Climate and Energy
MISSION: Promote the reduction of fossil fuel use through conservation, efficiency, and adoption of renewable energy.
Climate Change: Meaningful Solutions at Home and in Your Community
Feeling hopeless and frustrated as you see climate change impact our communities? Solutions exist, and you can contribute to them. This video of our Oct. 18, 2021 webinar offers many affordable, specific suggestions on making your home more efficient (and comfortable), choosing renewables, and joining with others in making changes. The resource list described in the webinar is available here.
Fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) powered the industrial and technological revolution that improved many aspects of human life. However, the downsides of fossil fuel extraction and use now pose such threats to the environment, the climate, and human health that new, innovative solutions must provide our energy.
We must move quickly to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Quite a few Warwick residents are contributing to this transition by installing solar electric panels and solar hot water. Combined with increased efficiency and conservation, the transition to renewable energy can lead us to a sustainable future.
The SW Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Committee has also been working against a new fossil fuel plant in Wawayanda, the CPV (Competitive Power Ventures) fracked gas power plant. See more About Fracking. Click the OFF Fossil Fuels logo to learn about our organized opposition of area polluters like Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) and Danskammer power plants.
Fossil fuel use results in:
air, water, and land pollution
resulting health impacts (cancers, heart disease, asthma, neurological damage, genetic changes, damage to fetuses)
damage to agriculture
disruption of ecosystems (mountaintop removal for coal mining, destruction of forests from tar sands and pipelines, pipeline and transportation spills, etc.)
extinction of species
conflicts over fossil fuel resources
rise in greenhouse gases that cause climate change
resulting increase in sea level rise, extreme floods, extreme storms, wild fires, spread of diseases, political conflicts, climate refugees
damage to ocean ecosystems such as estuaries and coral reefs
damage to available water quality and quantity
HeatSmart Warwick had several successful information workshops over the course of the campaign.
Home Energy Efficiency
As residents of New York, there's a large array of programs and subsidies we can access to make our homes more comfortable and reduce operating expenses while making them more climate friendly. Email us cleanenergy@sustainablewarwick.org if you have questions about these programs. You could also check out this website from Cornell Cooperative Extension to learn about the programs or to contact a Community Energy Advisor, who is thoroughly trained on up-to-date information about the programs.