Seeking Social Media Assistant for GrowWNY Website

by GrowWNY

The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo (CFGB) is seeking a Social Media Assistant who loves the environment, and will blog, post status updates on Facebook and Twitter, and more for the GrowWNY.org website.  The Social Media Assistant is a full-time position offered in collaboration with The Service Collaborative of Western New York.  This position will report to CFGB’s Environmental Program Coordinator and will be responsible for working with CFGB to support the broader environmental community in Western New York.

The Community Foundation created the GrowWNY.org website to connect over 80 environmental organizations throughout Western New York with people concerned about the preservation and restoration of our regional environment.  Since the site’s launch in August 2010, more than 25,000 people have visited the site to find local news and information about the environment.  Ultimately, the goal of GrowWNY.org is to bring about positive change through enhanced communication and social media.  A great opportunity to practice your social media skills for a good cause, GrowWNY.org is the place for all things green in Western New York.

Bill McKibben to Speak in Buffalo at Environmental Congress

2010 WNY Environmental Congress

Featuring author, educator and environmentalist,
Bill McKibben*

Join us to participate in a discussion of recent progress on efforts to improve our environment and learn how we can all work together to protect Western New York's natural resources in 2011.

The congress is open to all interested participants.

November 13, 2010 from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm at City Honors High School, Buffalo, NY.

CLICK HERE to see the AGENDA and REGISTER

*Bill McKibben, scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College, is the author of twelve books, including The End of Nature (1989), the first book for a general audience about global warming, and, more recently, Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (2007), which addresses what the he sees as shortcomings of the growth economy and envisions a transition to more local-scale enterprise. His latest book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet explores what it means to live on a planet that we have changed fundamentally. McKibben is a founder of high-profile campaigns to raise awareness about climate change, both nationally (StepItUp2007.org) and globally (350.org).

New Enviro Website in Town

GrowWNY is a new hyper-local source of information about living green in Western New York.

This website is for anyone who enjoys the outdoors, cares about the environment and wants to know the best places to go and things to do, eat, live, work and play greener.

GrowWNY is a project of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, and is made possible through grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the New York State Department of State Division of Coastal Resources.

To check out GrowWNY, click here.

Win Grant for Favorite Enviro Group

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OFFERS $1,000 MINI-GRANT PRIZES

FOR WNY RESIDENTS PARTICIPATING IN EARTH DAY

Winners will direct a $1,000 mini-grant to the environmental nonprofit of their choice

April 13, 2010, Buffalo, NY—Individuals participating in local Earth Day festivities now have the opportunity to win a $1,000 mini-grant award for their favorite environmental nonprofit organization from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. The organization announced two opportunities for mini-grant prizes with the goal of increasing the region’s participation in Earth Day and in environmentally friendly activities year-round.

Restoring and preserving the region’s natural environment is a key focus area for the Foundation and last year its donors gave more than $500,000 to support environmental work.

“The Community Foundation is dedicated to supporting efforts that restore and preserve our region’s natural environment, and every single person can do something to help,” said Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker, President/CEO of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. “By acting together on Earth Day and every day we can have a positive environmental impact that will be felt by generations to come. We hope that by offering this additional incentive, an increased number of individuals will take part in the many local activities planned to celebrate this 40^th anniversary of Earth Day.”

To be entered for the chance to direct a $1,000 mini-grant:

• Visit Ecology & Environment’s Buffalo Niagara Earth Day web site (www.BuffaloEarthDay.com) before Tuesday, April 20, 2010, and pledge how you will participate in Earth Day activities.

• Stop by the Green Expo at the Walden Galleria Mall on Saturday April 17 to sign up and learn more about how to reduce your carbon footprint.

Winners will be selected at random and announced at the Earth Day Celebration press event on April 22 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Buffalo at 12:00 noon and at the Buffalo Niagara Green Expo at the Walden Galleria Mall at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 17.

