is spent effectively for climate justice. That’s where NY Renews comes in.
NY Renews is a coalition of over 380 environmental, justice, faith, labor, and community groups, including CCAA, and we need your support behind the Fund Climate Campaign.
We’re calling for the Climate Law money to be spent in three ways:
A statewide program that will focus on building decarbonization for low- and moderate-income households to increase energy affordability for those who need it most. This includes free heat pumps, free insulation, renewable energy installations, and repairs including asbestos, mold and other hazard remediation.
A Community-directed Grant Program for community-led pollution reduction projects.
Spending Criteria: so that the money should be spent on projects that do all the following: (1) reduce climate emissions, (2) reduce co-pollutants and thus increase public health benefits, and (3) meet the job standards and economic development requirements.
NY Renews is coordinating buses and transportation across the state.
At this most crucial point in the fight for the safety of future generations, I hope you’ll join usto stand united with hundreds of New Yorkers for climate justice.
America has elected a president who is a climate change denier and opponent of action on the issue. His policies will accelerate its catastrophic effects. The incoming administration will do its best to slow down, insult, demoralize, and defeat those of us trying to slow climate change. Nevertheless, the undeniable effects of climate change will continue to worsen both internationally and locally.
Right now, it is essential to support the implementation of New York State’s climate policy whenever and wherever we can. This will accelerate the transition to abundant cleaner and cheaper fuel, a transition that will vastly improve both our environment, our economy, and our lives and serve as a model for other states. The fossil fuel industry wants New York to fail. It cannot afford to have the state succeed and prosper with this policy. So, share your climate concerns, but also your renewable energy enthusiasm. Advocate, and please vote the issue. The Republican Party has become the party that seeks to accelerate climate disruption and to oppose the transition to renewable energy. It is part of the party’s belief system, at all levels of elected government.
Climate change and the energy transition are local issues. Please encourage friends and family to join and support a local climate change group like CCAA, the largest in central New York, which is currently working to encourage Governor Hochul to sign climate and environmental legislation already passed by the Legislature.
Also consider supporting a national organization that seeks throughout the year to find and motivate climate voters to vote. The organization is the Environmental Voter Project and the link is here: https://www.environmentalvoter.org Its founder and Executive Director, Nathaniel Stinnett, made a very impactful presentation to CCAA several years ago. Please take a few minutes to visit the site.
Nuclear Power and the Energy Grid: Yes or No?
Submitted by Don Hughes, Conservation Chair of Local Sierra Club, (dhughes171@gmail.com)
Editor’s Note: Nuclear power and the role it can play in our energy needs is a controversial topic. CCAA has not taken a stand on this. We are publishing one member’s opinions and encourage others with a different viewpoint to submit a similar article at news.ccaa@gmail.com.
On September 5, 2024, NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research & Development Agency, held a major energy summit in Syracuse, NY. Governor Hochul came to announce that the state was worried about meeting electrical demand while meeting the schedule in the state’s climate law (CLCPA). Her solution? Build new nuclear power plants. That same day, the state released its draft “Blueprint-for-Consideration-of-Advanced-Nuclear-Technologies,” which was more like a student term paper discussing the current state of nuclear technology.
Environmental groups, led by Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE), quickly mobilized in advance of the summit, crafted a letter to the governor requesting that she put aside consideration of nuclear, and instead focus on a rapid buildout of solar, wind and energy storage projects. Over 150 groups, including the Sierra Club, signed on to the letter.
Nuclear is anything but “clean.” Sure, it doesn’t emit planet-warming carbon dioxide once it’s built, but construction of reactors has a large carbon footprint. And the nuclear fuel cycle is highly toxic. Uranium mining in the American Southwest has littered the land with piles of tailings and contaminated the groundwater, exposing local, mostly indigenous communities to radioactivity and high cancer rates. Nuclear power creates highly radioactive waste which must be stored at the reactors since there’s no permanent repository to put it in. And how do you ensure safe containment of something that emits deadly radiation for the next 200,000 years?
