Green Guru Network

Selkirk, Scottland, first in the country to establish no plastic bag legislation, recently hired a Sustainability Coordinator to help residents, businesses, and the municipality respond to climate change.  His role is broad as he researches the feasability of biomass one day and makes home visits to help residents discover their energy usage the next.  The Southern Reporter explains this new orole in public education and the man whos taking on the job.

The Nature Conservancy's Rising Waters Project has been an enlightening process designed to create new connections with diverse stakeholders and get them thinking through Climate Change adaptation. The project helped visualizing Climate Change in the Hudson Valley.  Over the course of one year, more than 160 local stakeholders, railroad businesses, emergency responders, government agencies and environmental groups, met at a series of “scenario planning” workshops.  These workshops explored the impacts of Climate Change in the Hudson Valley.  Groups were given four scenarios to be considered for the Hudson River, each describing different outcomes from 2010 to 2030. Participants began creating strategies for preparing communities to respond to possible impacts of climate change.  Check out the results at: http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/newyork/science/art23583.html 

Photo by: seeman

 

The Town of Hempsted has a great new crew of goats for mowing in their parks. Other groups like Google,  have been doing this for a while yet this is the first municipal government in New York that I have heard giving this a try. 

Check out their video:

http://dalje.com/tv/en/index.php?id=17025ae4f26beeb0

This photo by Danielito

When it's "gotta go" it's gotta go...

Now is a great time to clean up, consolidate and get rid stuff you don't need. That old dress, the spare bike that was replaced by your new mountain bike, kid's clothes and toys, and pretty much anything else you can think of will find a welcome home somewhere else. All you need to know is where to take it! Just in the nick of time the County's Department of Environmental Facilities new recycling quick reference guide is here. Not only will it give you basic recycling guidelines for Westchester County it has a terrific guide to help you find convenient locations for giving away your unused stuff.

http://www.westchestergov.com/envfacil/pdffiles/QuickRecI.pdf

They also have a great web page to help you figure out how to recycle almost everything else:

http://www.westchestergov.com/envfacil/default.htm

Giving away your used but still great stuff, helps reduce waste, combats global warming and gives you that wonderful fuzzy feeling of helping others.

Nina Orville provides sustainability consulting services to non-profits, businesses and local governments. Previously, as Vice President of the New York Community Investment Company, a $40 million community development venture capital firm owned by major banks in New York, she helped finance and provide consulting services to growing businesses in the metro region.

Prior to joining NYCIC, she was a senior manager with an enterprise that supported sustainable development through the sale of sustainably harvested forest products to companies such as Ben & Jerry's and The Body Shop. She serves as Chair of the Mayor's Task Force on Energy and the Environment in Dobbs Ferry and is a member of the Advisory Council of Groundwork Hudson Valley. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.