December
News
NEWS OF THE MONTH FROM THE TARRYTOWN ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY COUNCIL
DECEMBER 2019

What We're Talking About
Film Series, Cargo bikes, Invasives program, Electric buses, Fuel costs... READ ON!

REMINDER: NO December TEAC meeting!

The next regular TEAC meeting will be at 7pm on THURSDAY, January 9, 2019, at the Village Hall on Depot Plaza.The meetings are open to all.

ON THE BIG (GREEN) SCREEN

TEAC Environmental Film Series Planned Jan-May 2020


In collaboration with Warner Library, TEAC is planning a monthly series of environmental-themed films starting in January, 2020. We are choosing acclaimed documentaries and informational programs that represent some of the most pressing issues that face our communities, from the climate crisis, carbon fuels, agriculture and food, to water and air quality and land use. We hope to have a lively discussion following each movie, and will reach out to experts in related fields to provide their perspective.

The first film in the series will be "An Inconvenient Sequel", the update to Al Gore's award-winning "An Inconvenient Truth", on Tuesday, January 7th at 7pm in the Warner Library. It will be preceded by a short feature in the "Green World Rising" series, narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio.

We hope to see all Village residents who are interested in understanding the environmental challenges we face and learning about practical actions they can take to stave off the worst crises and help improve our environment locally, regionally and worldwide.
The NY League of Conservation Voters has some great tips to make your holiday travels more eco-friendly. Check it out here:
https://nylcvef.org/citizens-toolkit/green-tips-holiday-travel/

PEDAL POWER PREVAILS

Cargo Bikes to Replace Delivery Trucks in NYC


Online news site The Gothamist reports that New York City will be joining other major cities in Europe in allowing "cargo bikes" -- essentially, electric-assisted, bicycle-wheeled mini-trucks -- to replace carbon-fueled delivery vehicles and to use the same loading zones. The pilot will apply to bikes operating in Manhattan below 60th Street. The much-lauded pilot program includes about 90 cargo e-bikes operated by Amazon for its Whole Foods deliveries, plus three DHL bikes and two UPS bikes that will shortly be put into service.
https://gothamist.com/news/cargo-bikes-are-coming-replace-delivery-trucks-nyc-streets

This is great news for environmentalists and for Manhattan residents, where at least some of the street-choking commercial traffic will be downsized and made pollution-free. And the cargo bikes won't go more than 12 MPH, unlike many bicycle couriers that have become pedestrian hazards by cycling too fast. But all may not be a bed of sweet-smelling roses... 

StreetsBlog NYC reports that new cargo bikes running food deliveries for some of the Whole Foods stores have no assigned on-street loading area, and are thus impeding pedestrian foot-traffic on public sidewalks. The DOT needs to take action to enforce dedicated on-street loading areas in these cases. And some of the logistics have not yet been worked out to ensure that one problem -- trucks endangering cyclists by shoving them into traffic -- isn’t being replaced by another -- bikes endangering pedestrians by shoving them into traffic.
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2019/12/06/whole-fools-free-parking-for-drivers-will-be-the-achilles-heel-of-citys-cargo-bike-pilot/
OUR SCENIC HUDSON RIVER

Public Hearing Dec 16 May Decide Fate Of Views


A Public Hearing is scheduled for Monday Dec 16th, at 8pm, at the Tarrytown Village Hall, to discuss and hear residents' comments on the new performance-based zoning proposed for the Station Area "down by the riverside". One big issue concerning many residents is the apparent allowance of buildings up to 10 stories in height (120 ft, with higher projections) on the east side of the MNR tracks. Opponents of this clause say such structures would potentially completely block visibility of the River from as far uphill as Broadway. Though other provisions in the zoning proposal mitigate the impact on viewsheds, many say the wording needs to be changed to explicitly prohibit further intrusions. One local group speaking out on the issue has information on their website: http://www.goneforever-55.com.

The public is invited to come to the hearing and to get their views heard.

