Gutting The House? You May Qualify For NYSERDA Funding

Dreaming of a new home that produces more energy than it consumes? Wondering if you could rehabilitate an old home to be totally energy efficient? Cost holding you back? Check out New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) Low-rise Residential New Construction Programs (Programs).  New York ENERGY STAR® Certified Homes Program and other NYSERDA programs now offer eligibility for certain gut rehabilitation projects to receive New York Energy $mart designation. These Programs encourage construction of single-family homes and low-rise residential dwelling units which operate more energy efficiently, are more durable, more comfortable, and provide a healthier environment for their
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Bottle Water A Brief History

San Francisco Baned bottled water and led the way to the end of one of the biggest marketing scams ever invented. With a few notable exceptions (like places where fracking is allowed) water in the United States is high quality and safe to drink. We in the Hudson Valley and Capitol District are especially blessed with some of the best drinking water in the world. Consider the largest scale marketing of the most abundant free resources on the planet! Great marketing hinging on our wish to be cool. In the 1970’s Perrier made it’s way to store shelves in my
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Announcing Green Guru Media

Green Guru Network announces its new media arm, Green Guru Media, to help grow your green business communications. We’re bringing clients top rate talent in the areas of Newsmaking Communications, Public Relations, Online Marketing & Social Media. With targeted experience in Sustainable Government and Sustainability Management for over her 20 years we specialize in motivating groups to take action on: Energy Efficiency Recycling and Materials Management Local Food Green Products Land Use Water Solar Transportation Principal Lea Cullen Boyer is perhaps best-known in media circles as a pioneer of the Hudson Valley’s Regional green media movement. Connecting people with resources through Green Guru Network and co-organizing Green Business events like
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Choosing a Contractor For Your NYSERDA Energy Work: What You Need to Know

This is the year to remedy the cold spots in your home, lower your fuel bills and reclaim your interior real estate from Winter. Let the State of New York help you with funding for services from qualified energy efficiency professionals.  These professionals will help you make a punch list of actions you can take to make your home more comfortable. You can use this information to do it yourself or you can choose to take advantage of low cost and creative loans with no up front cost to pay for upgrades. Sounds great?  It is. However you’ll have to
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Winter Storage Tips

From Our Freinds at Just Food Thanks to Jody Bolluyt from Roxbury Farm for pulling together these winter crop storage tips and for allowing us to share them with you. Don’t store apples or other fruits near your root vegetables. Ethylene in the fruit will cause carrots to turn bitter and other root crops to spoil. Onions and garlic should be stored separately or they can flavor your other vegetables. Don’t wash your vegetables until you are going to use them. The key to long term storage is finding the correct temperature and humidity and finding a place without light. No
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How to Mulch Your Leaves on the Lawn

The Village of Irvington’s Green Policy Task force and the Greenburgh Nature Center are led the way with the “Love Em and Leave Em” leaf mulching initiative.  Now New Rochelle, Yonkers, Bronxville and Scarsdale are on board. You can spend more time having fun and less time raking leaves. Check out their great short videos to learn how: Composting 101 Mulching Leaves Mulch in Place for Your Perenial Beds. Mulch Leaves on Your Lawn Mulch in Place on Your Driveway   Want to start your own campaign? No need to reinvent the wheel. Most of the Rivertowns are on board,
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International Buy Nothing Day

Have you become frustrated with trying to buy the perfect “whatever” to capture the beauty of the season? Consider siezing this bonus day off to take your family for a hike. Or maybe a game of Scrabble. A meal you make yourself.  Meet friends for tea, volunteer, draw, compose an incredible rock song with your kids or grand parents. Who knows what mischief you can come up with while your not standing in line, under fluorescent light, with a credit card in your hand, listening to a canned version of Jungle Land? The folks at International Buy Nothing Day believe there are bigger motivations
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Retro Recipe – Just Food’s Pumpkin Fondue

From our friends at Just Food: Pumpkin is a winter squash, closely related to butternut and acorn squash. They mature during the summer months and are harvested in the fall — just in time for Halloween and Thanksgiving. While pumpkins come in all sizes, the smaller ones are best to cook with. They are a great source of vitamin A and work well in both sweet and savory recipes. While most people think immediately of pumpkin pie or roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin also works well in soups, stews and risottos. Just Food’s | Pumpkin Fondue Ingredients: Makes 8 to 10
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Funding for Your New Septic in the NYC Watershed

From our friends at the Catskill Watershed Corp: MARGARETVILLE, N.Y. For many folks, when you flush, shower or empty the kitchen sink, your worries about wastewater are over. Out of sight, out of mind. It either goes under the backyard, or into a municipal treatment system, where it become’s somebody else’s problem.  But in the New York City Watershed, a 1600-square-mile area of the Catskills where six big reservoirs collect precious water for nine million people in the City and its northern suburbs, wastewater is taken seriously: It’s important enough for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to allocate
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Climate March Garbage? DEVO The Solution

Last week’s Climate Change Action March in New York City was a phenomenal success showcasing just how many very motivated brilliant leaders can build a coordinated effort.  In the wake of the worlds largest Environmental Action of all time criticism has aroused about garbage left on the parade route. Having reduced waste in large public venues and events reading these ideas has spurred the following response: We all agree that the dominant paradigm has to shift. On Sunday I started at the front of the March, followed leaders to 42nd Street, then walked backwards through the march to the end.
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