Cornell Climate Stewards

Nurturing Environmental Action Through Art and Gardening

Carla Halstead is an art teacher at an elementary school in Rochester where she has created and fundraised for a school garden as part of her Cornell Climate Stewards (CCS) volunteer project in 2022. This project will be accompanied by a school gardening club that will be forming this year. Ms. Halstead will lead the gardening club and workshops, such as composting, to help educate the students and inspire them to take environmental action.

Ms. Halstead completed the CCS Training in Fall 2021. During the last two years of COVID, she felt as though there was always so much negativity but, as a CCS steward, she felt like she could do something positive for the world through her volunteer projects.

Through the CCS training, she was able to gain a variety of knowledge and meet a diverse group of people, such as scientists and community leaders. Ms. Halstead loved learning and meeting all of these people, which inspired her into further action in her community. After the training, Ms. Halstead felt more empowered to get involved in the local community and government to fight for climate change legislation and to inspire the new generation to help fight climate change.

Ms. Halstead chose this garden project because as a Climate Steward she felt that it was important to spread as much knowledge as possible about this climate crisis and knew that being an art teacher granted her access to spread this critical knowledge to the next generation.

Through this project, the kids will learn about the importance of the environment and see it in action. From the start of the project, the children seem to be very excited about the garden and have even suggested making a cookbook based on the vegetables and fruits that will grow in the garden. This garden gives the children a chance to make a difference in the world, even if it is a small one, and might inspire them into action in the future.

Read the full story (again!) here: https://climatestewards.cornell.edu/files/2024/10/Carla-Halstead.pdf 

Recognizing the Deep rooted Nature of Trees in Our Communities

Abigael Rice inspires climate action change in her community through her passion for trees and education. Abbi works as the education manager for Impact Earth, a composting company in Rochester, which serves as a platform to plan online and in person classes about composting and food waste. Her interests in gardening, compost, and sustainability drew her to the Cornell Climate Stewards (CCS) program.

The CCS program has been an immersive and collaborative experience for Abbi. As someone with a master’s in environmental anthropology, the CCS volunteer training helped refresh her knowledge on science and climate change and also learn more about what other volunteers were doing in her County. Collaborating with the other volunteers provided brainstorming ideas for her climate action project, including public education and implementation.

A common theme in Abbi’s work is bringing awareness to how important the trees in our communities are and fostering an appreciation for our city’s natural environment. As a volunteer for the CCS program, her climate project has focused on educating the people in Rochester about the city’s trees by providing resources for the public and holding free community events. 

One of the ways Abbi has contributed to her project is through a handheld booklet identifying common trees, which she illustrated by hand. By providing the tree guide for the public, she has helped her community identify trees in their neighborhood. Her handbook shows the three main indicators; the leaves, tree shape, and tree bark, that you can use to try and identify a tree. For example, for the magnolia tree, you can see the texture and shapes of the leaves and flowers, as well as the tree shape and patterns on the tree bark. 

For Earth month, Abbi is planning a guided tree walk in the Beechwood neighborhood of Rochester and other free events all month to learn more about ways to better the environment, including composting, food waste reduction, and low waste living. Additionally, this fall, she plans to expand the network of trees by planting a variety of trees in public areas of the city.

Abbi’s climate action work appeals to a large range of people because of its outdoor nature and accessibility to the public. Because of this, she says one of the best parts of volunteering for CCS is her =involvement in her community, which allows her to connect with and educate more people. This ranges from kids in kindergarten to retired individuals in the community. Through these connections, she is able to create a greater impact by changing the behaviors and everyday habits of people, so they can have lasting effects on the environment. 

Getting involved in climate action work can seem daunting if you don’t have the experience or expertise related to the environment and sustainability. However, an important message Abbi gives is that these projects are for anyone with any background. As long as you have an interest in science and climate change, you can start with the basics and continue to grow a foundation and passion for creating meaningful changes. 

