Central New York: Heat Your Home Without Fossil Fuels

Upcoming HeatSmart CNY Events Near You!

HeatSmart CNY has several FREE upcoming events in Central New York. Registration and additional information for these events can be found on HeatSmart CNY’s website.

• Cortland Open House Sun, May 26 - 2:00pm, 3996 Crestwood Court, Cortland, NY 13045

• Homer Renewable Heating and Cooling Workshop Wed, June 5 - 6:30pm, Center for the Arts of Homer, 72 S Main St. homer, NY 13077

• Truxton Open House Sun, June 9- 2:00pm, 6635 Morgan Hill Rd, Truxton, NY 13158

• Preble Open House Sun, June 30 – 2:00pm, 1981 Preble Rd, Preble, NY 13141

• Tully Presentation Mon, July 8 – 5:00pm 12 State St, Tully NY 13159   

Geothermal heating systems are a great way to heat your home or business without using fossil fuels. About a third of greenhouse gas emissions in CNY come from heating homes. Switching to a geothermal system could not only reduce your carbon footprint, but also save you some money. Fossil fuels can be expensive in comparison to the natural heat that geothermal systems capture from underground.

HeatSmart CNY is a grassroots community initiative to support residents and businesses in exploring ways to improve the efficiency of their buildings, including air source, ground source, and hot water heat pump technologies. To learn more about geothermal technologies, join us at upcoming HeatSmart events. If you own a home or business in Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, or Oswego Counties, you can sign up for a free, no obligation energy assessment!

How does geothermal work?
Really, it’s quite simple. Pumps bring air up from an underground pipe system where the temperature is constant regardless of the weather. Then this air is pushed through air vents in the house much like it would be in a furnace heating system. The temperature underground is relatively warm in the winter, and cool in the summer so a geothermal system can keep your house comfortable all year long!

Thank you for taking action. Together we make a difference!

Sincerely,
All of Us at CCE

Join us for a beach cleanup at Sunken Meadow State Park and the unveiling of the first metal sculpture teaching tool in NYS

Unveiling of “Shelley the Sea Turtle”

A 6-foot metal sculpture designed to educate the public to fight plastic pollution in Long Island Sound!

Plastic pollutes our beaches, bays, and harbors; and is harmful to fish, turtles, birds, and other wildlife.  Help us to combat plastic pollution by participating in a beach cleanup and the unveiling of a giant sea turtle metal sculpture.  This event brings together art and environmental activism. Citizens Campaign for the Environment and Atlantic Marine Conservation Society are hosting a beach cleanup at Sunken Meadow State Park, followed by the unveiling of Shelley the Sea Turtle, a 3D art instillation crafted from mesh metal and will be filled with the plastic pollution we collect.

 The end result will be a large-scale sculpture of a sea turtle, which will symbolize the hazards of marine debris and serve as a reminder for the public to never leave garbage on the beach! Please RSVP to education@amseas.org or 631.317.0030 to participate in the beach cleanup.

 When:            

• Sunday June 2, 2019

• Beach Cleanup: 9:30 a.m.

• Press Rally and Sculpture Unveiling: 11:00 a.m.

Where:          

Sunken Meadow State Park, Kings Park, NY 11754
Field # 1

Thank you for your support. Together we make a difference!
Sincerely,
All of Us at CCE 

Modernize the Bottle Bill!

Help Increase Recycling in Connecticut
Tell Hartford Lawmakers to Modernize Connecticut’s Bottle Bill!

Connecticut’s Container Deposit Law (aka “the Bottle Bill) is a proven, effective way to incentive recycling and keep our communities clean and litter free. Unfortunately, Connecticut’s container recycling program has not been updated in over 30 years and as a result, our redemption rate is now the lowest of any Bottle Bill state!

The CGA Finance, Revenue & Bonding committee recently advanced legislation (HB 7294) that would help modernize the Bottle Bill, by expanding the program to include juices, teas and other non-carbonated beverages not currently covered by the law. Additionally, the bill would better incentive recycling by raising the deposit value on covered containers from 5 to 10 cents.

This is an important step forward, but now we need you to contact House leadership and urge them to bring this important legislation out for a vote as soon as possible!

Modernizing the CT Bottle Bill would benefit our communities and the environment:

• States that have container deposit programs recycle PET plastic, glass and aluminum at more than twice the rate of states that do not.

• The container deposit saves taxpayers money on recycling, at a time when municipal recycling costs are skyrocketing out of control. Experts estimate the Bottle Bill saves CT municipalities more than $2 million/year in recycling costs.

• By expanding the Bottle Bill to include juices, teas and other non-carbonated soft drinks, Connecticut could increase container recycling by more than 100 million bottles and cans each year.

