CONFERENCE: Focus is Justice in Huntley Plant Transition

Clean Air  -- Organizing for Health and Justice

Presents a Conference 

Just Transition: Good Jobs and Healthy Communities

Conference seeks Justice in Huntley Power Plant Transition

The conference will feature some of the nation’s leading experts in movement building, coal finance, just transition, renewable energy, and sustainable and democratic community development.

The conference kicks off at 10:00am on June 7th and will conclude with a happy hour at 5:30pm. It will be hosted at the NYS United Teachers offices at 270 Essjay Road in Williamsville.

Participation is free, but registration is required and space is limited. Register today at www.JustTransition.com.

Presenters include:

Les Leopold, the director of the Labor Institute, strategic consultant to the Blue-Green Alliance, and author of author of How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour: Why Financial Elites get away with siphoning off America’s Wealth.

Jean Pogge is the CEO of Delta Institute that is leading the Fisk and Crawford Reuse Task Force, a committee that will work to solicit community input and economic development and job creation alternatives for the land on which the Fisk and Crawford power plant used to be.

Sean Sweeney is the Director and founder of the Global Labor Institute, a program of the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations and works with Trade Unions for Energy Democracy.

After the release of the recent report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis that painted a dim future for the Huntley coal plant, Clean Air held a series of community assemblies in the city and town of Tonawanda, Grand Island, and Riverside to vision a “just transition” in case of the plant’s closure. Nearly 100 impacted residents, workers, and climate change activists came together to vision a resilient future for our region if the NRG Huntley coal plant were to retire. The conference will build on the ideas and relationships that were generated at the assemblies.

Together, we can ensure that if the plant retires workers are protected, new revenue is secured for our schools and local governments, and the property is redeveloped to meet our community’s needs. Questions? Call Clean Air at 716-852-3813.

To view a news report on the upcoming conference, click here. 

League of Women Voters to honor Bill Nowak at Annual Luncheon

The League of Women Voters of Buffalo/Niagara

Annual League Luncheon

June 14, 2014 at Noon

Protocol Restaurant

6766 Transit Road, Williamsville, NY

Featured Speaker: Mike Connelly, Editor, The Buffalo News

Honoree: Bill Nowak

We invite you to join us at this year’s Annual League Luncheon.  The theme, Celebrate Service, is especially appropriate as we recognize Bill Nowak, leader for environmental and social justice issues, as recipient of the League of Women Voters Making Democracy Work Award.  Each year we pay tribute to a local citizen for outstanding efforts to uphold democratic ideals in our community and are honored to celebrate Bill Nowak’s outstanding work.

      Reservations for each guest of the League:               $  30.00               

      Reservations for League member/students:               $  25.00

      Reservation for a table of ten people named above:  $ 275.00
      Your organization name will identify the table you have reserved.
                    
Profits from this event will be used for our local League Education activities that include publication of the 2014 Voters Guide; 2014 They Represent You, a brochure providing contact information for elected officials; and First Vote, a pamphlet distributed to new citizens at monthly naturalization ceremonies and at voter registration drives.

Return Form for Reservations: Click Here
 

Business Gets Green - Speaker Series - Tuesday, May 20

• WHEN: Tuesday, May 20, at 5:30pm
• WHERE: Karpeles Manuscript Library, 220 North Street, Buffalo

Speakers at the next 'Business Gets Green':

Jeffrey Berger, Lead Energy Director of Viridian Energy. Viridian is a mission based green energy company with over 200,000 customers. Viridian prides itself on being a socially responsible business that tracks it's sustainability and offers customers ethical options when sourcing their energy needs.

Jens Ponikauis, certified Geoexchange designer for Buffalo Geothermal Heating, a geothermal design and installment firm.  BuffaloGeothermal offers engineered systems for residential and commercial building.  He is an International Ground Source Heat Pump Association accredited geothermal installer with a degree from the University of Hamburg, Germany. After installing 120 geosystems abroad, he came here and helped found Buffalo Geothermal Heating in 2008.

Britney McClain, People United for Sustainable Housing PUSH, PUSH Green WNY is an initiative that promotes New York State energy efficiency programs in the west side of Buffalo. These programs offer a variety of options for individuals and families from various socioeconomic backgrounds to access improvements that reduce energy bills and make your home more comfortable. In addition, PUSH Green is promoting sharing this industry knowledge in the community and equipping people with the skills to enter the green work force.

Please RSVP to melanie@buffalo-energy.com for this event so we can order enough food and drinks! Thank you all we look forward to seeing everyone again next week.

Reinstein Woods -- Summer Program Schedule

The sun is shining and summer is on the way! Come out to Reinstein Woods and enjoy programs about birds, bugs and much more.

See the Summer Public Program brochure for events taking place in June through August. 

Call 716-683-5959 for more information or to register for a program.

We look forward to seeing you at the Woods this summer!