Read the full story (again!) here:

https://climatestewards.cornell.edu/files/2024/07/Abigael-Rice.pdf 

 

Nancy N. Doniger and The Little Village that Could: Montour Falls Answers the Climate Action Call

As a certified Climate Steward and lover of the outdoors, Nancy N. Doniger uses her skills to add capacity to the Village of Montour Falls Sustainability Committee. Montour Falls, with a population of just 1,604, was the first community in Schuyler County to become a certified Climate Smart Community (CSC), but more have followed.

 Looking for a meaningful way to create positive change in her community, Nancy joined the Montour Falls Sustainability Committee in 2023. She provides the committee with invaluable experience in writing and editing, as well as a passion for nature and ecology. Since joining, Nancy has contributed to the efforts of the committee by working closely with Mayor James Ryan to set agendas for meetings, communicating with committee members, updating sustainability information on the Montour Falls website, and running the Sustainable Montour Falls social media. She also arranged and co-presented a talk highlighting the village’s sustainability initiatives to the Watkins Glen-Montour Rotary Club.

In 2024, Nancy is assisting the Sustainability Committee to advance Montour Falls’ bronze certification to silver. She is leading a subcommittee to organize two “repair cafes” in the spring where people who are good at fixing things can repair objects and clothing to extend their useful life and keep them out of the landfill. Repair cafes are fun, community-minded events that also meet CSC standards for sustainability.

With current climate issues facing the community such as rising temperatures and their devastating effect on agricultural crops, trees and plants, wildlife and pollinators, as well as  flooding due to severe storms, Nancy believes that urgent action is necessary. She has a vast background in journalism, as well as group organization, based on her career and years of community service before moving to Montour Falls, and applies these skills in a multitude of ways as a member of the Sustainability Committee. Since beginning her work in Montour Falls and completing the Cornell Climate Stewards (CCS) training, Nancy learned that the climate is changing more rapidly and destructively than ever, and that reversing it to preserve a livable earth requires decisive, informed action. This motivates her to work harder on the local level and to communicate the facts to community members and beyond. This is the best kind of legacy she wants to leave.

“We all have different backgrounds, interests and gifts,” Nancy said. “As individuals, we can’t stop climate change, but working together, we can make a meaningful difference. Now more than ever, the pressing need for decisive action grows more urgent. Everyone can contribute, and everyone’s help is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow rising temperatures before it’s too late. Our children and grandchildren and the future of life itself depend on it. We can do it if we try.”

Read the full story (again!) here:

https://climatestewards.cornell.edu/files/2024/02/Nancy-Doniger-d14b9d44291a0e7d.pdf

See the story on the Cornell Climate Stewards Facebook page:

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/cornellclimatestewards

A Climate Activist’s Approach to Celebrating Lifelong Learning

Dr. Annalisa Raymer is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University, where she teaches courses in adult learning in the Education minor. As a Cornell Climate Stewards (CCS) volunteer, Raymer has been unable to separate her CCS climate actions from her other work, as all of her involvements have a common goal: advancing lifelong learning, social justice, and sustainability.

One of Dr. Raymer’s passions is making education more accessible and facilitating collaborative engagement among members of the campus community. Challenges, like economic inequities and language barriers, make education less accessible and can deter people from pursuing their learning goals. At Cornell, one of the programs seeking to promote mutual learning across differences is the Community Learning and Service Partnership (CLASP). As the director of CLASP,  Dr. Raymer, along with colleagues Sasha Endo and Beth Korson, create learning partnerships between students and campus employees, primarily UAW members working in the service industries. Through courses in adult learning, students become educational mentors who work in relationship with employee adult learners pursuing specific learning goals. These partnerships offer reciprocal growth and professional development for the student and the adult as well as foster a sense of belonging and inclusion within the Cornell community.