Image provided by https://iaea.org
Proponents of nuclear are pushing a new nuclear design called “Small Modular Reactors” which are supposed to be cheaper and faster to build. Evidence has shown they are anything but. NuScale Power, an Idaho-based company which is promoting SMRs, had to cancel its project last year after costs ballooned from $3 billion to $9.3 billion and investors backed out. M.V. Ramana, Professor at the University of British Columbia, predicted the collapse of this project in 2020. Earlier this year he wrote “the financial challenges and cost trends witnessed in [the NuScale project] will afflict any small modular nuclear reactor project. In a rational world, no utility or government would invest another dime on these theoretical reactor concepts.”
Recent nuclear projects in France (Flamanville 3) and the U.S. (Vogtle units 3 & 4) have experienced both delays and huge cost overruns. The Georgia-based Vogtle reactors, when construction began in 2009, were estimated to cost $14 billion, but ended up costing $35 billion, and seven years behind schedule. In contrast, solar panels and batteries have become cheaper and are expected to decline further.
Despite the obvious drawbacks of nuclear, New York State continues to carry the torch for nuclear power. NYSERDA is now inviting companies to trot out their ideas for new plants to be built in upstate NY to meet increased electricity demand. If new plants are to be built, we can expect a multi-year permitting process, followed by construction times of a decade or more. How much your electric bill will go up is anyone’s guess.
Proponents of nuclear energy conjure up a vision of compact power plants that quietly churn out steady electricity while not emitting greenhouse gases. The reality is that it’s an unaffordable, slow to build, and highly toxic process that has no place in a clean energy future.
Welcome, New CCAA Secretary
Photo provided by Reena Tretler.
CCAA is happy to welcome Reena Tretler as the new secretary of our organization! Reena is an avid writer and a current student at Onondaga Community College. In her free time, Reena enjoys spending time outdoors, taking up new hobbies, and photography. She feels drawn to help support the community around her, especially those who might not have found their voice yet and tell stories of the people she encounters while bringing her creative side to CCAA.
Letters to the Editor
Submitted by Peter Wirth, CCAA Vice President (pwirth2@verizon.net)
The editorial and opinion section of newspapers page are highly read. We encourage CCAA members to add their voice to keep renewable energy moving ahead. It is especially important at this time as President-elect Trump is not supportive of efforts to reduce greenhouse gases – the cause of climate change. 20204 will probably be the warmest year on record. As someone who has lived in CNY since 1971, I have seen our climate change significantly. Normally this change would be in geologic time – thousands of years and not in decades. This is not a good sign. I sent the letter below to the Post Standard in response to a letter to the editor in Sunday’s paper calling for a pause in renewable energy.
“The call for renewable energy to be paused until proven feasible” by Roger Calazza (as submitted to the Post Standard, November 24, 2024) might make sense if his letter was written in 1954 when Bell Labs announced the invention of the first silicon solar cell. Today solar power is the least expensive form of energy, growing in leaps and bounds and the technology improving year by year.
In 1954 the cell developed by Bell Labs was about 6% efficient at converting sunlight into electricity. Today’s solar cells convert 20 to 22% of sunlight into electricity. Advanced research panels have reached as high as 30% efficiency. Every year the rate of efficiency improves.
Solar energy per kilowatt is cheaper than coal which is less expensive than gas with nuclear energy by far the most expensive. In 2019 it was reported that NY utility customers subsidized nuclear reactors in upstate NY to the tune of $540 million.
Given that solar energy is the least expensive we should not be surprised that solar power has seen massive growth in the U.S. Between 2000 and 2022, solar capacity increased by an average of 37% per year, doubling every 2.2 years. As of the end of 2023, the United States had nearly 210 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity installed, enough to power 36 million homes. Solar energy is the energy of the future!
Photo provided by https://nationalgrid.com
The study of New York State’s clean grid plan by Cornell Professor Linsday Anderson (as reported in the November 24, 2024 issue of the Post-Standard) does raise valid, serious questions. The grid needs to be upgraded. Storage capacity needs to be increased. Can we bring enough renewable energy online quickly enough? What is the role of nuclear energy in the short run? This is a complex problem with many moving parts. However, to pause renewable energy — which has a track record of being the least expensive, becoming more efficient every year and emitting no greenhouse gases, the cause of climate change– is the last thing we want to do.
