February 2024
Sustainable Warwick Minutes
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Meeting chair: Michael Helme
We welcomed a couple of new members and introduced the wide range of projects that SW has in the works.
Upcoming Events
The Warwick Green Calendar—now called the Earth to Warwick! Green Calendar—for April through June is in development as a project hosted by Wickham Works. Please submit events no later than March 8th by submitting event information here. Christy is working on this project (with Melissa Shaw-Smith) and can also add your events to the SW events calendar and the HelloWarwickValley.com events calendar. Reach out to Christy with any questions.
Riverkeepers: Christina mentioned she is still looking for a lake, river or creek area in the greater Warwick region that need a cleanup for the Riverkeepers event on May 4th. Please let her know if you see a possible site. Lisa-Ann Weisbrod also mentioned an upcoming webinar from Riverkeepers featuring Karenna Gore, titled "Rights of Nature" on March 12th from 6-7pm. Register here.
TreeCycle 2024: Saturday, April 20th. SW will participate in the upcoming Treecycle event organized by Wickham Works. We have flyers and brochures on SW's specific activities and these will be updated and available at this event.
Reports From Ongoing Projects
Transformation Trails at Wickham Woodlands: Greg reviewed the goals of creating new trails, pollinator pathways, permaculture areas for STEM education, and new trees. There is a plan to create a Friends of Transformation Trails to help with all this in terms of volunteers and funding. SW has put together a $4,000 fund for matching donations, and we still have $1,500 left to be matched. Go to the Transformation Trails pageon our site to have your donation matched.
Pollinator Pathway: Sally reported there had been two very successful zoom meetings in two months with maybe 20 members joining this. This new initiative is growing very successfully. Sally mentioned the following events that SW members are encouraged to share with friends as well as attend:
- Monday, March 18th, 2024, we’re hosting a Zoom webinar at 7 PM: Introduction to the Wild Woods Restoration Project, by Dr. Linda Rohleder. The mission of Wild Woods Restoration Project is to restore the health and diversity of our Hudson Valley forests with local native plants grown by volunteers and to inspire a passion for continued stewardship. In this webinar, we'll get an introduction to this project by Dr. Rohleder, Director and President of the Project. Please save this date on your calendar and use this link to register for the webinar.
- Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024, we’re sponsoring a Zoom webinar at 6:30 PM by Susan Ndiaye, Community Horticulture Educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension. The presentation, “Reducing Pesticide Use with Integrative Pest Management,” will be followed by a Q&A. Please save the date and use this link to register.
- Sunday, April 28th, 2024, at 1 PM, Albert Wisner Public Library will have a showing of “Beauty on the Wing”. The award-winning documentary maker, Kim Smith, will introduce the showing and be available after the show for discussion. We don’t have a registration link from the library for that yet, but they should have it listed on their events page soon.
Food Scraps Collection: Christy confirmed this is ongoing during the winter months at Price Chopper. More volunteers are needed through May 5th for the two-hour slots on Sunday mornings from 10.00am to noon. Sign up to volunteer or contact garden@sustainablewarwick.org with any questions. You can also receive notifications from the composting hotline for updates of cancellations in case of bad weather. But spring is coming! The Warwick Farmers Market will reopen on May 12th and SW will have the usual table set up to collect food scraps.
Helpsy: Julia reported there will be meetings with Mayor Newhard and Town Supervisor Jesse Dwyer about placing Helpsy bins for used clothing donations in Warwick. Location of these bins is important. Supermarkets seemed to be a good suggestion and this will be investigated. Helpsy is a for-profit organization that accepts all forms of donations like clothes, fabric and leather goods. They resell what can be worn again and reprocess the rest of the material. Bin owners get paid by the pound for goods donated, which Helpsy picks up every week or more if necessary. Julia will look into how the Helpsy service is different from other clothing donation bins that are already available around town.
Sustainable World Book Club: Christina reported the last book we read, Where Do We Go From Here; Chaos or Community, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was very impressive and enjoyed by all. Even though this book was written fifty years ago, many of the same issues still resonate today. Our next book is Summer, a novel by Ali Smith and copies are available at the library. Contact BookClub@sustainablewarwick.org for more information.
Green Screen: Geoff, Bill and Christina met with the two candidates who are running for re-election as Village Trustees - Barry Cheyney and Mary Collura. They are running unopposed, so an interview was conducted with both candidates to investigate their successes and goals with issues of sustainability in Warwick. We encourage Village residents to vote in the election on Tuesday, March 19th.
Coolest Recycling Drive: Michael talked about the success of last year's event and how over 130 appliances were collected. The dates for this year’s drive will start with Monday, April 22nd, with a drop-off site at the DPW behind the Town Hall. There are also drop-off events planned for Greenwood Lake and Chester, plus we’re discussing another drop-off event in Florida. Home pick up will also be available and strong volunteers are needed, as there may be more refrigerators this year because Orange & Rockland has stopped taking them. Sustainable Hudson Valley will also be running a Coolest Recycling Drive this spring in Ulster County in collaboration with SUNY Ulster.
Steering Committee News
A vote was taken to approve Christina Thomas joining the Steering committee. She received unanimous approval and expresses her thanks to the group.
A letter of support has been written for The Moving Dance Company and a donation was made to partially support a videographer to record the Monarch Butterfly parade in Warwick this summer.
Discussion Topic
Greg spoke about the spread of misinformation related to climate policy. He illustrated his talk with slides about the supposed impact of wind farms on whale deaths, which he demonstrated was based on misinterpreted scientific findings.
Our next meeting will be on March 20th at 7.30pm via Zoom, please plan to join us.