CURE100 BLOG POSTS
Sign up for blog updates
By: Patty Buchanan As 2024 draws to a close, and attention turns to planning for 2025, it’s time to reflect on Croton100’s activities in 2024. As a founding and flagship Chapter of CURE100...
By: Jeffrey Prosserman As my wife was discharged from Greenwich Hospital, two days after my daughter was born on June 5, 2023, wildfire smoke tinted the sky an eerie orange. The smoke from the fire...
By: Subbu Upputuri, Dr. Chandu Visweswariah, Dr. Thomas N. Theis, Dr. Anjali Sauthoff Executive Summary The transition from fossil fuel vehicles to electric alternatives is a critical step towards...
By: Chandu Visweswariah In India, a billion people went to the polls over a 6-week period ending on June 1, 2024. Meanwhile, a scorching heat wave raised temperatures in New Delhi, the capital city...
By: Dr. Anjali Sauthoff, Dr. Chandu Visweswariah, Dr. Thomas N. Theis Authors’ note: The CURE100 Carbon Tracker tool, available here, now has full support in the latest version 288 for PM2.5...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Dear human race, Congratulations on centuries of progress and triumph (albeit bumpy at times). Your intellectual, artistic, medical and scientific progress in the last few...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Summary With each passing year of under-achievement in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, our planet’s carbon budget is dwindling. To avoid truly catastrophic and...
Image caption: Author Dan Gay, with partner Lucy Newman and rescued cow Anya at Catskill Animal Sanctuary (CAS). Anya was a dairy cow, but being a twin, is unlikely to ever produce milk. Her owner was...
By: Chandu Visweswariah I’ve been asked by multiple friends and relatives what it’s like to drive an EV in frigid weather. I usually reply that the combination of a heavier car, low center of gravity...
By: Akhila Golla†, Yuting Hu†, Vishnu Sai Teja Kondamudi†, Chandu Visweswariah‡, Sai Subhash Reddy Yarram†, Venkata Subrahmanyam Upputuri† and Jinjun Xiong††State University of New York...
By: Chandu Visweswariah The two biggest sources of carbon emissions in our part of the country in the Northeast are transportation and building heating. Most homes and buildings are heated with a...
By: Chandu Visweswariah August 16 was the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the most significant piece of climate legislation ever passed anywhere in the world. And New York...
By: Chandu Visweswariah A timely solution to our climate crisis can only be achieved by a rapid global phase-out of fossil fuels. Therefore, we urgently need international agreement on a timetable...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Sitting here in New York, it’s easy to think of climate change as a “faraway” phenomenon. Hurricane Sandy filled our subway stations with water in 2012, and...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Every Town and Village has a potpourri of governmental environmental organizations like a Sustainability Committee, a Conservation Advisory Council and a Climate Smart...
By: Chandu Visweswariah The fossil fuel industry has defiantly projected that we will need their products till the end of this century or beyond. They are wrong. And if there’s any chance we will burn...
By: Chandu Visweswariah There’s a dark and a troubled side of lifeThere’s a bright and a sunny side tooThough we meet with the darkness and strifeThe sunny side we also may view. —...
By: Chandu Visweswariah This short blog should be mandatory reading for all G7 Summit delegates in Japan. With the flurry of recent policy and scientific information, where do we stand on climate...
By: Chandu Visweswariah On this Earth Day, with all the wonderful Earth Day festivals and activities and speeches that have united and invigorated us, the only thing that actually counts is reduction...
By: Chandu Visweswariah The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR6 (Assessment Report 6) Synthesis Report states that we have a remaining carbon budget of 500 gigatons or 500...
By: Patty L. Buchanan The seasonal eco-grief that comes with school bus purchasing plans has, once again, set in. The stark truth is that the Croton School District continues to fall 70% behind the...
By: Patty L. Buchanan Do you want to advocate for an electric school bus (ESB) in your local School District? You may find the story of how tiny Croton on Hudson, NY got its first ESB instructional...
