The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund is pleased to present this 2017 Green Guide as a resource for all candidates running for public office in New York City. This document, released at our Environmental Candidate School, is a one-stop-shop for candidates to learn about new opportunities and approaches to persistent sustainability problems. It also provides contact information for citywide and local organizations that work on the front lines of these issues, available as a resource to any candidate. NYLCVEF developed this guide in close consultation with our environmental, transportation, public health, parks and environmental justice partners to embrace a wide range of views and perspectives.
Toolkit Featured: Featured
Green Tip: Eating with the Seasons
Eating locally grown food is an important way to lessen your environmental impact. Buying from grocery stores that source from remote farms wastes resources on transportation and manufacturing, and encourages business practices with potential adverse effects. By eating locally-grown food, you can support local farms and the local economy and cut down on the greenhouse emissions that far-flung production chains entail. Eating locally is easy in the summer, when farm stands seem to be overflowing with fresh fruits, veggies, and leafy greens, so now is the best time to build a seasonal eating habit. Here are some more tips to help you green your diet:
Develop the habit while it’s easy: Summer time is a great time to start eating seasonally because fresh produce is so readily available — your diet won’t feel the slightest bit restricted. Build the habit to go to the farmers’ market each week and cook or preserve everything you purchase now, so that when fall and winter roll around, you’ve already learned how to prepare everything farmers’ markets are offering.
Shop at year-round farmers’ markets: In years past, farmers’ markets would pop up in May and June and slowly close down in October and November, but more and more markets have started running year-round. If you can, find a market that operates all year long so you can build a habit of going every week or every two weeks. The New York State government offers a map of farmer’s markets, with information about operating hours, months, and number of vendors.
Sign up for a CSA Share: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares can provide you with fresh, local food, year-round. CSAs support the farming community and keeps your environmental impact positive – all it takes is a subscription. CSA works by having farmers offer shares of their produce to the public. Members of the community purchase these shares, and in turn receive seasonal produce on a weekly basis. While most CSAs run through the main growing season (late spring through fall), many farms are also creating CSAs for the winter – these farms offer a mix of preserved products and/or greenhouse grown products. You can search for a winter CSA near you here.
Preserve Your Food: One of the best ways to eat well during the winter is to start preparing in the summer, if you have the storage space. By freezing, canning and carefully storing food during its peak seasons, you can keep it in reserve for periods of relative scarcity. It takes some work to pull this off properly, but Canadian organization FarmFolk CityFolk offers some tips on how you can become a pro preserver in the comfort of your own home.
And last but not least, to help you keep track of what’s in season, our friends at the GRACE Communications Foundation just launched their Seasonal Food Guide and App. This great tool will make eating local, seasonal food easy and delicious. Here’s some more information from the EcoCentric Blog: “Use the Seasonal Food Guide to learn when and where your favorite locally grown produce is in peak season (and has maximum flavor)! Want to know how long a produce item will be available at your local farmers’ market? Wondering what’s in season at other times of the year or in other states? The answers are now right at your fingertips! The Seasonal Food Guide includes links to recipes and in depth information on local, seasonal fruits, vegetables, herbs, legumes and nuts from our Real Food Right Now series. Bonus: our app lets you set a calendar invite to remind you when your favorite produce item can be found at a farmers’ market near you.”
Try these tips and you’ll be eating seasonally all year round!
Green Tip: Doing Laundry Sustainably
The summer heat means more sweat, and by extension more loads of laundry to do. However there a variety of practices other than re-wearing your sweaty gym clothes that can make your laundry practices more sustainable.
Wash with Cold Water
Studies show that 75% of the total energy-use and carbon emissions associated with your laundry comes from warming the water. Although normal detergents may work best in warm water to remove stains and dirt, there are a variety of cold water detergents that are specifically designed to work with cold water and have the same cleaning effects. Overall, switching to cold water and cold water detergent is a greener alternative to warm water washing, and you don’t have to sacrifice the cleanliness of your clothes in the process.
Save Energy
Instead of stuffing your loads into the dryer, try using the sun instead. The dryer consumes an immense amount of energy, second only to the refrigerator in household costs. You’ll also save energy on ironing. The impact of drying, along with the choices made in washing clothes, can cause a significant difference for the environment. A single load of laundry washed at 140 fahrenheit and dried in a combined washer drier gives off over five times as much in carbon emissions as a load washed at half the temperature, dried on a line.
