Along with the new year of 2021 came a lot of change, predominantly with the new Biden administration. Since Biden has taken office on January 20th, many advancements have been made in the efforts of fighting for social justice, battling the COVID-19 pandemic, and attempts at decreasing the speed of climate change. On Biden’s first day in office he signed several executive orders involving climate change. Most notably, Biden immediately recommitted the United States back into the Paris Climate Accord.
TheParis Agreement was made in 2015, when nearly every major nation agreed on progressively lowering the amount of greenhouse gases they emit to prevent the average global temperature increase from exceeding two degrees Celsius. Although originally an active partner in the agreement, the United States pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord at the beginning of the Trump administration in 2017.
Biden declared the issue of climate change to be one of his administration’s top priorities, saying, “We’re going to combat climate change in a way we have not before.” On top of recommitting to the Paris Climate Accord, Biden has also begun reinstating over 100 environmental policies that were previously rolled back by the Trump administration.
Although the reinstatement of all of these policies will likely take years to accomplish, one milestone has already been hit. Upon his first hours in office, Biden signed an order that cancelled the permit for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. This pipeline, which would transport oil from Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico, sparked heavy protests as it would intersect and damage the land of indigenous peoples and ranchers. The cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline is a huge step towards the environmental justice that people all across the country have been advocating for years, and hopefully is just one step of many under this new administration.
National Solar Tour
The utilization of solar energy is a vital step needed to help lower emissions of greenhouse gases in our nation. The United States electric power sector accounts for 28 percent of all emissions for the country. But by switching to either CSP or PV solar power you can provide around eighty percent of the energy needed for the average space heating and water heating needs of a home with no emissions. CCAA is no stranger to solar energy. In fact, in the National Solar Tour CCAA placed fourth out of 43 organizations by the number of unique views received on our videos. Many of our own CCAA members have already begun the switch to solar energy.
One CCAA volunteer, George Lorefice, switched to community solar in 2020, saving up to ten percent on his annual electric bill. George was able to use community solar to reduce his carbon footprint while avoiding the capital expense of installing solar panels on his own home. Community solar is simply a solar power plant that supplies energy to numerous households. George selected the amount of energy he needed from the power plant when he signed up, and was then allocated that amount of power from the solar plant each month. Community solar is a brilliant way to utilize solar technology without taking on all of the potential costs on your own.
Another CCAA member, Yvonne Chu, recently installed her own solar panels on her home in 2020. She installed 12 solar panels on her roof and was able to produce more megawatt hours in electricity per month than she and her family used. She intentionally chose to install more solar panels than she needed at the time in hopes of using them to convert any current gas-run appliances into electric appliances in the future. Although expensive, there are both state and federal incentives in place to help encourage those interested in solar energy to explore the possibility deeper. Solar panels are a great way to reduce your carbon footprint and begin the switch to renewable energy to support your home.
Our last CCAA member highlight is Peter Wirth. Pete had solar panels installed on his home back in 2008. Like many others who get involved in solar energy, one of Pete’s major influences was concerns of climate change. However, switching to solar energy became a financial benefit for Pete as well. Through numerous government rebates Pete was able to install his eighteen solar panels in 2008 for $6000 dollars out of pocket. He later installed six more panels. Pete decided to install a 5kW system, which is considered to be on the smaller side for an average sized home. Despite this, Pete and his family are able to produce an impressive 1000 extra kilowatts of power each year. With this excess in power, Pete deduced that the system would be able to pay for itself in nine and a half years. Although that may seem like a long time, the solar panels are expected to still be working at ninety percent efficiency after 25 years. So Pete estimated he will have at least fifteen years of free energy. This is a fantastic example of how an initial investment in solar energy can not only benefit the environment as a whole, but also an individual on a financial level.
If you want to sign up for community solar, help build out renewable energy infrastructure in your area, and in the process reduce your electric bill, contact CCAA at cc.awareness.action@gmail.com for more information. You can be a renter or homeowner.
Donations
CCAA thanks the following individuals who made a contribution in 2020 to support our work to transition away from fossil fuels.
Ken Johnson
Gavin Landless
Peter Winkler
Peter Wirth
Mark Brigg
Jim Doherty
To help combat climate change and support the work of CCAA please click here to go to our donations page.
Climate Change Awareness & Action and Hill Communications are joining forces to spread awareness about climate change. Hill Communications is a boutique, student-run public relations firm that specializes in creating high quality work through high quality commitment. They will be working with CCAA on revamping our organization’s online presence while increasing community engagement.
Hill Communications will be implementing the Carbon Challenge campaign via social media, where followers can pledge to reduce their carbon footprint and share their experiences to spread awareness about climate change. They will also be helping CCAA create graphics that will break down complicated climate change issues in order to be easily understood by all CCAA members.
With the Biden administration stepping in there is a lot of opportunity for community education, so Hill Communications’ help in spreading that information is a huge asset to CCAA. Hill Communications has also stated that they are interested in potentially pitching the CCAA organization as a whole to local news outlets to help spread our message. This is a fantastic opportunity, and we are looking forward to seeing what a partnership between CCAA and Hill Communications will bring!