• Expanding the Bottle Bill program helps create green jobs in our state!

Thank you for taking action.

Sincerely,
All of us at CCE

Please Join Us: “Keeping Plastics Out of Long Island Sound”

Learn About the Impact of Plastics on our Marine Environment & What We Can Do to Prevent Plastic Pollution

Plastic pollution is a growing threat to our waterways globally and to our marine life locally.  An estimated 267 species of marine and avian life—including including whales, turtles, seals, shorebirds, and dolphins that populate the Long Island Sound and surrounding NY waters—are  impacted by our addiction to throw-away plastics.

What we can we do to protect marine life and keep plastics out of Long Island Sound?

Join us for a free educational forum to hear leading experts in the field discuss impacts of  plastic pollution on our wildlife, water, and communities.  Find out how you can get involved in the fight against plastic pollution.

RSVP for “Keeping Plastics out of Long Island Sound” here.

When: Thursday, April 25, from 7:00-9:00pm

Where: Huntington Town Hall, 100 Main Street, Huntington, NY

Speakers:      

• Introduction by Huntington Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci

• Rob DiGiovanni, Atlantic Marine Conservation Society

• Christina Manto, Wildlife Conservation Society

• Adrienne Esposito, Citizens Campaign for the Environment

Thank you for joining us!  Together we make a difference.

 Your friends at CCE

Help Combat Plastic Pollution in Connecticut

Tell Hartford lawmakers to ban single-use plastic bags for good!

Connecticut, like many places across our nation and the globe, has a growing concern about pollution caused by single-use plastic bags. Plastic shopping bags are costly, environmentally harmful, and completely unnecessary. They are typically used for an average of 12 minutes, but have impacts on our environment that last for generations.

It is estimated that nearly a billion plastic bags are used in Connecticut every year! The free distribution of single-use checkout bags comes with significant economic and environmental costs to Connecticut:

1. Littering our Communities: Plastic bags litter in our parks, beaches, roads, and waterways; costing taxpayers millions each year to clean them up.

2. Polluting Waterways and Harming Wildlife: Plastic bags never fully break down. Instead, they break up into tiny microplastics, which are frequently mistaken for food by aquatic wildlife. At least 267 marine and avian species are adversely impacted by pollution from plastic bags!

3. Damaging Municipal Infrastructure: Plastic bags are easily swept into storm drains where they lead to severe blockages, causing infrastructure damage and localized flooding. Plastic bags also frequently end up in the curbside recycling bin, where they become entangled in recycling equipment, creating costly delays for municipal recyclers and wasting taxpayer money.

Paper Bags Are Not the Solution

Unfortunately, paper bags also carry their own adverse impacts on our environment. Paper bags require cutting down approximately 14 million trees annually in the U.S., and they require large amounts of energy and fresh water to produce. Additionally, they take up more space in the municipal solid waste stream than plastic bags, and do nothing to change the throw-away culture that plastic bags perpetuate. Connecticut needs a policy that does not replace one disposable bag with another, but instead encourages consumers to bring their own bags!

Tell Hartford Lawmakers to Pass a Bag Ban for the 21st Century!

Proposed legislation in CT (SB 1003) would ban plastic checkout bags in Connecticut, without addressing paper bags. This is a good first step, but it can create an unintended consequence—encouraging consumers to switch to paper bag use, which also adversely impacts our environment. The goal is not to switch from plastic to paper; the goal is to switch from single-use bags to reusable bags!We need you to tell legislative leaders to ban plastic bags and also include a charge on paper bags.

Join Us to Celebrate 34 Years of Grassroots Advocacy!

CCE's Board of Directors Invites You to Our Annual Gala
Join Us to Celebrate 34 Years of Grassroots Advocacy!

Join us for our Environmental Equinox Awards Gala to celebrate more than three decades of grassroots accomplishments and our special honorees:

Estee Lauder

CCE is honoring Estee Lauder for their dedication in fighting climate change by investing in clean, renewable energy.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone

CCE is honoring County Executive Bellone for his dedication to protecting our drinking water and our harbors, beaches, and bays.

• When: Thursday, May 16, 2019, 6:30pm–10:30pm

• Where: The Piermont, 494 Fire Island Avenue, Babylon, NY

Individual tickets are $175. Sponsorships are also available. Please contact Maureen at 516-390-7150, or download the registration form for registration information.

The equinox is the time of year when the sun crosses the equator and the length of the day equals the length of the night on all parts of the earth. The equinox is a symbol of achieving environmental and societal harmony.

Thank you for your support. Together we make a difference!

Sincerely,

All of Us at CCE