August, 2007 Green Guide

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Make Long Island a Clean, Green Leader
STORY BY AMY HAGEDORN & SARAH LANSDALE
© 2007 NETWORKING® MAGAZINE 2020 GUIDE TO GOING GREEN

Remember the familiar Sixties’ adage “Think Globally, Act Locally?” It’s as true these days as ever. If you care about the health and well-being of our precious earth, it’s time to educate yourself and make changes that will help reverse the environmentally disastrous course we’ve been on.

Of course, while individual moves to “go green” are essential, issues like global warming can’t be solved one home at a time. Long Islanders need to insist that our municipal and county officials create regional plans and take concrete actions that will lead to a sustainable future. A word of caution, however: Municipal leaders must make sure that interdepartmental conflicts do not hamper the implementation of policies such as green building initiatives. The success of new programs needs to be measured not by political hype but by actual results.

Luckily, environmental leaders such as Neal Lewis, executive director of Neighborhood Network, are making huge strides toward inspiring action on the part of our government officials. Lewis heads up the Clean Energy Leadership Task Force, which includes Sustainable Long Island and Renewable Energy Long Island, along with environmental groups, utilities and municipal officials. The Task Force educates decision-makers on how they can implement changes that will lead to a smart and sustainable energy policy for our entire region.

“Our goal is to show them how they can do the right thing for the environment and also save money by doing things like retrofitting county- and town-owned buildings with more efficient lighting and heating and cooling systems,” says Lewis. “Another one of our goals is to get every town hall, from one end of the island to the other, to use the most energy efficient technology available.”

Long Island can be a true leader in clean energy and other sustainable policies—if we insist on it. Indeed, significant steps are being taken. Here are just a few examples:

• Suffolk County, which was the first Long Island municipality to adopt the initiatives of the Clean Energy Leadership Task Force, is purchasing over 13 million kilowatt hours of clean, renewable energy for three county buildings through LIPA’s Green Choice program. It is also phasing in alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles into the public transportation fleet.
• Nassau County has signed the “Cool Counties Climate Stabilization Declaration,” a promise to reduce harmful global warming emissions 80% by 2050, an achievable 2% per year. The county is expected to pass a law this month to require new county buildings or any renovations to be LEED-certified. (LEED, for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings).
• The Town of Babylon and green building advocates will soon break ground on a “Zero Energy Home” in Wyandanch which will be used as a demonstration project for residential green building techniques and materials.
• Suffolk County has adopted a “safe and sustainable procurement policy,” which directs county departments to avoid toxic substances in purchasing products for fleet services, landscaping, painting and other maintenance.
• By the end of 2007, Nassau will have purchased 175,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel for its non-emergency fleet, one of the largest fleets of alternative fuel vehicles in the state. These measures are expected to result in a 10,000 ton reduction in carbon dioxide emissions this year alone.
• The Long Beach School District has converted all of its buses to natural gas, a much cleaner alternative to diesel, which has been directly linked to asthma.
• Last December, Babylon adopted the first comprehensive green building code in the nation, requiring all commercial buildings above 4,000 square feet to be LEED certified.
• The towns of Babylon, Brookhaven, Riverhead, Southampton, Oyster Bay and Huntington have all adopted Energy Star standards as a requirement for all new home construction in their town. In addition to saving money, Energy Star Homes are better for the environment. Because they use less energy, each Energy Star Home results in 2.25 fewer tons of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere each year than a conventional home.

Much more can be—and needs to be—done to create a sustainable future. What can you do? For one thing, if you live in Islip, Smithtown, Southold, East Hampton, Shelter Island, Hempstead or North Hempstead, why not call your representatives and demand that they adopt the Energy Star Home standard for all new construction, as the six other townships have done? Remember, it’s up to all of us to pressure our officials to do the right thing. Keep an eye on future issues of Networking® 2020: Guide to Going Green for more action items!

Amy Hagedorn, president of the board, and Sarah Lansdale, executive director, head up the team at Sustainable Long Island (www.sustainableli.org), a non-profit organization that focuses on facilitating real change in our region by promoting the concepts and practices of sustainable development. Sustainable Long Island specializes in a community-based planning process in which residents, municipal leaders, businesspeople and all interested stakeholders come together to plan and implement sustainable development initiatives in their communities.

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