Energy Committee

Accelerate NYC’s Green Transformation!
Build community, sustainability and resiliency
through Sierra Club NYC’s Green Neighborhood Action Program

Sierra Club NYC invites you to join our program to form neighborhood partnerships to screen and discuss movies, and to begin transforming your community. We can become greener and save money in our daily lives, homes and businesses while meeting neighbors and making new friends. We can’t wait for politicians, and we don’t have to.  To take this program to your neighborhood, contact beyondoilnyc@yahoo.com for more detailed guidance and supporting materials. 

NYC 2030:  vision for the future

NYC will be thriving and dynamic in 2030, if we respond not only to climate change and economic instability, but declining supplies of fossil fuels.  Using less oil and natural gas is not optional, so isn’t it better to be prepared for the inevitable?  NYC has to transition away from fossil fuels as peacefully, fairly and intelligently as possible.  If we act together, and act now, we can turn this crisis into opportunity. The same responses that cut costs and create green jobs will also protect the environment and buffer future disruptions. We are skillful, imaginative, and entrepreneurial. Cooperating to unleash our collective creativity will lead to a more connected, healthier and cleaner NYC. The transition is already underway! Getting involved is easy.  There’s some work, but it will be fun, and you’ll have lots of help.

Getting started: build a neighborhood contact list
Who shares an interest in improving your neighborhood?  Put together a contact list including civic, business and cultural groups, block associations, religious institutions, schools, libraries and nonprofits, the Community Board and elected officials, local media and blog sites. (Some will already have their own such lists.)

Begin to organize your event
Call them, using our handy phone script.  Tell them that we’d like to send an invite for future film screenings about making NYC greener.  Confirm who and where to send invitations to, ask if they can recommend any good locations that can be donated for such screenings, and other groups who should be contacted. While you are building your contact list, you’ll find potential locations, co-sponsors, and other volunteers. 

Our organizers will guide you through this process and will work with you to set up, promote and run the events.  We recommend starting with film screenings, to build momentum, and to identify other volunteers and local partners. Our organizers will facilitate post-screening discussions.  Next, we suggest a volunteer project that’s easy and inexpensive, and a uniquely urban climate change response: painting flat roofs white to keep buildings cooler.  This is a high priority for Mayor Bloomberg, whose staff is rolling out a pilot program to paint roofs white this summer, and has asked SC NYC to help in finding civic partners and volunteers around the City.

Raise awareness: see a movie
Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” introduced many to climate change.  Here are three documentaries that reveal more of the big picture, and suggest ways to take action.

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil.  When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuban oil imports were cut by more than 50% and food imports by 80%. Cuba transitioned from highly mechanized, industrial agriculture to organic farming and local, urban gardens. http://www.powerofcommunity.org/

The 11^th Hour, produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, explores how we have gotten to the last moment when change is possible, and how to change our course. Hear from over 50 of the world’s leading thinkers and activists.    http://11thhouraction.com/ideasandexperts

Renewal will energize faith communities. Evangelical Christians fighting mountaintop coal mining; Muslims and Jews supporting sustainable farming; Buddhists recycling; New Jersey congregations cutting energy use and installing solar panels; African-American churches in Mississippi demanding government action on pollution.  http://www.renewalproject.net/

Paint the town white
Follow up on the interest and new connections generated by a film screening with fast and simple volunteer projects. Maybe there’s a local garden, food pantry, or clean up project that needs support. Or, consider painting a roof. Much of the energy used in NYC goes into the heating and cooling of our buildings.  Buildings with black roofs are hotter and require more air conditioning in summer. Simply painting the roof white can cut energy bills 10%.  Cutting air conditioner use in summer heat waves is vital to avoiding blackouts.  Find a building in your neighborhood with a flat roof – perhaps a school, nonprofit, church, or temple – and let’s organize a volunteer project to paint it.  . 

Where top down and bottom up meet: neighborhood forums
Consider co-hosting a forum with SC NYC and our city-wide partners.   Presenters can address cutting energy costs, food production and security, renewable power, helping neighbors, or improving transportation. Why both top down and bottom up? Government programs and city-wide groups offer funding and technical support.  Community groups know local needs and can access resources, and people power.  Creating more connections between them creates win-win solutions, and a smarter, faster network.

Transition: a community building toolbox
Profiled by the NY Times, the Transition Movement is an innovative method of community organizing being used in hundreds of cities around the world in response to the economic, energy and climate crises.   It starts by envisioning positive futures, catalyzing volunteers through the World Café meeting process, and building local skills, economies, & resiliency.  http://www.transitionus.org/   http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/magazine/19town-t.html   

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Sierra Club NYC Green Neighborhood Action Program

Getting started: Building a Neighborhood Contact List

·         Contact SC NYC for an overview and to answer any questions at 917.319.2924 or beyondoilnyc@yahoo.com. We’ll guide you through every step of this process. We will work closely with you to set up, promote and run the events. 

·         Put together a contact list.  Include first and last name of each contact, the name of the organization, mailing address, phone number, email address, website.

·         Take notes!  Is the contact actively interested in co-sponsoring? Do they have or can they recommend a space for a film screening? What other groups do they suggest?

·         Consider using a Word table, an Excel spreadsheet or an Access database.

·         Start by looking for such lists online.  Include civic, business & cultural groups, block associations, religious institutions, schools, libraries & nonprofits, the Community Board and elected officials, local media and blog sites.  

·         Some contacts will have their own such lists. Visit them in person, and create a good impression.  You may get their list, or other assistance.

·         Include fellow activists and interested friends and neighbors.  Retail stores probably don’t qualify. Put places where flyers can be posted on a separate list.

