Citizen's Toolkit

Our mission is to educate New Yorkers and help them become engaged and empowered advocates for the environment. The resources listed here can help you learn about environmental issues across the state and take advantage of the ways you can protect environment in your personal life and by getting involved in policy and political processes at the local and state levels. From contacting your representatives to the appropriate avenues to report environmental hazards to how to register to vote, these pages can help you protect the interests that are most important to you. As part of the Citizen’s Toolkit, we also provide weekly “Green Tips” so that you can make sustainable lifestyle choices. In the fight against climate change, every little effort can help to reduce carbon emissions and protect our planet from the worst.

Meet Your Neighbors: New York’s Natural World In this series, we connect policy to nature – highlighting native New York species, what we have in common with them, and the roles they play in NYLCV’s policy agenda. Here in Part 2, we meet the whales off NYC.  By Georgia Good Picture this: an immense humpback…

The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund released an interactive map to help New York State residents determine if the building they live in (i.e., small apartment building or a single-family home) or visit or work (i.e., a house of worship or small office) has a drinking water service line that is or is possibly made of lead. Drinking water service lines are the pipes that carry water from the water main in the street to the inside of buildings. 

Approximately 1.25 million – or more than one in three – water service lines in New York State are either made of lead or possibly made of lead, potentially impacting upwards of 3.1 million or 15% of all New Yorkers. 

Meet Your Neighbors: New York’s Natural World In this series, we connect policy to nature – highlighting native New York species, what we have in common with them, and the roles they play in NYLCV’s policy agenda. From the mountains and forests of the Adirondacks to the coasts of Long Island and NYC, our state…

The use of road salt to keep streets safe during winter storms has become an urgent environmental and public health concern. While salt is effective for melting ice and preventing dangerous driving conditions worldwide, including here in New York State, its overuse has significant public health and environmental consequences, especially regarding its impact on drinking water.

Autumn brings upkeeping tasks for outdoor spaces. With falling leaves and dropping temperatures, we want to make sure that you’re equipped with sustainable yard care tips.

By Peter Aronson Providing clean drinking water for New York State’s 19 million residents is of paramount concern for New York state officials. It is a complex process, given that 95 percent of all New Yorkers receive their drinking water from almost 9,000 different public water systems in the state. This ranges from the smallest…

Invasive Species Awareness Week is here! It is important for us to control invasive species and prevent their spread. By taking just a few simple steps, we can protect wildlife and our ecosystem.

The summer isn’t over yet. If you have a swimming pool and are still planning to take a dip in the pool, check out this week’s Green Tips to help you maintain it in an eco-friendly way!

Freshwater sources are currently under threat. We need to reduce our water use at home to save enough freshwater for all New Yorkers.

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