The New York State Environmental Assistance Network (NYSEAN) is a cooperative effort of agencies and nonprofit organizations whose mission is to provide cost-effective and sustainable environmental assistance to businesses in New York State. The program is a clearinghouse of resources that will help small businesses comply with environmental regulations and improve their environmental impact through pollution prevention, waste reduction, and energy efficiency measures.
Non-governmental groups are also protecting or remediating natural resources over a broad geographic range, especially waterways. The Hudson Valley Watershed Coalition is a new regional alliance of groups, agencies, and individuals working to protect fresh water resources. The Hudson Basin River Watch is protecting the Hudson River and all its tributaries through education, community involvement, and stewardship. It trains volunteers to identify water quality problems, to monitor the physical, biological, and chemical characteristics of water, and to use this information in restoration and protection efforts. It also provides hands-on science education programs to schools, and stream monitoring workshops to environmental organizations, individuals, and agencies.
Pollution Prevention on the Wind
The Hudson Valley suffers some of the worst air quality in the nation, due in part to coal-burning power plants in the Midwest and the two that are still generating electricity locally (Danskammer and Lovett plants). The Indian Point nuclear plant presents environmental problems of its own, including massive fish kills over miles of the Hudson River caused by the plant’s discharge of heated water.
Many municipalities have decided it’s time to move on to cleaner sources of electricty.
Croton-on-Hudson, Caroline, Fishkill, Greenburg, LaGrange, New Paltz, Red Hook, and Woodstock are among those that are purchasing a significant portion of their electricity from wind generation. Community Energy is providing it from the Fenner Wind Project in New York’s Madison County. Currently, ten municipalities, three private colleges, two universities, and six businesses are purchasing wind-generated power through Community Energy.
You can do the same in your community, workplace, or at home. Tell your electricity provider you want all or part of your power to come from wind generation. For a slightly higher cost, you’ll be getting completely pollution-free electricity and supporting the state’s green economy.
Watching Our Waste
A few decades ago, it was in vogue to show respect for Mother Nature by not trashing her, literally. “Do not litter” was a phrase kids grew up with. Wherever that notion went, it’s high time it return, because the volume of debris that collects along roadways and waterways is phenomenal. Some of it provides income to a few of the hardest-working recyclers: the homeless. And Scenic Hudson just held its seventh annual Great River Sweep, a massive effort involving thousands of people in a week-long cleanup of trash along the river and its tributaries, from the Adirondacks to Manhattan.
The campaign to modernize New York State’s 20-year-old Bottle Bill will help, too. It would add a return deposit to an estimated two billion containers for bottled water, iced tea, juice, and sports drinks that currently are being buried in landfills, incinerated, or cast around the landscape. An increase to ten cents per returnable container is also proposed, following Michigan’s example, where 90 percent of containers are returned.
But good old solid waste is still a big fat problem. The three Rs—reduce, reuse, recycle—are more than a catch phrase; they’re essential if we’re going to survive our own waste stream.
First, reduce. Are you using canvas shopping bags instead of acquiring a dozen plastic or paper bags a week, and resisting disposable cameras, razors, and beverage cups? It’s not easy, but we lived without throwaways for decades, and even a small change will help. And donate unwanted but still-usable items to friends or to a thrift shop, homeless shelter, community theater, school, library, or animal shelter. At least one municipal recycling center (Red Hook’s) maintains a shed of usable items for free exchange among residents. There’s also the Hudson Valley Freecycle network, a new online database where people can post notices about stuff they want to give away or are looking for, free.
Another great resource is the Hudson Valley Materials Exchange in New Windsor at Stewart Airport. It’s essentially a community warehouse of donated materials for craft projects, hands-on art activities for school, theater set-building, entrepreneurial ventures, and more. “One of our key goals is to teach the difference, particularly to children, between reuse and recycle,” says Executive Director Jill Gruber. “It’s not enough to recycle something, because so much energy and waste go into making things in the first place. About 75 percent of waste actually comes from the manufacturing process.”