Only Wash Full Loads
This obvious change to your behavior can reduce the money you spend on laundry, the frequency of how often you need to do laundry, and your overall carbon footprint. Although you may be sweating this summer, try not to do laundry until you absolutely have to in order to reduce the amount of water and energy you are using on washing your clothes.
Reduce Waste
Making your own detergent can also reduce the waste produced by detergent and fabric softener bottles. In fact, every year nearly 700 million plastic laundry detergent jugs end up in landfills, which is enough to circle the earth 6 times!
Finally, avoid dryer sheets. They generate waste during production and contain chemicals that are bad for the environment when they inevitably end up in landfills. Instead you can use tennis balls or wool balls which can be reused time and time again.
For more laundry tips, check out our earlier article, here.
How to Test Your Water
Water issues might not be making as many headlines anymore, but even if your local supply hasn’t made it to the news, you might remain at risk without knowing it. Given the number of contaminants that can make their way into shared or even private wells, you’ll need to make sure your drinking water stays clean and safe.
So how can you safeguard your water supply? With these steps, you can identify potential hazards and test for any contaminants.
Are You At Risk?
If you live in an area with cause for concern, you might want to skip right to testing. With over twenty percent of private wells nationwide yielding at least one major contaminant, and potentially a third of wells hosting trace amounts of E. coli, water contamination can cause serious damage. Look no further than the news – lead poisoning incidents have skyrocketed across the country, much of it from tainted water. The New York State government typically warns of a handful of harmful microbes and chemicals, including bacteria, lead, iron, manganese, sodium, nitrates and nitrites. Of course, other chemicals, such as perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA the central chemical in the Hoosick Falls incident, can take their toll as well.
The most common sources of contamination come from outdated septic tanks and poor agricultural infrastructure. Improperly stored livestock waste and aged fertilizing systems can seep toxic agents into the ground, while inadequate sewage can fail to filter out these chemicals. If you live near a livestock yard or a known, aged septic tank, you might want to consider a water test. On Long Island, for example, public officials have raised the alarm over aged septic systems and widespread nitrogen. With new revelations regarding water contamination, however, other sources have made themselves known, including factories that produce mass amounts of poisonous chemicals. In the case of Hoosick Falls, a long-standing teflon factory wreaked havoc on the populace.
A flimsy well could also make the water susceptible to contamination. Check yours to see if the well casing has corroded.
How Can You Tell?
Most know to let water run and flush out contaminants if it looks dark, or gives off an unusual odor. Unfortunately, aesthetic signs don’t often go hand-in-hand with the worst contaminants. Lead poisoning does not leave any physical signs; according to a number of government agencies, you cannot know if your water contains hazardous levels of lead unless you test it. Nitrate, meanwhile, shows no physical traits whatsoever, but can cause extreme and potentially life-threatening conditions in infants. Water that looks sullied from a visual perspective – brown or even black – can point to unhealthy amounts of sediment, but the major, problematic chemicals can go unnoticed if you’re looking for a clear signal.
You can, however, detect chlorine by smell and taste. As a general rule, the easier you notice the sources of contamination, the easier you can get rid of them. Conditioners designed to remove high mineral content such as calcium and magnesium can prove pricey, but straightforward, while a simple carbon filter can cut out the Chlorine.
Get Testing
So what do you do about the heavy hitters – lead, nitrate, E. coli and PFOA just to name a few? The New York State Department of Health suggests getting a laboratory test of your private well. Fortunately, the state’s Wadsworth Center has compiled a database of all the labs in the area – simply search for your city, county or zip code and find one that does the right test for you. No test can cover every possible contaminant, so you can do your best by tackling the most common water-borne pathogens. The Center for Disease Control offers a broad list of the major risks, though it still lacks some notable entries, such as PFOA. Companies such as Long Island Clean Water can not only test your water, but also suggest the proper kind of filter to keep it clean in the future.
If you’re already noticing physical signs of water-related health issues, the EPA offers a list of symptoms to help you narrow down the scope of your testing. Items such as recurring gastrointestinal illness and can point to the presence of harmful agents such as coliform bacteria. Not all of these signs are obvious, however, and even something as simple as the rapid wear of water treatment equipment can point to contamination problems.