Promoting Window Inserts
Submitted by Peter Wirth, CCAA Vice President (pwirth2@verizon.net)
My wife and I have a running conversation when I propose the next “scheme” to reduce our carbon footprint. It goes like this: ” Does it really make any difference what we do in our home as individuals in regard to climate change?” It is a question, if we are honest, many of us have rattling around in our heads.
I’ve thought about this a lot and have clarity even though at times I fall prey to “what difference does it make” especially facing big, expensive projects. My response to what difference does it make is twofold. * On a moral level if you have the discretionary income (“If I can do X, still afford go out to dinner and have a glass of wine,” is my standard for discretionary income.), the moral decision is move ahead with whatever project you are considering. Are we really that selfish that all we care about is what happens in our lifetime. The right decision is like a camping site: leave it in better shape than when you found it.
Photo provided by Peter Wirth.
On a practical level there is the power of being an example for others. Over the years I’ve had many people ask me about my solar panels, electric heat pumps etc. As a result, they became interested and considered these energy saving products, also.. There is the multiplier effect.
On a federal level, we anticipate that the next administration will move the needle backwards on efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. There is little I can do to stop that. That is why individual action is even more important as this is under our control. Window inserts anyone?
Adding Window Inserts is like having triple glazed windows. They also reduce drafts, reduce winter heating bills by close to 20% and increase comfort. Inserts can be expensive. I found a company, www.windowinserts.com that makes an insert with a metal frame surrounded by an open cell foam strip making a compression fit. I like the
aesthetics, and you can’t beat them for price.
Go to www.windowinserts.com for more information. Shipping can be expensive. They recommend you place one order (multiple windows). Another option is order with a friend and split shipping. To see what they look like contact me at pwirth2@verizon.net.
WAER’s Deeper Shade of Green podcast has been released with positive reception. The project is an effort to discuss issues and solutions related to the protection of our environment, and it aims to be welcoming to all sorts of audiences.
In the first episode, Marguerite Wells, Executive Director of ACE NY, discusses the state of solar power and the pace of its adoption. Listeners get a glimpse into the barriers for solar power, but also the promise of the transition to it. The second episode features Barry Carr, Executive Director of Clean Communities of Central New York, for a chat about electric school buses. New York State has plans to transition to an electric bus fleet, but what is holding up the adoption of these buses in our school districts? In this interview, Barry Carr shares expert insight into what school districts in Central New York can do to ease a transition to a fully electric fleet.
Deeper Shade of Green is released every other Thursday and can be streamed on WAER.org.
Mention the word sustainability and I think folks just freeze! It sounds overwhelming; how could I ever get involved, they think. Well, it’s easy to do something simple and realize it’s…..SUSTAINABLE!! Recently, some CCAA board members reflected on some simple things they have done.
Peter Wirth our Vice President: “Fall is the time I harvest and feel like a cow given the number of greens I’ve been eating. Nothing like sauteed beet greens. When my garden is done, I shred all the leaves on my property and work them into the garden beds. Also tore a hole in the side of my house for air sealing and filling with cellulose. I hope to repair the hole before the snow flies.”
Sonia, our Treasurer: In the care package from our fall Bread and Roses event, we received seeds. They were very outdated, and some were for summer, but I planted the fall harvest crops of Swiss chard and kale. They produced some harvest still on 11/15/24(cool weather crops). This time of year, I cover the pots with an old sheet, uncover during the day. Kale chips are my preferred eating; my dad likes kale microwaved with a drizzle of local honey.
Photo provided by Sonia Kragh
Board Highlights
Elected new Secretary
Continued progress on incorporation
Updated monthly meeting presentations
Reported on NY Renews
Updated plans to co-sponsor events with other environmental groups
ORGANIZATION: CCAA
EVENT: Member meeting: “Sustainable Strategies in Architecture”
WHEN: December 10, 2024
TIME: 6:00-7:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Fayetteville Free Library
ORGANIZATION: CNY Renews
EVENT: Climate Superfund Sit-In and Teach-In
WHEN: December 10 – 12, 2024
TIME: 10 a.m. (12/10) – 12 p.m. (12/12)
LOCATION: The War Room outside Governor Hocul’s Office
Holiday ideas for energy conscious gifts!Give a gift that will help the next generation. Reduce your carbon footprint! Eleven thoughtful, energy-conscious gift ideas. And you can find them all HERE!