By: Lexi Schaffer Reuse and recycle. Most of us have heard these words repeated countless times, usually regarding cans and bottles. But what if this mindset could be applied to a wider range of...
By Bob DeAngelis As the price of fossil fuels increases, the opportunities for savings do too. Each of the actions below can save money and help the environment. Here are some ideas that I recommend...
By: Lexi Schaffer Slow fashion is an approach branded by many as outdated – handcrafted, durable clothing, meant to be passed down and worn from generation to generation. In recent years, it has been...
By Mary Ann Kelly What happens to your recyclables after you put them in the bins for curbside collection? We have all heard the news that China stopped taking imported recyclables and most of our...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Climate change is the existential challenge of our lifetimes. Like me, you are probably frustrated at the lack of real progress. Despite all the headlines and all the...
By Laura Kosbar Let’s start with some basics – like what is cryptocurrency and how does it differ from other currencies? Most currencies up until now were issued and backed by a specific nation. ...
By Cyril Cabral, Jr. If someone had told you a few years ago that there would be a pandemic in the future that would kill between 5 to 11 million worldwide (depending how you count them) you would...
Author: Robert De Angelis I have spent years studying many aspects of our environment and the impacts of humans. I am becoming more and more stressed out with the things I see regularly. I...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Money makes the world go around. Put your money where your mouth is. While we’ve all heard these sayings, I recently had the satisfaction of using them to advance environmental...
Cyril Cabral, Jr. The Case for Man-Made Climate Change Have you ever walked up to your car on a pleasant afternoon and once inside realized it was a blast furnace? You start to overheat and do not...
You know the climate is warming and you may even know why . You know there’s an imbalance in nature because you’re experiencing wild extremes in weather and have watched at least several...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Am I an arsonist?” The honest answer may shock you. Over the years, the United Nations has ratcheted up the urgency and stridency of its...
By Sarah Wilson Gas powered leaf blowers (“GLBs”) are more detrimental to the environment than you would think and are responsible for an astounding amount of pollution. A 2011 study by Edmunds found...
By Laura Kosbar Are you feeling safe to travel again, and ready to go on a special vacation or a long awaited family reunion? Well, here are a few things to consider as you plan your itinerary...
Author: Bob DeAngelis We are very fortunate to live in a country that values and protects our “freedom” . But what does that mean as it relates to valuing and protecting our health and the...
Author: Robert DeAngelis As we transition away from fossil fuels, we will rely more heavily on renewable electricity and our electric grid. We will migrate our cars and home heating systems to...
By Sarah Wilson We’re all familiar with the three Rs associated with waste: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. But there are more “Rs” that we can adopt to help us achieve a zero-waste, sustainable...
by Peter Capek In July of 2019, New York’s legislature passed an important and forward-thinking law which puts the state at the forefront of action and policy to respond to climate change. ...
By: Bob DeAngelis The Earth is facing a critical moment: climate change and the severe weather it causes are upon us. Examples include the recent record highs on the West Coast: Portland at 116 F...
By: Patty L. Buchanan* The excess of greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere is destabilizing global climate systems to the perilous point of “Code Red for Humanity” in the words of the United...
By Patty L. Buchanan Momentum is building all around us for electric school buses, and for good reasons. The Croton Harmon School District has taken a leadership role by procuring a $120,000 NYSERDA...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Words matter. I once received a letter from the Carter Center in which former President Jimmy Carter urged me to donate money so that he could “wage peace” all over the world...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Did he who made the Lamb make thee? In the old days, humans threatened animal species by rapaciously hunting them for meat, skin, fur and ivory. Now we have found more...
By: Chandu Visweswariah In 1982, I registered for a class called “Communications Circuits” on the leafy campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chennai, India. The instructor was Prof...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Calling all meat eaters! Would your meat cravings ever be satisfied by plant-based substitutes (like ‘Beyond Burgers’ or ‘Impossible Burgers’)? How about meat that is grown in...
By: Chandu Visweswariah The recent United Nations IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 6th Assessment Report has set off a frenzy of “after-market analysis” in the environmental community...
