January 2023 Newsletter

• Healthy Yards Monroe County and CPG Offers FREE Classes Through Pen-Rec
  • Plant-Based Eating and Home Composting
  • Designing a Native Pollinator Garden
  • Planting and Caring for a New Native Pollinator Garden
• Inspiring the Next Generation of Climate Activists
• Days for Girls: Help Keep Girls in Schools in Developing Countries
• 2023 Monroe County Tree and Shrub Sale is Open
• Gov Hochul's Climate and Environmental Goals
• Earth Day Every Day Green Tips
• January EV News
• The Cost of Inaction
• Go All Electric - Sounds Great! How?
• The Green Energy Transition
• Upcoming Events 
• Color Your Community Green Network News
• Take the Climate Action Pledge
• Color Penfield Green Encourages You to Opt-Up to Penfield 100

Gov. Hochul shared some of her proposals to address the climate crisis: 

• End the sale of any new fossil fuel-powered heating equipment by 2030
• All new construction will be zero emission starting in 2025 for smaller buildings and 2028 for large buildings 
• NY will pursue a Cap-and-Invest program: "Big greenhouse gas emitters will have to purchase permits to sell polluting fuels. The dirtier the fuel, the bigger the price tag. The "invest" part of the program will accelerate the clean energy transition and include a universal Climate Action rebate that will provide $1 Billion in revenues that we'll allocate to help cover utility bills, transportation costs, and de-carbonization efforts." 

And speaking of Gov. Hochul, here are some of the environmental bills she signed into law in the final days of 2022:  

• 30x30 - protects 30% of NY's land and waters by 2030. 
• Carpet Stewardship - reduces waste, develops a carpet recycling program
• Cumulative Impacts - regulates where environmental facilities can be sited
• Right to Repair Act - (1st in the nation) Allows tech to be repaired by anyone, not just the manufacturer
• Human Composting - instead of burial or cremation, humans can be turned into soil after death, saving 1 ton of carbon emissions
• Bans the sale of clothing with PFAS  in NY by the end of 2023

Happy New Year!

We are finally moving into winter weather and it's a great time to seal up a drafty house. Environment America offers some extensive tips for weatherizing your home. It even includes instructions and information about financing through the famous Inflation Reduction Act, which is intended to help all of us make green improvements to our homes, AND instructions with the application! So take a look to see what you need to do to tighten up your home, or if you have already done so, see if you missed anything. 

Plastic likely takes some form in most of the things we buy every day. It has been well documented that plastics pose one of the most serious threats to our Earth's environment. Arguably the greatest single threat is single-use plastic, that is, plastic we use once and throw away: plastic wrap, plastic cups, packaging, etc.

Click on this link to find out how we consumers can do our part to keep single-use plastics out of our environment. And click on Good, Better, Best — Eliminating Plastic Waste to learn even more.

And as you welcome 2023 please remember,
REDUCE – REUSE – REPURPOSE - RECYCLE

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Keynote speaker Simeon Banister, leader of the Rochester Area Community Foundation and the Greater Rochester Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, as well as the co-chair of the Genesee-Finger Lakes Climate Collective will speak on the theme Roots for Change: Approaches to Social Justice Action. The MLK commemoration takes place in the Nazareth College Arts Center’s Callahan Theater. A livestream is also offered. 

In January they will be meeting on the 18th at 10:00 in the Tops parking lot in Panorama Plaza.  Join us for some good conversation and a purposeful walk, too.  Remember there is no bad weather in Rochester, only wrong clothing.  Dress for the weather and stay warm!  

Electrifying our vehicles and buildings will increase the demand for electricity. As a result, the electrical grid will need to be modernized.

This FREE webinar will address common questions and concerns about the grid and about how energy reliability can be maintained while pursuing electrification at the pace required by NYS's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. More info and registration here. 

Do you know someone who lives in Rochester who might be interested in joining Color Rochester Green? It's the eleventh team to join the Color Your Community Green network! The goal of this event is to activate community members in the City of Rochester to work together on meaningful climate action in our city. 

The event will take place in the Kate Gleason Auditorium at the Central Library of Rochester. All are welcome! Refreshments will be provided. For those interested in attending but unable to attend in person, we plan to make it a hybrid meeting with a Zoom option. Register here.

Across the developing world, not having access to feminine hygiene products means that girls miss school, fall behind, and are increased danger of dropping out. Days for Girls is an international organization that hand sews bags with reusable, washable, cloth pads so that girls can go to school while they have their periods. Click here to learn why keeping girls in school is the 3rd most impactful global climate solution.

Join the local contingent who meet every month to create these bags.  No special skills or RSVP necessary - Just show up!  (Although if you have a sewing machine and know how to use it, bring it with you). *NOTE: You must be a Y member to participate. No guests allowed yet. 

Full Moon Hike, as part of Penfield Recreation's Family Snow Night Out event at Harris Whalen Park. Bring your snowshoes if there is snow, as well as a headlamp or flashlight. Look for the hike signs. Registration is required.
 

Join us for an environmental presentation (TBA) on western NY habitat. Meet many other trails programmers and learn about their offerings in the greater Rochester region. This event will be held at Penfield Town Hall auditorium. Look for the hike signs.

• Take the pledge here
• Read the Strategic Plan here
• Watch the Strategic Plan here

Color Penfield Green Encourages You to Opt-Up to Penfield 100

Most of Penfield went with the default 50% renewable which is much better than the ~7% renewable default RG&E mix! However, Color Penfield Green urges you to consider opting into the Penfield 100 program for 100% green electricity.  The 30 day average look back at the default mix RG&E electricity supply is $0.06709 and Penfield 100 is $0.06443!  The Town of Penfield made a great deal for us and if you opted out, it's not to late to opt back in and then opt-up to 100% green electricity for your home! 

• Browse Good Energy's PenfieldCCA.com Website - HERE
• Enroll in Penfield's CCA electricity program for the 1st time - HERE
• Or... Opt-Up to Penfield 100 - Our 100% Renewable Electricity Program - HERE
• Or... Opt-Out of our CCA electricity program altogether (at any time) - HERE

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• inform fellow residents about all the incredible ways that our community is “Going Green” with a focus on climate
• educate people as to how they can reduce their carbon footprints - at individual, family, neighborhood, municipal, state, and federal levels
• organize local volunteers to participate in high impact campaigns, and 
• support and empower Penfield residents to become community leaders in addressing climate change. 

We are respectful, inclusive, nonpartisan, solutions-focused, collaborative, scientifically-informed, and committed to social, racial, environmental, and intergenerational justice.
 
We are proud of all that Penfield has accomplished and are excited to help lead the way in protecting our environment in the future. Please check out our new and still evolving website ColorPenfieldGreen.org and join us in our current and future campaigns! If interested, send an email to ColorPenfieldGreen@gmail.com. 
 

We'd love to grow our Penfield audience! Share this link with your friends and neighbors so they can sign up to receive this newsletter too:  

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