Have you found yourself seeing, hearing or reading something at least once or twice a week about the extinction of our planet’s flora and fauna, or about horrific destruction from forest fires and storms, or about the pollution of our oceans? There has already been lots of damage done by these natural disasters that there won’t be enough storm damage restoration teams to cover the entire country once these disasters start getting worse in the next few years.
You know all of this is part of climate change and you’re even doing your best to use your thermal container for water (no plastic bottles), you’re composting organics, eating less meat, and you even bought an electric vehicle, or put solar panels on your roof. Power can go off at unpredictable times, and most of the time there is nothing you can do. Technical glitches and extreme weather conditions can lead to a total shut-down in your area. However, if you have a solar panel battery storage in place, you can go on with business as usual, read more about it.
But is there more you can do? Yes, there is.
You can join like-minded neighbors working collectively as volunteers to help educate the public about various ways to eliminate carbon (the greatest cause of our warming earth) as well as understanding our personal carbon footprint.
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Those are people in the forefront of change by urging school districts to purchase or lease electric school buses, meeting with developers to build low-emission buildings, and moving our legislators to insist on climate education for our K-12 students.
One such group is CURE100.org (Communities United to Reduce Emissions 100%). It has five chapters in New York: Croton, Yorktown, Ossining, Philipstown and Port Washington.
CURE100 is sponsoring an event for artists — and for all of us who appreciate art — to gather as sustainability advocates wanting to do more.
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Art for Climate Action is an exhibition, auction and raffle scheduled for Saturday, April 30, from 4 p.m.–8:30 p.m. at KinoSaito Arts Center, in Verplanck, at 115 7th Street, by the banks of the Hudson River.
More than 30 Hudson Valley area artists and five international guest artists are sharing their talents in painting, photography, pottery, sculpture and jewelry. For those unable to attend, bids can be placed on all art pieces from a phone or other digirtal device, starting April 25, when the auction goes live. Bidding closes the evening of April 30.
In the meantime, there also is a unique raffle prize you can win — a custom-illustrated map of your home and surroundings. Enter the raffle now at cure100.org/art-for-climate.
Join us to help heighten awareness of the pressing climate issue and to raise funds for the critical work of curbing climate change.
Susan Buck is a retired educator working for climate change. She is on the board of Yorktown100, a volunteer group of neighbors working to reduce our carbon footprint by 5% a year through various programs.
