May 2023
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Meeting chair: Bill Greene
Transformation Trails at Wickham Woodlands: Successful opening, five trees planted. Geoff has led the way with the DPW, WV Gardeners, Shade Tree Commission, Hudson Sports Complex and Amy Sweetman. Plans are underway to have a Matching Fund Campaign, for trees to be planted in the fall. Christy and Bill will launch a webpage for donations on the SW site. Two Pollinator Meadows will be created by SW. Bill is recruiting students from Sanfordville to help lay the plastic for the first pollinator meadow [apologies noted for the use of plastic] Julia alerted us to the spread of garlic mustard weed throughout Warwick and suggested a weeding campaign as it is spreading very quickly.
Food Scraps Collection: Another success story for SW. Launched last year at the Farmers Market with 2 to 3 buckets in the first weeks and grew to 25 buckets a week by the end of the season. This year the Village has provided four big containers, stored next to the caboose on South Street. After the collection the DPW takes them to the farm on Union Corners Road where they have been composting the scraps since we began. The goal is to make this available all year and return some of the compost to those who donate.
Volunteers are needed to help man the collection table at the Farmers market – two shifts - 10AM to noon and noon to 2PM. It's easy and really encouraging to hear how excited your neighbors are about this program! Contact Geoff Howard to let him know your availability. Thank you!
Insects and Birds: Bill noted a decrease in the number of bees and insects this year, echoed by others. This shows why the Pollinator Pathways are so important. Jody shared that Neonic pesticides are killing off the bird population. The Audubon Society is reaching out about this. Here is more information on the problem and the impact on endangered birds and insects. Jody encouraged us to contact Senator James Skoufis and ask him to support the New York State Birds and Bees Protection Act (S1856)—a bill to curb widespread and wasteful use of neurotoxic neonicotinoid pesticides or “neonics”. His phone number in at his district office is (845) 567-1270, Albany office is (518) 455-3290 or email him at skoufis@nysenate.gov.
Earth Day Celebration at the Library - Recap: Another successful event thanks to Alice, Christy, Kate, Geoff and Mary. They talked to attendees and handed out brochures with information on Sustainable Warwick’s various activities. They also collected food scraps to be composted. More people were signed onto the SW mailing list thanks to their efforts. Thanks also to Teresa Vela-Hayes and the Library for inviting us to participate in this wonderful community event!
Committee Updates
Coolest Recycling Drive: Big success! 500,000 lbs of CO2 saved from the environment with 130 appliances collected and refrigerant safely removed. The metal scrap was also recycled. Michael walked us through the process about identification, extraction and removal. You can see his very informative presentation here. Congratulations to Michael and his team of volunteers. A great first year—plans for 2024 are to have the campaign grow and spread to other communities.
Community Garden and Orchard: Now in its 14th year and going well!
Green Screen: Now in their fourth year, the Green Screen team interviewed candidates for the recent School Board Elections. The Dispatch called us “a Green Thumb on the Scale.” For the first time ever two candidates ‘respectfully declined’ to be interviewed. Bill, Geoff and Christina ran the initiative this year.
Zoom Garden Plot: The Zoom Garden Plot meets on the second and fourth Mondays of each month to share questions, answers and insights on local gardening. Gardeners of all levels are welcome to join us. Send an email to garden@sustainablewarwick.org to receive the Zoom invitation for these sessions. You can catch up on what you've missed on the Zoom Garden Plot webpage, all the past videos are there.
Sustainable World Book Club: Christina reported that the book this month, “A Poison Like no Other’ was a very depressing read about micro plastics – they never go away, they just get smaller and are found everywhere, the ocean, fish, animals, the soil, clothing, babies and adults. The first line of defense could be filters in all washing machines, it won't solve the problem but would be a start. Coincidentally, 3 bills are currently before the NYS Congress, that propose actions to address the problem, at least in part, through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation. To read more about them, go here. The next book we will be reading is “Fen, Bog and Swamp” for the meeting on June 13th. Contact BookClub@sustainablewarwick.org to join in.
Our next meeting, in June, will be outdoors, location TBA. To take advantage of the daylight hours we'll meet a little earlier with a 7PM start time.
SW Website Request: Let's keep our website current and helpful to people wanting to know more about us. Committees, please look at your page on the site and let Christy know any updates that need to be made. Also, do you have an upcoming meeting or event you want the membership to know about? Please provide event calendar items to Christy so she can post them. Click here to submit.