By Chandu Visweswariah “There is no time for delay and no room for excuses, the report is a code red for humanity.”— UN Secretary General António Guterres “Now is the critical decade for keeping...
By: Cyril Cabral Jr. How would you dress if you had to spend the day outside in Antarctica, with an average yearly temperature of -57 o F? You would probably not have any exposed skin – covered...
By: Bob DeAngelis I believe we can fix some significant environmental issues by placing responsibility in the right place. What I am proposing is a major change, but it is what is needed. If you...
By: Cyril Cabral Jr. Would you skip your annual physical (wellness) exam and wait years until there is a problem before making that appointment? Probably not. Health is something not to be taken for...
By: Chandu Visweswariah “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure...
By: Susan Buck In April 2021, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) noted that 29% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (in 2019) were created from the transportation sector, which includes the...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Congratulations to all residents of the Croton Harmon School District in New York! In the recent May 18 budget vote, you chose electric buses overwhelmingly over fossil fuel...
I am voting NO to Transportation Proposition 1 and YES to Propositions 2, 3 and 4 on the Croton School May 18 ballot. I encourage you to do the same. Here’s why. As a resident of this School...
By: Chandu Visweswariah No. 46 outdid himself on Earth Day 51! The publication of Rachel Carlson’s book “Silent Spring” in 1962 led to the first Earth Day in 1970. Just last week, we celebrated Earth...
By: Mary Ann Kelly It is spring and a perfect time to set sustainable cleaning goals! Green cleaning is the process of choosing cleaning products that are better for both people and the planet. ...
By: Patty Buchanan As part of the Sustainability Committee’s efforts to win a $70,000 NYSERDA grant, Croton100 is helping to promote Con Ed’s “Grid Rewards” demand response...
By: Chandu Visweswariah The Croton School District (Westchester County, New York) is placing the following transportation bond propositions on the May 18, 2021 ballot: Proposition 1: Authorization to...
By: Robert DeAngelis Why not? It’s convenient. Why not? Because by purchasing bottled water we’re being hoodwinked, and at significant environmental cost. Do you remember the folktale The...
By: Leo Wiegman “Cradle to grave designs dominate modern manufacturing” architect Bill McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart,(2002) Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. www.mbdc.com...
By: Cyril Cabral Jr Riding a bicycle is a complex task, with many of our 600 human muscles needed to keep us balanced and moving forward. As we have all experienced, an untied shoe, a sandy patch of...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Editor’s note: this blog marks the 50th piece contributed by Croton100 in this series since Croton100 was launched on “Leap into the Future Day,” February 29, 2020. If you own...
By: Sarah Wilson Credit: textiletoday.com.bd Some aspects of our carbon footprint are easy to identify, such as flying, commuting with a gas-powered vehicle, using single use plastics, etc. But when...
By: Patty L. Buchanan Croton100 has continued with its best efforts to educate the Croton School District about the benefits of integrating electric school buses into its fleet in the 2021-22 budget...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Bill Gates’ book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” was published two weeks ago (Knopf, 2021). An easy read, an informative read, a well-written read, but having been immersed...
By: Patty L. Buchanan Climate stability advocates spend a lot of time on the emotional rollercoaster of horror, despair, hope and action. I have been having a rough ride on these tracks...
By: Shubir Kapoor The global food system, which spreads across production and post-farm activities such as processing and distribution is a key contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It’s a...
By: Leo Wiegman As one of the youngest nations on Earth, Tuvalu could be among the first countries to disappear from the face of the Earth as rising sea levels render some islands uninhabitable...
By: Chandu Visweswariah CURE100 offers a Carbon Tracker software application that allows a household to determine its annual Greenhouse Gas (GHG) impact measured in metric tons of CO2e per year (learn...
By: Bob DeAngelis Photo credit: HeatSmart Westchester For much of history, we have burned things to heat our homes: wood, oil and gas. Now we know that burning fossil fuels contributes significantly...
By: Patty L. Buchanan Wooohooo, my all-time favorite Super Bowl ad was released this week, and it is getting international laughs mixed with awe. GM is using the biggest advertising...