Raymer has made numerous efforts to encourage community engagement. In one such attempt, Raymer reached out to the Ithaca Office of Sustainability and began exploring the possibility of a collaborative project involving her students. The City of Ithaca had begun developing the Justice50 initiative, which aims to allocate 50% of all benefits from the Ithaca New Green Deal to climate justice communities. Ithaca’s first Director of Sustainability Luis Aguirre-Torres and his colleague, Sustainability Specialist Rebecca Evans, identified their interest in participatory budgeting as an aspiration for Justice50. This created an opportunity for Dr. Raymer and her students to provide research assistance, analyze findings, and prepare a brief on participatory budgeting to inform the framing of a public dialogue on the prospect. Part of this process has been learning new methods of evidence synthesis procedures and analyzing how local government budgets are being distributed. (See Participatory Budgeting: Report of a Rapid Review of Evidence Syntheses, 2012-2022. Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/ywhj8 .)

From the CCS program, Dr. Raymer developed a better understanding of climate change efforts and the difference between adaptation (adapting to the effects of climate change) and mitigation (addressing the causes of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions). Additionally, she appreciates the CCS volunteers who encourage her whilst making climate change differences in their communities.

The climate reality is increasingly alarming, but Dr. Raymer says, whether it’s on a local or global scale, we can all make a difference in climate change. Sharing information and collaborating with one another has multiplier effects that can expand the impact of climate action and fosters a celebration of learning and preserving our natural environment and resources.

Read the full story (again!) here: https://climatestewards.cornell.edu/files/2024/10/Dr.Raymer_Spotlight.pdf

See the story on the Cornell Climate Stewards Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cornellclimatestewards

Managing Wetlands for People and Beavers

Erin Moran has been working on implementing a water leveler AKA “Beaver Deceiver” in Yankeetown Pond since she acquired rights to the wetland in 2018. Yankeetown Pond is a circumneutral bog lake in Woodstock, NY part of the Ashokan Watershed. Residents utilize the wetlands for recreational activities, even though the majority of it is owned by New York City and utilized to meet the city’s water needs. 

In recent years, Yankeetown Pond has been flooding because of persistent beaver activity and no wetland maintenance. According to a study done in 2019 by Hudsonia, there are over 14 active beaver lodges in the wetland. Unfortunately, some members of the public have breached these dams to maximize areas for water activities, not fully understanding the impacts of these actions on the beaver habitat or wetland. Some locals have even hired an illegal beaver trapper, which is inhumane for the beavers, as well as dangerous for residents who frequently use the land for outdoor recreation, including kayaking and fishing.

Moran completed climate stewards training in the fall of 2021. She said the course helped her navigate fact from fiction when it comes to climate change information and understand how to find resources for her steward project.

Moran hopes to implement a long-term solution for the human-beaver conflict in Yankeetown Pond, as well as develop a management plan to protect the wetlands. The water leveler will help to manage these wetlands which are vital for flooding mitigation and adaptation in Woodstock. Moran has applied for a permit for a water leveler, but the NYS DEC has denied the request several times, stating vague reasons. Currently, Moran has partnered with the owner of Hudson Valley Beaver Strategies in Westchester County to work towards the permit.

Throughout this process, Moran has learned a lot about wetland mitigation and community environmental policy, and she has been able to share this knowledge with her municipality. Moran is an active member of the Town of Woodstock Environmental Commission and was recently appointed to represent Woodstock in the Ulster County Environmental Management Council. Moran is confident residents and the greater community can peacefully coexist with the beaver population. Her persistent efforts are truly something to admire.

Read the full story (again!) here: https://climatestewards.cornell.edu/files/2024/07/Erin-Moran.pdf

See the story on the Cornell Climate Stewards Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cornellclimatestewards

 

Smart Fertilizer Management Practices Lead to Smarter Agriculture

Dr. Nancy Jacobson taught biology and a course on global warming for over 20 years at Ithaca College. She retired several years ago in order to spend more time as a volunteer at Citizens’ Climate Lobby including as the lead of their Agriculture Action Team. She has worked at Citizens’ Climate Lobby for more than 8 years and she became a Cornell Climate Steward (CCS) in 2022. 

Even though crops need sufficient nitrogen intake for sustained and productive growth, overuse of nitrogen fertilizers can result in reduced crop quality and increased susceptibility to diseases. Excessive deployment of nitrogen can in some cases also lead to water contamination and emit nitrous oxide to the atmosphere.