LIVING CLASSROOM EVENT

Irvington Program Will Discuss Invasive Plants


As the next event in their “Living Classroom Series,” the Pollinator Pathway Project and the Irvington Green Policy Task Force are co-presenting “Invasives:  Why Should We Care?”, a talk about invasive plants and their impact on our environment.
 
On Monday, January 13, at 7pm, Dr. Linda Rohleder will speak at the Irvington Public Library, 12 South Astor Street, Irvington, about invasive plants and how, if left unchecked, they can aggressively undermine biodiversity and the health of our community. She will talk about why invasive plants can grow so aggressively and what can be done to stop and eradicate them. 

Dr. Rohleder has long been an important voice in addressing how invasive species negatively impact our environment: “Invading species have a ripple effect on the whole environment. If we let them run their course, it would still be green, but there would be a lot fewer species.” Dr. Rohleder is the Director of Land Stewardship of the New York – New Jersey Trail Conference and the Coordinator of the Lower Hudson Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (“PRISM”). She speaks widely about the threat of invasive species and their impact on our environment.
 
This will be a timely and important talk for our community. 
SPEAKING OF BICYCLES -- AND FEET
 

Take A Look At The New Bridge's SUP


The SUP -- Shared-Use Path for pedestrians and bicyclists -- is an eagerly-anticipated feature of the New NY Bridge (aka the MMCB, aka the New Tappan Zee, aka... whatever you feel like calling it). It is anticipated to open next summer, after a long delay as they figured out how the plazas at each end would be configured and connected to existing pedestrian access routes. Along the SUP, there will be six scenic stopping points, dubbed "belvederes", each with a unique theme and seating for viewers. At the Rockland and Westchester endpoints, a public plaza will have some parking for cars and bicycles, restrooms, and refreshment concessions.

Details of the design of the SUP are here: https://www.newnybridge.com/the-path/ 
For now, for the curious, you can get "almost live" views of the Westchester plaza construction as it proceeds day-by-day, here:
https://public.earthcam.net/newnybridgewebcams.tJ90CoLmq7TzrY396Yd88H7Sr1oTwJOBY_kjh7ucdpI!/new_york_state_thruway/westchester_path_landing/westchester_1
REMINDER: Take Your Kayak Home!
If you have a kayak stored in the racks at the Tarrytown launch ramp next to Losee Park, don't forget to retrieve it soon and store it elsewhere for the winter months. Be sure to keep rain and snow out of it and drain and accumulated water in the hull, as freezing water can crack the brittle plastic materials.

ELECTRIFICATION UPDATE

Electric Buses: An Idea Whose Time Is NOW (video)


Last fall, White Plains rolled out the first five all-electric school buses in the County, and more are to come. School buses are an ideal way to build out the electrification of fleet vehicles, one of the critical steps towards carbon-reduction in transportation. Why ideal? The daily route of a school bus is limited in time and distance to one that can be fully handled by a single battery charge; and overnight the charge can be restored without a great drain on our electric grid, which has not yet been optimized for huge numbers of vehicles quick-charging simultaneously.

But we need many more fleet buses to be replaced with electric as they age out. Other countries are leading the U.S. in this effort. As reported by CNBC: The world's largest car market -- China -- is on track to convert bus fleets to battery electric, a transition fueled by aggressive government subsidies and mandates. According to Interact Analysis, 80,000 electric buses were delivered globally in 2018 -- and 99 percent of those were in China. Some cities, like Shenzhen, have already gone entirely electric. 

In the US, however, the adoption of electric buses is happening at a much slower pace. Out of all the electric buses delivered last year, the US accounted for just 300. But that is starting to change. Places like New York City and California have set goals to gradually transition to 100 percent zero-emission bus fleets by 2040.

