Village of Rhinebeck Environmental Update July 2020
In March 2020, just as the COVID quarantine hit, Rhinebeck Village received its Bronze certification for the NY State Climate Smart Communities program—one of only 47 municipalities in NY State to have achieved this. Please check out this page of our website , where we've laid out the actions the Village has taken in a browsable way. You're also welcome to take a deep dive into our public filing.
Now, Rhinebeck's Climate Smart Community Task Force turns to planning our path to Silver. Our approach is researched-based. This means foundational, data-driven projects that will inform how the Village will transform into a more resilient, carbon neutral, and enjoyable place to be. This work is organized into two themes: drawing down our carbon emissions (mitigation) and resilience to climate change (adaptation). Each of the projects below earns us points towards our Silver goal. (More projects on our website , but here are the biggies.)
Drawing Down Our Greenhouse Gases
Composting: We have a sub-committee researching practical solutions for reducing/diverting food waste and composting. This builds on work started a few years ago, with a joint project between Town and Village and partners from Red Hook and Tivoli. The sub-committee is reaching out to other NY municipalities to learn from their best practices and experiences in applying for grants. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory: Rhinebeck is one of 9 municipalities selected to get group support for this CAPI project. The work will reveal which areas of government buildings and operations can be improved to reduce emissions. We will also learn from the process—and hope to conduct a community-wide GHG inventory in the next phase.
Resiliency
We are very lucky to have had the opportunity to do a four-municipality Community Resilience Building Workshop (Rhinebeck Town and Village and Red Hook Town and Village). The Nature Conservancy and Hudson River Watershed Alliance facilitated the workshop (at no charge to us!). You can find their report here . We were also thrilled to have Cornell Cooperative Extension's Danielle Salisbury use a very fine-toothed comb in poring through our policies with an eye towards adapting to climate change. Her work on this "Resiliency Planning Tool", which she'll present at the October Village Board meeting (please watch via the Village Facebook livestream ), makes recommendations for how our policies and protocols can best prepare our Village for increases in extreme weather. Our collaboration with Marist College environmental policy students continues, though our Trees for Tribs riparian buffer planting was postponed this spring due to COVID. You can check out the students' final report —all about reducing the impact of flooding on the Landsman Kill and Crystal Lake, through predictive algorithmic models and good old fashioned floodplain plantings.
Village and Town Collaboration
We've brought together the Joint Village and Town Environmental Committee with our Village Climate Smart Task Force and started meeting together this summer. It's quite an amazing group of folks!
Through a grant from The New World Foundation, the Joint EC has been able to bring on a graduate student intern, David Chernack, from Bard's Center for Environmental Policy. Over a 6 month period, David has the daunting task of combing through the Rhinebeck comprehensive plan, the Village master plan, and other policies, as well as creating a comparative review of what other small towns are doing. His final deliverable will be a set of prioritized environmental policy recommendations. Some may have been indeed recommended in the 2009 comprehensive plan but never implemented, while others may spring from emerging best practices.
The Town Park Committee recently received a grant to have graduate students at the Conway School of Design create an eco-vision plan for the Thompson-Mazzarella Park. It's an inspiring document that we encourage you to check out.
A final note The COVID pandemic has delayed some of our work—especially public engagement through real face-to-face experiences. Our support of a PTSO event for Earth Day's 50th anniversary, a Bike-to-School Day, an award for "Most Sustainable" at Taste of Rhinebeck, among other educational and fun events—all scuttled! For now, please follow us on Instagram and sign up for our email newsletter . We miss you and look forward to engaging with our community about these actions and ideas that mean so much to our future. The COVID crisis serves as a preview of disruptions to come if we don't fight climate change. Stay healthy!
Special thanks to the following people on the Climate smart Committee who made this happen.
Chair: Vanessa Bertozzi
Dorna Schroeter
Jennifer Breslin
Isabel "Scout" Pronto Breslin
Corinna Borden
Clari Fraccarolli
Michael Forlenza
Ashley Gamell
Yvette Rogers
Nan Jackson
Chantal Collins
Kathy Dobson
Liz Mazzarella
Kellianne Ticcony
Matt Stinchcomb
Mayor Gary Bassett