As an expert in biology and agricultural sciences, Dr. Jacobson recognized the prevalent lack of understanding among NYS farmers on these impacts and she contributed to the creation of Cornell Cooperative Extension’s (CCE) “Ag Energy NY” web page on soil health and nitrogen fertilizer management, guiding land managers to better incorporate those aspects to create more environmental-friendly farms across upstate New York. 

Dr. Jacobson’s website details “many ways to reduce N-fertilizer use while maintaining yields.” By employing alternative sources of nitrogen and applying fertilizers at a rate compatible with plants’ growth patterns, farmers would not only be able to conserve natural resources and protect the environment but also become eligible for grants that reward these efforts to combat climate change. The “Ag Energy NY” website also offers no-cost energy assessments to help farmers prioritize improvements and guide farmers to implement more sustainable practices.

One rarely witnesses committed climate change action at the local level since people often consider climate change as a distant problem. As a result, Dr. Jacobson’s work assists the larger campaign of developing awareness of smart agriculture practices and their importance in mitigating climate change in the rural NYS landscape that is packed with farms. Follow more posts from CCS to learn about the interesting work our volunteers are conducting and how you can contribute to local climate actions. 

Read the full story (again!) here: https://climatestewards.cornell.edu/files/2023/08/Nancy-Jacobson.pdf

See the story on the Cornell Climate Stewards Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cornellclimatestewards

 

Planting Seeds of Change: How Joseph’s Volunteering Efforts are Inspiring a Greener Future

Joseph Londa, a New Paltz Climate Smart Community Volunteer, is a true inspiration for those looking to make a difference in the fight against climate change. Through his volunteer work with the Climate Smart Communities program, he has been able to use his expertise in energy to drive impactful change at the local level.

As an engineer with four decades of experience in the technology industry, Joseph has been able to bring his knowledge to the table and help his community transition to a cleaner, more sustainable future. He has led a task force to introduce batteries into the local electric grid, in transitioning the electric grid from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

Joseph’s dedication to the cause is apparent in his latest project, where he is advocating the creation of a net-zero fossil-free school district in New Paltz. He is working with high school students to create a plan that involves electrifying the transportation system with electric buses. Following that, he wants to examine heating and cooling buildings with heat pumps, and producing some of their own electricity with a
microgrid comprising solar panels and batteries.

What is most impressive about Joseph’s work is his ability to combine his passion with pragmatism. He focuses on technical projects that require data and analysis, ensuring that the projects have a reasonable chance of success. He recognizes the challenges that come with being a volunteer, and encourages others to stay committed to their passions while also being patient and understanding with stakeholders who may not fully appreciate the value of volunteerism.

Through his work with the Climate Smart Communities program, Joseph has not only made a difference in his local community, but has also helped connect a broader network of individuals and communities across New York State. His dedication and passion for the cause is an inspiration to us all, and a testament to the power of volunteerism in making a real impact in the fight against climate change.

Read the full story (again!) here: https://climatestewards.cornell.edu/files/2023/08/Joseph-Londa.pdf

See the story on the Cornell Climate Stewards Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cornellclimatestewards

 

Cornell Climate Steward and Climate Action Innovator

Lynne Bailey, from the Town of Hurley in Ulster County, is a leader in climate proactivity. For Ms. Bailey, education is an essential element of fostering climate action. Through her work as a Cornell Climate Steward and member of a Climate Smart Communities Task Force, she developed projects to foster climate awareness among residents of all ages. Focusing on greenhouse gas emissions and their impact on the climate system, she’s presented at venues including the Ulster County Fair and local community events, mentored a college intern, and developed Hurley’s Climate Smart website.

