March 2023
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Meeting chair: Michael Helme
Click to view slides from this meeting.
PFAS (Forever Chemicals): Mary Makofske and Michael Helme had an informative visit with Warwick Mayor Michael Newhard and others in the mayor’s office on the issue of PFAS. The EPA and NYDEC are in the process of lowering legal limits on certain PFAS chemicals because of their negative impacts on human health, and municipal water systems would need to meet those standards. At this time there is no recommended solution for municipal water systems to rid their systems of PFAS, but it is clear that something will need to be done in the near future and most likely considerable expense will be involved.
We learned reverse osmosis water filters with carbon filters can be installed under kitchen sinks at individual residences, and this can keep PFAS out of water used for drinking and cooking in that home. The cost of these filter systems and ongoing filter changes would be less than the cost of testing for the many potential pollutants they would eliminate. However, the PFAS would be captured in the filter, and there is currently no hazardous waste disposal method that would detoxify the PFAS and ultimately resolve their dangers.
Next steps for SW on the PFAS issue:
Contact Supervisor Sweeton, Mayor Dwyer, and Mayor Harter
Contact our elected representatives to ask them to help fund the necessary improvements and ban further use of the chemicals
Plan and set up an information forum on PFAS, possibly with Rob Hayes of Environmental Advocates NY and others:
- Reserve a location for the forum, do publicity
- Recruit volunteers to help
Contact the Steering Committee to get involved. SteeringCommittee@sustainablewarwick.org
NY Renews Lobbying Efforts: NY Renews is doing a great job of lobbying for implementation of New York’s climate laws. They are currently endorsing the NY Senate’s proposed budget for 2024, and have asked us each to support them by:
Sending a one-click letter to key members of the Assembly.
Signing up for next week’s week-long call relay. (If you have capacity, sign up for the same time every day of the week!)
Committee Updates
Green Screen: The team interviewed two candidates for the Village Board. Their responses to our questions about sustainability for the Village were printed in the Advertiser and sent out to the SW mailing list. Our team was impressed by the quality of the candidates. Our next Green Screen will be for the Board of Education Candidates this spring.
Zoom Garden Plot: Our Zoom Garden Plot will host its first discussion of all things gardening on Monday, March 20th, at 7 PM. Email SteeringCommittee@sustainablewarwick.org to get on the email list for these discussions. We enjoy a mix of gardeners at all skill levels in our hyperlocal discussions of gardening, and all gardeners are welcome to join us.
Sustainable World Book Club: The Sustainable World Book Club will discuss both Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv, and Late Migrations, by Margaret Renkl at our upcoming meeting on April 11th. Email BookClub@sustainablewarwick.org to join the club.
Pollinator Pathway: A Sustainable Warwick team met with the Town Supervisor, the head of Parks and the head of the DPW. They agreed to begin creating an arboretum between the fences in the north end of the sports complex at Wickham Woodlands. We mentioned that the space could also benefit from pollinator-friendly wild flower meadows. Subsequent to the meeting, the DPW cleared about 1/2 of the space. The Town is in the process of hiring Amy Sweetman to design the park. The Town is also in talks with the owners of the Sports Complex so that the Arboretum can encompass all of the area between the fences. We are planning a “soft opening” on Arbor Day (April 28th), which will include the Shade Tree Commission planting some trees and SW laying down plastic to smother the areas designated to be a meadow. This will also be our kick off to a fundraising campaign to support the Warwick Tree Commission. SW will be offering $2,000 in matching funds to purchase more native trees for the Arboretum. Donors will be offered the opportunity to “sponsor” a tree. The committee is very excited to work with the Town to build a beautiful park. Sustainable Warwick is also looking for ways to support the pollinator-friendly work of the Warwick Valley Gardeners.
Coolest Recycling Drive: In the Coolest Recycling Drive of 2023, Sustainable Warwick will be collecting appliances that use refrigerants and covering all expenses for them to be properly recycled. This service is available to everyone in the Warwick Valley, and covers items such as window air conditioners, dehumidifiers, water coolers, and mini-fridges, basically any appliance with refrigerants that could fit in the trunk of a car.
The chemicals used as refrigerants are engineered and industrially produced to be able to transfer heat when trapped in a pressurized system. When these chemicals are released into the atmosphere, they behave as greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more powerful than CO2. The refrigerant used in most window air conditioners is R410a. If five pounds of R410a is released to the atmosphere, over the next 100 years they will act like 11,000 pounds of CO2, or roughly the same emissions of driving the average car for a full year. A single air conditioner can hold 1 pound of R410a, so we want to help everyone properly recycle their refrigerant-bearing appliances.
Volunteers for a pickup truck brigade are still needed. Please email the Climate and Energy Committee if you are interested in participating. CleanEnergy@sustainablewarwick.org
Operation Clean Sweep is scheduled for the week of Earth Day (April 15th to 23rd), and the Chamber of Commerce is looking for volunteers to help distribute fliers. Please contact the Steering Committee if you are interested. SteeringCommittee@sustainablewarwick.org
Upcoming Events
Grow Local Greenwood Lake will host a seed giveaway on March 22, 7-8:30 PM, Greenwood Lake Senior Center (email GrowLocalGWL@gmail.com for details)
April 29th, Earth Day event at Albert Wisner Public Library, 11am – 2pm
Too Good to Toss will be held May 20/21 this year (contact Wickham Works for more details)
The meeting on Community Choice Aggregation has been rescheduled for sometime in May
Learning Opportunities
- Mushroom Growing Workshop: Warwick Community Center, 3/18 9:30 to Noon and 1:30 to 4:30. Email Peter Lai to sign up.
- NY Renews will hold a Zoom webinar on March 23rd at 12pm on Cap and Invest! Register here.
- Spring is Coming, new video on the need for climate action by Kevin Buckland, is available on YouTube.
- Cornell Cooperative Extension will be training Climate Stewards.
REMINDER: Have an upcoming meeting or event you want the membership to know about? Please provide event calendar updates for the SW website. Click here to submit.