By: Chandu Visweswariah “A Tale of Two Cities” is an 1859 historical novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. This blog is about the City of Ithaca...
By: Mary Ann Kelly Yorktown100 is excited to announce that we have become one of four charter chapters of CURE100. What does that mean for Yorktown100? We are now part of an impressive team of...
By: Patty L. Buchanan January 20 was a triumphant day for climate action. Starting with his Inaugural Speech, President Biden recognized that there is: Much to repair. Much to restore. Much to heal...
By: Patty L. Buchanan There was a recent notable confluence of local and global discourse on the climate crisis. On Sunday, January 10, Croton’s Care for Creation Ministry (C4C) hosted a remarkable...
By: Leo Weigman The massive 5,500 page COVID-19 bill that Congress approved and President Trump toyed with not signing and then signed after all contains good news for the renewable energy sector. 1...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Now is the time to advocate for electrification of school transportation fleets because school districts are planning their 2021-’22 transportation budgets now, and...
By: Chandu Visweswariah This past week I received numerous holiday greetings expressing a sentiment that the sender was glad to put 2020 in the rearview mirror. The assumption is that the vaccine is...
By: Susan B. Buck Sustainable: 1. able to continue over a period of time. 2. causing little or no damage to the environment and therefore able to continue for a long time. (dictionary.cambridge.com) ...
By Patty L. Buchanan. Image Credit: Kym Mackinnon, Unsplash This year-end-period with the longest and coldest nights brings a precious time for reflection. The quietest holiday season you may...
By: Patty L. Buchanan The United Nations Environmental Program published a report this week analyzing global progress on reducing emissions, entitled the Emissions Gap Report 2020 (the...
By: Shubir Kapoor The holiday season is upon us. Especially in this year of COVID-19, many of us are reflecting more deeply on those less fortunate and how we can help. While in this frame of mind...
By: Anuj Kapoor When people think of solar power, most of the time they think of the traditional, common solar panel technologies. These include the solar panels fixed into a rooftop, or the large...
By: Laura Kosbar Image Credit: Sustainable Westchester Community Solar If you live in the Town of Yorktown, you may have recently received a letter indicating that the Town is enrolling its eligible...
By Patty L. Buchanan Our modern-day Thanksgiving holiday has its roots in the coming together of the Indigenous North American people and the early European settlers. Our current environmental crisis...
By: Patty L. Buchanan The Croton100 and CURE100 Community has much to celebrate. This past week we reached a momentous milestone when we formally launched CURE100 with four charter chapters following...
By: Sarah Wilson A recent article in these pages featured the Meatless Monday movement. Meatless Monday is a global movement that encourages people to reduce meat in their diet for their health and...
By: Chandu Visweswariah Clean Energy U Curve courtesy RethinkX Adam Dorr and Tony Seba of RethinkX, a think tank that studies technology disruptions, just published a report entitled “Rethinking...
By: Patty L. Buchanan President-Elect Joe Biden has been clear and consistent throughout his campaign and in his messaging since the polls closed on November 3: He intends to prioritize action to...
By: Dhruv Gupta* Water Usage per EPA; Burger water use per Wall Street Journal, Jan.11, 2008; We can heal ourselves and our planet through our food. I will expand in this post under three...
By: Patty L. Buchanan The month of October reminds me of the need to take action urgently and galvanize around climate education and advocacy. It was two years ago — October 2018 — that global...
By: Chandu Visweswariah The writing is on the wall: we are witnessing the beginning of the end of fossil fuels (as well as the beginning of the end of the internal combustion engine)! Fossil fuels are...
By: Nadya Hall & Phyllis Bock What is compost? Compost is made of decayed organic material and can be used to enrich soil in gardens, potted plants, and landscaping. ‘Organic material’ is a fairly...
By: Joel Gingold When you drive around Croton at night, the streetlights probably look pretty much the same to you as they did several years ago. But you’re missing the green behind the glow. A few...
- 1
- 2
