Sustainable Germantown and the town maintenance crew will continue trail care on Saturday April 20th from 10-1 with an all-ages volunteer and learning opportunity concentrating on invasive honeysuckle.

Germantown residents, we need to hear from you on an urgent issue vital to the health of our community.

As you may or may not know, historically Germantown has struggled with a consistent supply of groundwater. Even rainy seasons such as the one we’re having this summer, while good for today's water table, will not solve tomorrow's long-term problems.

The town's Waterfront Advisory Committee and various resident volunteers have been tackling the increasing problems of the invasive Water Chestnuts (Trapa natans) which render much of our Hudson River shoreline unusable in the height of summer.

At the May Town Board meeting, following months of work and discussion by the Climate Smart Committee, the Board, and others, the town passed a Green Revolving Fund (GRF) Resolution. The fund, established with a $5000 grant from NYSERDA, will be used for energy-saving upgrades of town equipment, such as replacing aging refrigerators or modernizing out-of-date heating or cooling systems.

Sustainable Germantown coordinated its second annual Earth Day Celebration in Palatine Park and helped continue the tradition at Palatine Manor. So many of our vital town organizations came out to show what the Earth means to them.

On April 21st, just in time for Earth Day, Columbia County CSC Committee members and other involved residents attended the Greenport Transfer Station’s kickoff event and demonstration of their newly purchased ECORICH Commercial Composter. This machine was purchased to expand the County’s already established food scraps program. Now with this new technology, residents will be able to bring ALL food scraps (including meat, dairy and cooked food) to their local transfer station for processing.

The past few months Sustainable Germantown, in partnership with the Columbia County Climate Smart Task Force, the Town of Germantown, and Heat Smart Capital Region launched a Clean Heating & Cooling Campaign, educating the public about the virtue of heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and general energy efficiency.

The Germantown Climate Smart Task Force, in partnership with the Columbia County Climate Smart Committee, has launched a Solar Campaign to allow households to sign up for a share in local solar farms, thus contributing to the decarbonization of New York State’s power grid.

The Germantown Writing & Arts competition is back this year! In collaboration with GEDAC (Germantown’s Economic Development Advisory Committee), Germantown’s Climate Smart Communities Committee, and Germantown’s CSC — we are asking seniors (65+) and kids K-12th grades to submit artistic and written pieces relating to this year’s theme: climate change.

We are working on a couple of initiatives to facilitate organic waste reduction in town, and we would love your participation! Do you have a farm capable of hosting a compost program? Do you have livestock that would benefit from neighbor’s food waste? Let us know!