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) measured that 63.1 million tons of compostable waste was put into landfills in 2018. Landfills are responsible for 15.1 percent of methane emissions, equivalent to emissions from 20.6 million cars on the road for one year. Materials such as food and yard waste that aren’t composted decompose in landfills, which results in emissions of methane into the atmosphere. Methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon, absorbs the sun’s heat, which then warms the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. It is time for residents, businesses, and schools to look at options to reduce their carbon footprint related to compostable waste disposal.
One option is for residents, businesses, and schools in the Central New York Region to compost food and yard waste at OCRRA (Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency). As regular composting requires constant manual turning of compostable material, OCRRA has created a system that pumps oxygen beneath the floor into the compost, providing a less labor-intensive process of aeration. This process ensures proper decomposition with reduced carbon and methane emissions.
OCRRA takes in both residential municipal waste and commercial waste. Within Onondaga County, OCRRA has two composting locations: one in Jamesville and one in Camillus (the Amboy site). Residents drop off their compostable waste, while companies choose different methods of collection and transport of compostable waste to OCRRA. Materials that can be composted range from food scraps such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products, grains, bread, coffee filters, eggshells, and meats, to agricultural waste such as tree leaves, grass clippings, yard waste, farm and crop waste, and manure.
Composting has a mutual benefit for both companies and the environment. As for the environment, composting reduces landfill waste while providing nutrients to the soil. As for companies, it reduces their garbage output. Composting helps companies lower their garbage bills by eliminating heavy foods. Using companies such as OCRRA, the disposal of food waste costs about half as much as regular garbage disposal.
Kristen Lawton, a Public Information Officer at OCRRA, explains the journey from compost at the site to compost at OCRRA:
“Companies such as Natural Upcycling transport compostable materials from a business or school to the Amboy compost site. We weigh the material and dump it into the food scrap building. It’s a canvas covered building; one side is open, where trucks dump their material. We mix that with yard waste to create a three-to-one combination of three units of yard waste to one unit of food scraps. We then put it into a bunker, mound it up in a big pile and it sits for thirty days in the first bunker. The oxygen pumps through the material to keep decomposition moving evenly, and then we move it to a new bunker. It sits there for another thirty days, and we monitor the process so it’s cooking appropriately. It is then moved to another bunker until it cures. It’s a ninety day process.”
Lawton explains the importance of this process, as taking compost out of the decomposition process early could be detrimental to the harmony of the environment the compost is used in. Compost that doesn’t sit for at least sixty days can kill an entire garden. From there, OCRRA sells the material in bulk and by the bag, where people and companies can buy soil made from the city’s “garbage.”
OCRRA continues to try and raise awareness of the importance of composting by personally consulting with companies, creating brochures, and has a recycling specialist on staff. Lawton explains:
“You can have a food scrap program but if you don’t get people on board with the entire sorting at the source it won’t work. The program won’t work. We don’t take trash, and if there is too much trash in the food waste, the entire pile is rejected.”
Although the optimal trash in compost is none, there are often utensils, dishes, and plastic items that aren’t accepted. Everyone must engage with the process, or it will risk the entire pile being rejected.
The next step to begin composting is as simple as it sounds: start. With 15.1 percent of methane continuing to be released through landfills, combating climate change relies on solutions such as composting. Members of the public can help in two ways. The first is beginning a residential compost with kitchen scraps. Around twenty percent of our trash is compostable. Find a local site to regularly drop off compost, such as OCRRA. OCRRA provides a season pass for $25, where residents can drop off unlimited waste. Even a few food scraps from the kitchen and yard clippings can make all the difference.
The other way is to raise awareness around compost sites, such as OCRRA, and suggest them to the local companies that produce a lot of compostable waste. Many school cafeterias such as Syracuse University and Le Moyne College are working with OCRRA to limit their garbage output. Companies mold to the needs of a consumer, and with enough encouragement, they will move towards composting.
For more information about the local food scrap program, any large scale, local entity can contact Andrew Radin at 315-453-2866 or email info@occra.org. Visit https://ocrra.org/services/compost/ for drop off locations and more information.
ABOUT CCAA
Climate Change Awareness & Action (CCAA) was formed for the purpose of educating others and actively working towards reversing the anthropogenic climate disruption that threatens the earth.
It is imperative that we increase awareness and spur action on climate change:
to support fair and just public policies and legislation
to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
to support regenerative agriculture and conservation
CCAA seeks to create a community of people working together in CNY to bring about the changes we need to avoid an environmental crisis.
UPCOMING EVENTS
CCAA holds its monthly meetings on the second Tuesday of every month. If you’d like to learn more feel free to email cc.awareness.action@gmail.com.
For an even more comprehensive list of events pertaining to sustainability and climate change, contact Diane Brandli with GreeningUSA to subscribe to the GreeningUSA listserve or to publicize an event you are organizing. dbdesigninteriors@verizon.net
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
If you are interested in working on the issue of climate change, please contact us at cc.awareness.action@gmail.com or call at 315-308-0846. Don’t worry about your skill level. We are all learning. We need people who can:
Post to our Facebook Page
Update our website using WordPress
Help with our newsletter
Organize events
Work on legislative campaigns
Create Mailchimp campaigns
NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE
Editor: Jacob Stewart Publisher: Yvonne Chu Chair: Peter Wirth
