Ithaca Carshare

On Tuesday, Ithaca Carshare started accepting membership to their program, which should be running in June. Members can borrow Ithaca Carshare vehicles by logging into the website www.ithacacarshare.org and see the availability and placement of the vehicles. For getting around when a car is needed, this looks to be a great alternative to owning a car and paying for all of the associated costs. Considering the cost of ownership with repairs, maintenance, gasoline and insurance, this service might be a well needed relief to those who own cars currently but don’t drive them often enough to make the costs economical.
Ithaca Carshare is starting with two plans: “It’s my car” is $20 per month and $4.95 per hour of usage, and “Just in case” is $50 a year plus $7.95 per hour. Both plans charge 20 cents per mile driven also. I did the math, and if you plan on using this service for more than 63 hours in a year, than the “It’s my car” plan becomes cheaper. The application fee is regularly $30, but there is a reduced price of $15 if you sign up before May 5th.
According to the website, every shared car is equivalent to taking 15 personal vehicles off the road. With the economy in a bit of a slump and gasoline prices increasing, it becomes more viable to not own cars – or get rid of the second car at least – when a service like this can help support your travel needs. Of course walking and biking still use less resources and energy, but for those times when a car is needed, Ithaca Carshare is a great option.

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A Fluorescent Bulb in Every Home

Credit to Rebecca James in the Syracuse Post-Standard:

You can build a better light bulb – one that uses less electricity and saves money – but how do you get people to use it?

Environmentalists from Cornell University, Ithaca and the nearby town of Caroline are betting that if you deliver a free compact fluorescent bulb to each person’s door, tucked into a reusable fabric bag, people will see the light.

On April 19, a team of more than 100 volunteers on bikes, on foot and in cars plan to deliver the bulbs to all 1,400 households in the town of Caroline, a sprawling, rural community in Tompkins County.

<!– if (parseFloat(navigator.appVersion) == 0) { document.write(”); } –>”We’re trying to show how a small, rural town can take matters into our own hands and say: This is up to us. Our international leaders and national leaders are not moving fast enough to protect our future,” said Dominic Frongillo, a Caroline town board member.

A Cornell junior from Pompey, Shawn Lindabury, wrote a grant that helped fund the project, which is aimed at increasing awareness about how people can live greener lives.

“A lot of people aren’t aware of the benefits of these bulbs,” Lindabury said. “We’re saying, hey, you can save $55 over the course of the lifetime of the light bulb and help reduce energy use in Caroline.”

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Cornell Brings in New Sustainability Prof

Credit to Seth Shapiro in the Cornell Daily Sun:

“Cornell is very progressive in its commitment to sustainability,” said Whitney Larsen ’10, the outreach coordinator for the student-run Sustainability Hub.

While the Sustainability Hub and other student groups work to make the Cornell campus as sustainable as possible, the administration is trying to widen the scope on Cornell’s impact on sustainability.

With the creation of the Cornell Center for a Sustainable Future, the administration is trying to bring together Cornell professors and faculty to enact change far beyond the Cornell campus.

“[This is a great] opportunity for this University to be a model for others to follow,” said Dean of University Faculty Charles Walcott Ph.D ’59.

One way the CCSF and Cornell has shown their determination to the nationwide sustainability effort is by bringing in esteemed professors to teach at Cornell and to take on leadership roles in the CCSF.

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Screening of “The Unforeseen”

Friday, February 22 @ 7:00

Saturday, February 23 @ 5:00

Monday, February 25 @ 9:30

All screenings in the Willard Straight Theatre

“It’s a beautiful, soulful work about real estate development and sprawl, focused on Austin’s beloved Barton Springs, and if you think that’s impossible you haven’t seen it.

The Unforeseen is much more than a plucky local movie about issues that matter only in this delightful, self-obsessed collegiate boomtown.

Battles over development can be found in every American county, and probably in every other jurisdiction in the world, and they all involve real, complicated human beings on all sides.

The Unforeseen is less an issue-driven documentary than a pure visual and sensual experience that seeks to capture the mystery of the American landscape, both paved and wild. Its themes aren’t easy to summarize and its questions defy easy answers.” (Salon.com)

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State’s first “green” consortium aims to save money, trees

Credit to Tim Ashmore in The Ithaca Journal:

ITHACA — Six Tompkins County institutions and agencies have banded together to create New York’s first “green” consortium to help negotiate pricing for environmentally friendly products. Cornell, Ithaca College, Tompkins Cortland Community College, Tompkins County, the City of Ithaca, the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce and Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga Board of Cooperative Educational Services make up the Finger Lakes Environmentally Preferred Procurement Consortium.

“Ithaca is often touted as one of the ‘greenest’ cities in the country,” said Jean McPheeters, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said. “The formation of this consortium demonstrates the commitment of our area business community to work together with our educational partners to advance regional sustainability.”

County Finance Director David Squires said there was a common interest within the county to invest more in environmentally friendly products, and the Tompkins County Division of Solid Waste took the lead and quickly found that Cornell University and Ithaca College had a similar focus.

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Ithaca Common Council Endorses Carbon Tax

Credit to Krisy Gashler in the Ithaca Journal (also see Cornell Daily Sun):

ITHACA — Common Council voted Wednesday to support a federal carbon tax, to build a new dock at Stewart Park, to revise the city’s comprehensive plan and to exempt a proposed Lakeview Mental Health residence from property taxes for 16 years. Council passed a resolution urging state and federal officials to pursue a federal carbon tax rather than emissions trading to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The resolution passed 9-0, with Alderwoman Nancy Schuler, D-4th, abstaining.Schuler said some clauses of the resolution were “really just too emphatic because we really don’t know.”

“I certainly support the concept but I had trouble with the 25 ‘whereases’ as a statement,” she said.

Sylvester Johnson, who is a member of the Climate Change Action Group of Central New York and largely wrote the resolution passed by Council, urged individuals who favor a carbon tax to visit his Web site: federalcarbontax.org.

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Green Initiative Finds a High-Profile Friend

Its list of signatories continues to grow, and the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment received a major boost Wednesday with the announcement of a partnership with the William J. Clinton Foundation to address global warming through building retrofits.

The 427 college leaders who have signed the commitment are promising to take inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions on their campus and, within two years, develop a plan to become climate neutral. They also pledge to integrate sustainability education into their institution’s curriculum.

To decrease energy consumption and work toward carbon neutrality, the commitment asks colleges to take several steps, which can include adopting green building standards and embracing energy-efficient appliances. That’s where the Clinton partnership comes in. The foundation is connecting colleges with companies that are offering to help them fund and complete building retrofits intended to decrease energy consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Read more…

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Ithaca College “Collective Impacts” newsletter – Fall 2007 issue

In case you’re interested in “What’s New” at Ithaca College, here’s the link to the latest issue of “Collective Impacts”, our quarterly newsletter about our sustainability initiative.

http://www.ithaca.edu/sustainability/  (scan to bottom of page under Publications)

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Ithaca College to observe Campus Sustainability Day

Ithaca College is again observing Campus Sustainability Day, on Wednesday, October 24th from 9:00a.m. – 5:00p.m. in the Emerson Suites in our Campus Center. This event is free and open to the public.

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Cornell To Celebrate Campus Sustainability Day

What:
The Sustainability Hub, together with Cornell’s Sustainability Coordinator and the
Campus Life Green Team, is coordinating Campus Sustainability Day to celebrate with
the Cornell community what we have achieved so far on this important area. It will
also be a day in which sustainability efforts will be showcased to the Cornell
community.

When:
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007, from 10:00AM to 2:00PM , and from 5:00PM to 9:00PM.

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