Ms. Bailey values the program’s forward-thinking approach to climate action. “Cornell Climate Stewards training provided me with essential resources for climate action science and planning and helped focus my work in the Town of Hurley.” As part of her commitment to climate change mitigation, she was a primary contributor to the Town of Hurley Community and Government Greenhouse Gas Inventories completed in 2022, which advanced Hurley’s progress towards receiving Bronze Certification from the CSC program in 2023. These inventories will help the Town of Hurley identify and implement greenhouse gas reduction initiatives, support climate change mitigation at large, and develop the town’s Climate Action Plan.

For Bailey, the time to act is now. Addressing climate change requires vast outreach in the form of public audiences and schools. Climate action requires a concerted effort from climate-conscious individuals to spread awareness. She notes that state and local governments hold a key role in this respect. Agencies must effectively communicate climate plans by highlighting the steps they are taking to address climate issues, provide financial support for residential adaptations, and find unique ways to involve constituents in the work. Bailey emphasizes that effective communication must come from multiple levels of society, as some actions require widespread, grassroots adoption to be effective.

In line with Bailey’s forward-thinking perspective on climate change, she highlights the importance of younger generations in advocating awareness of climate-related issues. By further engaging and educating younger individuals, she hopes widespread climate literacy and the implementation of climate mitigation efforts are achieved.

Bailey recognizes how critical the coming decade is in the fight against climate change. Her work in Hurley illustrates that, even though there is work to be done, local communities and motivated Stewards, are making progress. Much to Bailey’s intention, her work offers ideas and opportunities for similar strategies and initiatives to be replicated elsewhere across the country.

You can learn more about Lynne Bailey and the Town of Hurley’s work here.

Read the full story (again!) here: https://blogs.cornell.edu/cicssdev/files/2023/08/Lynne-Bailey.pdf

See the story on the Cornell Climate Stewards Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cornellclimatestewards

 

Cooking Up Change: The Inspiring Movement Towards Plant-Based Diets and Sustainable Agriculture

Meg Jastran, a registered dietitian who loves to cook and a passionate advocate for climate change, has been volunteering her time to promote plant-based diets and reduce the consumption of animal products in her community. Meg is motivated by her belief that shifting towards plant-based diets is more beneficial for mitigating climate change and protecting people’s health because animal agriculture is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane and nitrous oxide. Additionally, the production of meat and dairy necessitates more land, water, and energy, resulting in deforestation, water scarcity, and exacerbating climate change.

Her journey began when she read about a local climate stewards program in the newspaper and decided to pursue it out of curiosity. Utilizing her training and professional background, Meg organized and taught local cooking classes where she shared handcrafted alternative meat and dairy-free recipes with others. In order to make this possible, she spent countless hours planning and preparing for these sessions, including packaging food and bringing all the necessary supplies. Attendees were provided with all the recipes to take home after classes, which were a huge success and not only provided a learning opportunity for participants but also fostered a sense of community with people from different towns coming together to learn and bond over food.

This effort was also made possible with funding and staff help from the STEPS (Seneca Towns Engaging People for Solutions) granting agency and allowed Meg’s program to be free for all participants.

Meg has expressed concern that people in her area may not be aware of the impact they can personally make on the environment, and that some may not even believe that there is a problem. She lives in a largely rural, economically depressed, and politically conservative area where there is a lot of rhetoric against even some of the governor’s suggestions for electrification of homes to cut down on carbon emissions. Despite this, Meg’s dedication and leadership is continuing to inspire many to rethink their dietary habits and take action towards a more sustainable future. While it has been time-consuming, Meg hopes that the information she shares will have a ripple effect and inspire others to adopt a plant-based diet.

Meg is grateful for the support of her friends and family, including her husband who assists her with grocery shopping and transporting supplies. She also cites her son, who runs the Finger Lakes Cider House in Interlaken, as an inspiration who encouraged her to become more passionate about sustainability and to do what she can to address environmental issues in her community. Meg’s mission to promote plant-based diets and sustainable agriculture is inspiring, and her volunteer work is, without a doubt, making a positive impact on her community. She is proud of the work she has done and plans to continue teaching these classes.