Your best bet is to play it safe and invest in a broader test. As always, when it comes to the environment, it’s better to err on the side of caution. Recent events have shown that our water supply remains at risk. With dwindling resources and the increased frequency of droughts, it becomes imperative to make sure the water we have stays clean. Our health depends on it.
New York State Policy Agenda 2017
Each year, NYLCV and the NYLCV Education Fund work closely with New York’s leading environmental, public health, conservation, energy, environmental justice, and transportation organizations to identify the state’s most pressing priorities on fighting climate change, conserving land and water, and protecting public health. The result of that effort is our 2017 New York State legislative policy agenda. This agenda will drive NYLCV’s advocacy work throughout the legislative session as we push for legislation and appropriations in the budget that fulfill our policy goals.
Our 2017 agenda charges the legislature and executive with five distinct but interconnected directives: ensure adequate funding for the environment, address the causes and effects of climate change, protect the health of New Yorkers and their communities, protect natural resources, and invest in better, smarter infrastructure. Though there are nearly fifty policies we will support this year, there are three priority areas that are at the top of our list: clean drinking water, leadership on climate, and farms, food, and organic waste.
With progress stalled at the federal level, these problems must be solved at the state and local levels. Our leaders will need to be thoughtful, work across the aisle, and make tough compromises. But we fully expect them to do whatever it takes to create a greener, healthier and more prosperous New York in 2017.
Victory for Proposition 1: The Vital Extension of Eastern Long Island’s Community Preservation Fund
On Tuesday, November 8th, voters on the East End of Long Island had an important environmental decision to make on their ballots: whether or not to extend the Community Preservation Fund (CPF) in the five East End towns. Voters have spoken and the results showed a resounding desire to extend the CPF, the vital 2% real estate transfer tax that protects and preserves local farmland, water quality and open space. This ballot initiative to extend the CPF from 2030 to 2050 is important because of the environmental risks of inaction on the initiative were enormous. The revenue generated from the CPF goes toward protecting land and water out across Suffolk County, and by voting yes on Proposition 1, East End Towns are now authorized to use up to 20% of their Community Preservation Fund towards vital water quality projects.
The East End’s Community Preservation Fund has played a key role in pushing forth environmental preservation initiatives. Since the program’s inception in 1998, the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund has raised more than $1 billion and protected more than 6,000 acres of land that would have otherwise been developed. Protecting water quality can mitigate algal blooms and fish die-offs caused by nitrogen pollution from failing septic systems and fertilizer runoff is critical, and the Preservation Fund has been used to directly protect the Peconic Bay’s water quality. With Prop 1 passed, more funding from the CPF can go directly towards water quality projects.
Additionally, the Preservation Fund has helped key projects to improve and restore the Peconic Estuary, protect drinking water, and preserve threatened agricultural lands for the East End’s farmers. Maintaining the CPF for an additional 20 years will help the East End towns protect and conserve one of Long Island’s most environmentally important areas. Voters generated overwhelming support for the CPF extension, with the measure passing in a landslide in all five East End towns: The proposal was supported by 78.2 percent of voters in Southold Town, 75.2 percent in Riverhead Town, 80.1 percent in Southampton Town, 78.2 percent in East Hampton Town and 69.5 percent on Shelter Island.
The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund is proud to have contributed our efforts to this positive outcome. We made about 16,000 calls and knocked on approximately 2,000 doors in Riverhead over the weekend, and with the support of Scott’s Miracle Gro we were able to create educational materials to leave behind for local residents. We also partnered with the Verizon Foundation to create a microsite with more information about the campaign and about the CPF and reached out to 20,000 residents of Southold and Riverhead on their mobile phones. This outreach campaign informed local residents about the many benefits of the CPF and reminded them to show up to the polls.
The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund commends all of the voters on the East End who extended this crucial program. We would also like to thank Scotts Miracle Gro and the Verizon Foundation for supporting our efforts to educate East End voters about this important program. This victory for the environment should serve as an example for other towns across New York and across the country, and we hope it will inspire similar measures to further ensure that local land and water preservation and remediation projects are funded and supported.