UCAN ANNUAL CLIMATE SUMMIT. UCAN members and community leaders recently gathered for their annual climate summit. This ARTICLE summarizes all their activities. They are now compiling results from five breakout groups to guide their endeavors for 2025. Stay tuned for the January issue of the CCAA newletter for the report.
National Grid is doing its part to power the EV revolution in New York. They’ve developed a simple, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly program that can help homeowners earn up to $180 annually for charging an EV off-peak. Customers can save money by smartly charging their EV within the convenience of their home during off-peak hours, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., through a smartphone app. Participants can earn:
A $25 enrollment incentive is available after three months of active participation.
Earn a $15 monthly bill credit by charging at least 50 kWh at home, with 80% or more occurring during off-peak hours
If you live in National Grid’s New York service area, visit ngrid.com/chargesmart-uny to learn more and get started.
Sierra Club Initiative. On December 4th, Sierra Club is kicking off its new Advocacy Hour initiative. This Zoom meeting will put members and supporters in contact with experienced staff who will direct efforts to fight for the environment and act on the most pressing issues of the month. Join the effort RIGHT HERE. If energy isn’t where you see yourself helping, meet some of the folks who are out there every day fighting for a brighter future in New York. Unavailable
Environmental Voter Project. Introducing EVP webinars, perfect opportunities to anyone looking to learn more about what EVP does, why EVP does it and results. Sessions on DECEMBER 4 at 12 p.m. and JANUARY 7 at 8 p.m. Be sure to register.
CCAA members are encouraged to attend the monthly member meetings, either in person or via Zoom. Below is a schedule of upcoming presentations. Be sure to mark your calendars and plan to attend!
December 1, 2024
CCAA Board Meeting
Virtual
7:00-8:00 p.m.
December 10, 2024
Sustainable Strategies in Architecture
Fayetteville Library
6:00-7:30 p.m.
January 5,2025
CCAA Board Meeting
Virtual
7:00-8:00 p.m.
January 14, 2025
Clean Transportation Opportunities
Fayetteville Library
6:00-7:30 p.m.
February 2, 2025
CCAA Board Meeting
Virtual
7:00-8:00 p.m.
February 11, 2025
Member Meeting TBA
Fayetteville Library
6:00-7:30 p.m.
March 2, 2025
CCAA Board Meeting
Virtual
7:00-8:00 p.m.
Member Meetings
NOVEMBER: The Fayetteville Library was the setting on November 12 for Energy wright Dale Sherman’s presentation: “How Strategies for Economic Stability and National Security Can Also Cure Our Climate Ills.” If you missed it, you can access it BY CLICKING HERE.
Passcode: cfYg@n8P
Photo Provided by Roseann Lorefice.
DECEMBER: Did you know that buildings are responsible for 42% of our carbon footprint? Join us on Tuesday, December 10th at 6:00 p.m. at the Fayetteville Library as licensed architect and SUNY Morrisville Professor Brian Kelly, Jr., AIA, NCARB, addresses the carbon footprint of building design, construction and construction materials.
His presentation is titled “Sustainable Strategies in Architecture.” You won’t want to miss this distinctly different approach to the climate question. Join us for an illuminating presentation on sustainable strategies to reduce the carbon footprint.
JANUARY: Transportation? How can we address ways to influence the effects of climate change? Come consider the options as Barry Carr, Coalition Director of Clean Communities of CNY tackles this issue head-on with his presentation “Clean Transportation Opportunities.”
Barry has been working with major utilities and fleets to develop alternative fuel infrastructure. Once again, we meet at the Fayetteville Library. Mark your calendars for January 14th at 6:00 p.m.
Within NY Renews, the Youth Committee is a space mostly for high school and college age individuals. We’re moving towards bi-weekly trainings followed by community organizing to support our campaigns. Joining the youth committee is a great opportunity to level up your organizing, learn about campaigning, and get involved in the climate justice movement.
We meet every other week with additional time on projects for those interested. If you are interested, please fill out the sign-up form so we can get more info about your interests and experiences (it’s not competitive). We would love to hear from you!