Read the full story (again!) here: https://climatestewards.cornell.edu/files/2023/08/Margaret-Jastran.pdf

See the story on the Cornell Climate Stewards Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cornellclimatestewards

 

Developing Pollinator Pathways at Beacon Schools

Holly O’Grady has been involved with a partnership project with Beacon’s Conservation Advisory Committee and the Beacon City School District as a Cornell Climate Steward (CCS) volunteer since 2022. The project focuses on creating pollinator pathways at the elementary schools.

She had just recently moved to Beacon from New York City and found herself motivated to get involved and protect her new community’s natural beauty. This led her to the CCS training program, which she completed in 2021, and to the pollinator pathways project soon after.

This project involves building pollinator pathway gardens at three elementary schools in Beacon School District, each consisting of a variety of native plants geared to attract pollinators, like bees and butterflies. The pathways have the double benefit of fostering more sustainable use of school land, which is currently dominated by grass lawns, while also protecting vulnerable pollinators. The pathways also offer educational opportunities to augment current gardening programs.

For Holly, the pollinator pathways have grown from what was supposed to be a simple 40-hour volunteer commitment to a passion project. Since she began, the work has grown in scope and personal significance, along with her commitment to see the project realized and keep the network of people involved engaged with one another. Holly’s professional background in adult learning and leadership development provides her with a lens of team building and plan development for her project, which she describes as key aspects of this kind of community action.

She also emphasizes the clear purpose of the CCS program and how it attracts people who really want to be engaged and make a difference. The pollinator pathways, in Holly’s words, “create an opportunity for people to dip their feet into community volunteering for a project they are passionate about.”

Before volunteering for the CCS program, Holly’s personal climate goals involved common ways of having a smaller footprint, such as living a walkable distance from town, weatherizing the house, and replacing the gas stove. After engaging in this work for some time, her connection to the pollinator pathways project has since influenced her to also become more thoughtful and involved with gardening and to learn about pollinators by connecting with experts.

As the initial planting phase approaches, the project’s current focus is on finding cost-effective alternatives to ensure pollinator gardens’ survival throughout the summer. Holly is committed to continuing work on the project and is looking forward to seeing how the pathways develop in the fall. Over the summer, the pollinator pathway team intends to test the efficacy of a meadow development technique using no-mow areas. This method is both less expensive and requires less attention. In addition, the project is looking into forming partnerships with other community organizations to provide pollinator conservation education.

Holly’s work on the pollinator pathways project with the Beacon School District as a CCS volunteer highlights the power of community-driven initiatives in promoting sustainable practices and protecting our environment. By promoting sustainable land use and protecting pollinators, this project offers an opportunity for people to make a difference in their community while pursuing their passions. Holly’s commitment to the project and her leadership skills demonstrate the potential for individuals to make positive change through community action.

Read the full story (again!) here: https://climatestewards.cornell.edu/files/2023/09/Holly-OGrady.pdf

See the story on the Cornell Climate Stewards Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cornellclimatestewards

 

Art as a Catalyst for Climate Action: The Impact of Youth Engagement

Patricia Haines Gooding has been passionate about the arts and their power to inspire creativity and critical thinking for years. Her volunteer efforts focus on the relationship between the arts and climate change, particularly in engaging young people to become stewards of the environment through artistic expression.

Patricia has led various projects, including organizing events such as “The Art of Climate Resilience”, which aimed to use engagement with the arts to get young people connected to climate change issues and to help build local resilience and flexibility in the face of the realities of climate change. The event took place at Stewart Park in connection with the Reggae Festival in June 2022 and featured local artists around themes of climate change through music, drawing, posters, and even creating short videos on TikTok.

Patricia was motivated to volunteer due to her concern about the impact of climate change on water quality in her community. She focused her efforts on learning about the local ecology and the effects of agriculture, rain events, and temperature changes on the lake. Patricia is also concerned about larger climate change issues, including the death of coral, melting ice caps, and rising sea levels. Her passion for environmental protection led her to volunteer and actively engage with her community.