A Sample Phone Script for Friendly Neighborhood Discussions

·         Hi, this is _____. I’m a volunteer with Sierra Club. As a resident of [your neighborhood] we want to set up screenings in [neighborhood] of documentaries about making New York City more sustainable and helping the environment.

·         The films discuss the challenges we face, and positive responses that improve quality of life in our communities, lower energy costs, create green jobs, and help the environment.  The goal is to help people take action.

·         I’d like to email you some information about the movies and this project.

·         When we finalize a date and location, can we send you an invite and a flier for the event? To whose attention should I send it? What’s the email address?

·         It would be great if you could share the event with your constituents / members 

·         If they respond positively, continue:

·         We’re looking for a free or donated public meeting room in (your neighborhood) that’s easy to get to, and can hold at least 50 people. Can you suggest one we could use, and who to contact? [If they want to volunteer, they will – less pressure]

·         Can you think of other groups or civic leaders we should talk with?

·         Whether they response positively or not: Thanks for your time and have a good day! 

·         Feel free to provide your own contact information or refer them to SC NYC.  If you don’t know the answer to a question, tell them you’ll get it from SC NYC for them. 

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Building on New York City’s PlaNYC 2030, the Sierra Club NYC report, “Sustainable Energy Independence for NYC,” prepares for sharply higher fuel prices, and their local impacts on transportation, heating, shipping and food costs.  Download at www.beyondoilnyc.org, or read an online version with links to all references.  Many members of the Bloomberg Administration and the NYC Council were notified of this report and its recommendations in the spring of 2008. 

Endorsing organizations to date:

Asthma Free School Zone * Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment * Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine * Clearwater * Earth Day NY * Galapagos Art Space * Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility * Neighborhood Energy Network * Nos Quedamos * NYC Apollo Alliance * NY Divinity School * NY Interfaith Power & Light * NY Solar Energy Industry Association * Orange Environment * vision42  * SAVIA Associates International * Sixth Street Community Center  * Sustainable Flatbush * The Gaia Institute

PlaNYC, the City’s sustainability plan, talks about reducing our carbon emissions 30% by 2030.  However, climate change is accelerating and many scientists say we need to reduce emissions further and faster. These actions are politically possible. Opinion polls show that public support for global warming action is widespread but shallow, but when combined with concern about energy independence and higher prices, it becomes a top voter priority, even surpassing national security. 

Beside climate change, we must also respond to the parallel challenge of increasing energy price volatility.  Oil demand keeps rising, while world oil production will soon peak and go into permanent decline. That guarantees greater volatility in the price and supply of oil.  Even though its extensive public transit system makes NYC less vulnerable to oil price spikes than other cities, short-term consequences of higher prices may not be immediately obvious. (Fuel depletion is still not widely discussed, but it is no longer controversial, having been covered in the Wall Street Journal, Time magazine and CNN.) How would a prolonged increase in oil prices affect trucks bringing groceries to supermarkets?  Winter heating fuel prices?  The earnings of restaurants and theaters dependent on tourists?  Budgets for fire, police, and sanitation services?  Would commuters still choose to drive into Manhattan, or would they flock to mass transit? 

Government sustainability initiatives may have greater success when framed as responses to energy volatility than to climate change.  In the short term, expanding capacity margins through energy conservation will make the City more resilient to volatility, while expediting PlaNYC initiatives.  In the long term, we need to push discussion far past PlaNYC’s current goals, and start building a post-petroleum economy now.  The good news is that a national project to make clean energy cheap can restore domestic manufacturing, create millions of jobs that can’t be outsourced, and stimulate the economy, while improving our quality of life and mitigating climate change. NYC leadership can help make such actions a reality, and benefit our citizens.

The most effective way to accelerate NYC’s response to both climate change and energy volatility is the formation of a City Energy Volatility Task Force.

Form a NYC Energy Volatility Task Force

• form a Task Force to study potential impacts and mitigations of energy price and supply volatility – not currently considered within PlaNYC.
• require consideration of energy volatility and future energy prices in all City agency budgeting and planning decisions, including PlaNYC revisions
• universities, civic, business and advocacy groups should form their own Task Forces
• bottom-up voluntary sustainability actions should be accelerated simultaneously with top down incentives, mandates and legislation

Other report recommendations

Transportation:

• implement congestion pricing
• remove hidden subsidies for driving and parking cars
• increase regular and express bus services
• increase alternative fuel and electric vehicle fleets
• implement electric streetcar and light rail systems, as in Vision 42
• implement Auto Free NY plan to maximize use of subway and rail
• build more intercity passenger and freight train capacity
• restrict suburban sprawl
• encourage urban infill development around mass transit access points
• support and expand use of bicycles and pedicabs

Regional production:

• include energy volatility and fuel depletion in City and State economic development policy
• encourage production and procurement of regional farm products
• support agricultural production within cities and suburbs
• enable residents to find farming and gardening jobs
• encourage schools to establish gardens on their facilities
• open additional retail farmers markets, a wholesale farmers market, year-round public markets, and a regional product distribution center
• explore entrepreneurial ways to make private land available to new agricultural workers

Energy efficient building:

• increase mandates and incentives for energy efficiency retrofits
• mandate energy efficiency standards for equipment
• encourage solar heating systems
• design buildings for maximum cost-efficient energy performance
• discourage acceptance of relentless growth in personal electricity consumption

New York City and State energy policy:

• set timetables for PlaNYC’s many good energy initiatives
• expand net metering to 2 megawatts per site for all customer classes
• distribute smart meters/time-of-use meters  
• raise the NYS Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard to 30% reduction of 2006 electric and gas usage rates by 2015
• update the State Energy Plan to account for energy volatility