Watch the video to learn why the US trails China in electric buses:

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/09/28/electric-buses-are-taking-over-china-and-the-us-is-trying-to-catch-up.html

Short of fullly-electric, some of the general transportation buses in Westchester are hybrid diesel-electric vehicles, in which the engines run at a constant mid-range speed to charge batteries that actually power the wheels through an electric drivetrain. This is a better approach than straight diesel, as it avoids the roar of the engine and cloud of carcinogenic smoke usually emitted as a bus starts from a standstill.
IT STARTS WITH THE CHILDREN
 

CELF Provides Opportunities In Tarrytown


The Children's Environmental Literacy Foundation (CELF) is a non-profit organization that provides professional development for teachers in how to integrate sustainability issues into K-12 curriculum. With an emphasis on place-based, inquiry-based and experiential learning, CELF helps teachers working in all content areas identify engaging learning opportunities connected to environmental challenges and assets in their own communities. In Tarrytown, with the help of a grant from the Westchester Community Foundation, science teachers from across the district have participated in professional development workshops, and teachers from other disciplines (photo below) attended the CELF Summer Institute.  Gail Duffy, the Director of Curriculum for the district, is working to build a team of teachers who can collaborate on sustainability initiatives and work together to identify outdoor learning opportunities that connect with what they are already teaching. The work will continue this year thanks to the renewal of the grant from the Westchester Community Foundation.
 
Bridget McGraw, Sleepy Hollow Middle School, Social Studies teacher
Viola Santelia, Washington Irving Elementary School, 4th grade teacher
Peter Kennedy, Sleepy Hollow Middle School, ELA teacher
ADMINISTRATION FAILS MATH
 

CR Analysis: Higher fuel costs under proposed EPA mpg rules outweigh affordability gains


The Trump administration's proposed fuel economy regulation rollbacks could cost U.S. consumers as much as $300 billion, a new analysis suggests, calling into question EPA chief Andrew Wheeler's claims that the new proposals would save buyers money, prompting them to purchase newer, safer cars. 

Consumer Reports analyzed the proposed rule changes from a consumer-savings perspective, factoring in the suggested decrease in new-vehicle price tags (or, rather a slower pace of their natural increase), and found that fuel costs will outweigh any savings even with the rumored 1.5-percent increase. 

"In every scenario in which fuel-economy standards are weakened, however, the resulting increase in fuel spending dramatically outweighs the reduced technology costs—by a factor of three," CR says. 

Projecting fuel costs and price increases out to 2026, CR found that if fuel efficiency standards increased at the hypothetical 1.5-percent rate rather than the previous administration's mandate of 5 percent, consumers will end up paying more at the pump than they'll save at the dealership. The 1.5-percent rate plan would result in a $3,200 annual fuel increase, or $300 billion nationally, for 2026 cars. 

"The analysis shows that a 1.5-percent-per-year increases would throw us in reverse," says CR senior policy analyst and study co-author Chris Harto, "The current standards are designed to give automakers a benchmark to reach for, but this rollback would lower the bar for laggard automakers and fail to move the market forward."

Moving in the other direction, CR's analysis suggests that strengthening standards (up to 5.5-6.0 percent annual reduction rather than the existing 5 percent per year) would net consumers an additional savings of $40 billion in 2026, debunking the EPA theory that customers would eventually realize savings. 
2nd THURSDAY AT 7:00!

Curious about TEAC? Come to our meetings!


Please NOTE: There will be NO REGULAR MEETING in DECEMBER. We are also changing the meeting date to the 2nd Thursday of the month, and the time to 7:00.

TEAC relies on volunteers to keep things moving. Join our monthly meetings to see what's going on, and how you can pitch in.

Each month, TEAC meets on the 2nd Thursday in Village Hall, One Depot Plaza, at 7:00 PM. The next regular TEAC meeting will be on THURSDAY, January 9, 2020. The meetings are open to all.
 

“There is October in every November and there is November in every December!
All seasons melted in each other’s life!”
Mehmet Murat ildan






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Tarrytown Environmental Advisory Council · One Depot Plaza · Tarrytown, NY 10591 · USA

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