To Patricia, the best part of volunteering is the opportunity to put her knowledge and skills to work for the betterment of her community without worrying about career advancement or financial concerns. She appreciates the chance to make a difference and work towards causes she cares about, such as community organizing and food pantries. Patricia values being a support volunteer and helping out without the stress of being in charge.

Outside of her volunteer work, Patricia enjoys gardening, particularly tending to her vegetable garden. She also shares a special bond with her husband, a 90-year-old gardener who loves to cut firewood. Patricia has an academic background in adult and extension education, which influenced her volunteer work, and was a grant writing officer for Cornell’s fundraising arm for the College of Arts and Sciences before pursuing her doctoral work. Despite her age, Patricia is always eager to learn and create opportunities to put her knowledge to work and is looking to put together a set of essays about art and climate change. Patricia hopes to expand the program to young people as she believes that working with younger generations is crucial for the future and that they have the potential to make significant impacts in the fight against climate change.

Read the full story (again!) here: https://climatestewards.cornell.edu/files/2023/08/Patricia-Haines-Gooding.pdf

See the story on the Cornell Climate Stewards Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cornellclimatestewards

 

Making a Difference, Locally, One Step at a Time

Valerie Percy is a speech pathologist in an elementary school in Kingston, New York and a community leader in Cornell University’s Climate Stewards (CCS) program.

Her motivation to join the program began with a desire to combat feelings of powerlessness amidst a changing climate. She has now channeled her concern into tangible projects that help advance Kingston’s Climate Plan while instilling knowledge in younger generations.

For her Climate Steward Project, Valerie originally hoped to establish teaching gardens at Kingston schools. However, when initial funding plans fell through, she refocused her efforts on salvaging existing gardens into pollinator pathways. She also supports an action-based sustainability program that is easy for teachers to access and use. These initiatives seek to inspire students’ interest in stewardship and create opportunities for hands-on involvement.

Shifts in seasons and loss of biodiversity are two climate-induced issues that Valerie has noticed in her community; her hexagonal garden filled with wildflowers and native plants is primed to address these concerns as it provides crucial habitat for local pollinators.

The gardening project also introduces these biodiversity and seasonality problems to the schoolchildren, teaching the kids how to be part of the solution. Through this project, the kids not only get to dig in the dirt while learning about plants and pollinators, but also raise money for it by selling wildflower seeds. Older kids have even written to legislators: to support the pollinator project, for example, students petitioned for a ban on neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides that harms pollinators and other insects.

One of the project’s major milestones was Field Day at the elementary school, in which students pulled weeds and planted seeds. By summertime, just a couple of months later, the plot had transformed into a flourishing garden.

In addition to the garden restoration, Valerie has also supported her school’s “Earth Month” program. During “Earth Month”, classrooms compete with one another to complete “small but mighty” environmental initiatives. This year’s theme was water-based, the month dubbed “Our Blue Planet”. For her part, Valerie furthered an initiative to reduce the school’s single-use plastics, the notorious polluters of waterways and oceans. Working alongside administrators, Valerie helped the school reintroduce reusable spoons, tumblers, and bowls into the cafeteria system. In just a few weeks’ time, the initiative cut the cafeteria’s garbage output in half.

Climate stewardship has enabled Valerie to utilize her existing assets as a speech pathologist – such as familiarity with children and connections to the school – while applying information she learned in the CCS program. Climate change can be a scary topic for kids, so Valerie uses her communication expertise to make lessons approachable and lighthearted yet meaningful and impactful.

One of the main goals of the CCS program is to empower participants to independently head climate action projects so they can teach those in their community about climate change, and Valerie feels her steward status has indeed bestowed such ability and confidence. A key concept she drives home is that no matter how slow, all progress is important; it is essential to continue moving forward, and results from even the smallest actions accumulate over time. She believes these pollinator garden and Earth Month projects are just the start, and each one is a step in the right direction for the community of Kingston, NY.

Read the full story (again!) here: https://climatestewards.cornell.edu/files/2023/07/Valerie-Percy.pdf

See the story on the Cornell Climate Stewards Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cornellclimatestewards