The mini-grants can only be awarded to nonprofit 501(c)(3) environmental organizations.

WNYorkers: Take Survey -- Win Prizes

The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo is planning a new environmental website and would like input from the general public of Western New York in order to understand their interests in environmental news and activities.

The Foundation has created an online survey to obtain your input. This information will help guide the development of the new website.

Complete this survey by January 15, 2010 and you will be entered to win an iPod nano or $100! To be eligible to win a survey prize, you must live in Western New York.

Click here to complete the survey

In the NEWS

Great Lakes, Great Wind bring great Federal Investment
But not in Western New York...see Map

DOE-funded wind energy projects: Great Lakes Region

The Great Lakes region will receive nearly a third of the $8.5 million federal officials recently set aside for wind energy development. The region will see $475,929 to study wind energy environmental impacts, $100,000 for development of small turbines, $1,446,942 for wind energy education and training and $587,029 to bring wind energy to market. The projects are aimed at challenges identified in the Department of Energy (DOE) 2008 report, which sets a goal of using wind to supply 20 percent of the country’s energy needs by 2030. The full report is here.

Donn Esmonde: Future jobs are blowing in the wind - 7/22/2009
The problem, as I see it, is the usual one around here: plenty of talk, not much action. The gap between rhetoric and results in Western New York is as wide as Lake Erie. All of the hot air blown by various officials and politicians would make those eight Lackawanna windmills spin like pinwheels.
We have what it takes—rail and roads, water access, work force, cheap power—to grab a piece of an industry of the future. Manufacturing windmill parts here means, in a word, jobs. The jobs will not come if we just talk about it. Commentary by Donn Esmonde in The Buffalo News.

But look at what's going on in Michigan. More than 30 Clean Energy Manufacturers have established new production facilities in the last 20 months, generating more than 3,000 new jobs! See the blog post here.

Environmental alliance launches bid to increase groups’ impact - 7/17/2009
A group of 150 Western New York organizations launched an initiative Thursday to restore and preserve the region’s natural environment. The Western New York Environmental Alliance is a collective effort that wants to increase the impact of local environmental efforts.
“The health and enhancement of our region’s natural assets is crucial to the revitalization of this area and to the well-being of its residents,” said Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker, president and chief executive of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, which helped convene the 150 groups. Read the report by Jake May in The Buffalo News.

Central Terminal is not out as Rail Hub - 7/24/2009
DOT officials reverse stand
State transportation officials did an about-face Thursday, saying it’s premature to rule out Buffalo’s Central Terminal as a train station if New York receives federal stimulus money to build high-speed rail.
The state Department of Transportation said it’s too early to preclude the Central Terminal from being considered. A group that has been working to revitalize the sprawling complex praised the modified stand, as did Rep. Louise M. Slaughter. She called the old train station a “jewel.” “The purpose of bringing high-speed rail to upstate New York is to strengthen and re-energize our region, and if it’s possible, the Central Terminal should be part of this effort,” Slaughter said in a prepared statement.
Skip Carrier, the DOT’s communications director, made it clear Thursday that the Central Terminal has not been ruled out. “It’s premature to be talking about a decision on a passenger rail station,” he said, noting that the looming challenge involves securing $8 billion in federal funds. “When we get to the station issue, we can look at [Central Terminal],” Carrier continued. Read the report by Brian Meyer in The Buffalo News.

State seeks money for Falls Train Station - 7/23/2009
Among 37 rail projects DOT proposes for use of federal stimulus funds A new train station in Niagara Falls and upgrades to the Amtrak passenger station in Depew are among 37 projects for which the state is seeking federal stimulus funds as part of a sweeping plan to upgrade the state’s rail system. The state Department of Transportation next month will submit applications seeking $22 million for the proposed Niagara Falls train station and $573,000 for the Depew station, according to pre-applications that have already been submitted. Read the report by Denise Jewell Gee in The Buffalo News.