Award for Protecting Old Growth White Pines

Ranger Michael Liu of the Finger Lakes National Forest received an award at Green Fest from Gudrun Scott on behalf of "We the People" for his decision last fall to preserve a grove of ancient white pines in the forest. Above, Ranger Liu discusses white pine ecology.

2007 Green Fest Schedule

Here is our updated schedule for the weekend:

Friday, August 10, 2007
2:00 — Check-in for Camping sites at Cayuta Sun
At Community School, Ithaca
6:30 — Registration
7:00 — Opening and welcome
7:15 — 9:00 pm - The Politics of Sustainability
Art Weaver, Renovus Energy, "Social Change and Its Connection to Renewable Energy", Virginia Rasmussen, Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy, Dan Hill, Cayuga Nation rep to the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force

Saturday, August 11, 2007
At Cayuta Sun Permaculture Homestead
7:00 am — Sunrise Yoga with Ann Eagan, Sunnyside, NY
8:30 am — Early Bird Workshop: Baking in an Earth Oven
Lois Hilton, Tickletown Trade, Great Valley, NY
Elizabeth Thompson, Allegany, NY
10:00 am — Opening and welcome
10:15 am — Grassroots Organizing for Sustainability
Gay Nicholson, Sustainable Tompkins, Ithaca, NY
Anthony and Mary Lipnicki, First Fridays, Andover, NY
10:15 am — Cob for Kids Workshop
11:45 am — Building a Local Food Network
Lois Hilton, Tickletown Trade food coop, Great Valley, NY
Matt Glenn, Muddy Fingers CSA, Ithaca Farmers Market
Michele Danels, East New York Food Co-op, Brooklyn
Josh Dolan, EcoCity Ithaca
11:45 am — Job Free Living
Ed Haffmans and JoAnn Myers, Accord, NY
1:00 pm — Lunch, Blues by Deborah Magone
1:45 pm — Permaculture Workshop
Michael Burns and Steve Gabriel, Finger Lakes Permaculture
1:45 pm — Living off the Grid
Steve Nicholson, Ithaca
Tony Moretti, Hammondsort
3:00 pm — Make Your Own Wind Turbine
Barry Miller, Hinsdale
3:00 pm — Getting Media Access for Alternative Viewpoints
Sander Hicks, VoxPop, Brooklyn
Bill Huston, Binghamton
Carl Lawrence, Producer, Green Vision, BCAT, Brooklyn
Deborah Magone, Green Cable Producer, Rochester
4:15 pm — Native Earthling Band on Solar Stage
6:00 pm — Dinner, Ki-tun Band
7:00 pm — Liberation Ecology: Refusing to Choose Between
Social Justice and Sustainability, Rafter T. Sass
9:00 pm — Burning Hearts Band

Sunday, August 12, 2007
At Ithaca Commons, downtown Ithaca
10:00 am — Opening
10:15 am — Green Roof Demonstration
Lexie Hain, Motherplants, Ithaca NY
11:00 am — Building New Media Outlets
Ilonka Wloch, Positive News, Ithaca
Craig Seeman, Third Planet Video
Cyril Mychalejko, Upside Down World, Vermont
12:00 noon — Political Songs by Peacesmiths
1:00 pm — Creating Change through Third Party Electoral Politics
Howie Hawkins, 2006 Green Party candidate for US Senate
SKCM Curry, 2008 candidate for Green Party Vice President
Anthony Gronowicz, author Grand Illusion: American Democracy, New York, NY
Jason Nabewaniec, Co-Chair, Green Party US, Batavia, NY
2:30 pm — Campus Organizing for Sustainability
Ethan Rainwater, Cornell Sustainability
Peter LaVenia, Albany U Campus Greens
3:45 pm — Closing

Photos of Cayuta Sun

Great photos of Cayuta Sun by Simon Wheeler accompanied the Ithaca Journal article on Green Fest.

Ithaca Journal Features Green Fest

Green Fest to attract over 100 this weekend
Lessons on permaculture, sustainability and local food on agenda

By Jennie Daley
Journal Staff

CAYUTAVILLE — From pine grove to meeting room, such are the conversions under way at a Cayutaville homestead preparing to host this weekend's Green Fest.

Billed as a sustainability-focused weekend that also will serve as a fundraiser for the Green Party, Green Fest will span three days with two of them based in Ithaca and Saturday's happenings at the Cayuta Sun homestead.

The home of Elmira school teacher Michael Burns and his fiancée, Kelly Dietz, Cayuta Sun has been a five-year project for Burns that started as an empty lot. It now is home to the two-story, highly energy efficient house Burns built with a contractor, gardens, chickens and two geese. The newest addition is an almost finished, double outhouse for campers who will be using the homestead as a base for the weekend.
Where all these features were placed and how they are used is based on permaculture principles. Created as a set of design guidelines, permaculture aims to maximize natural efficiencies. For instance, permaculture principles would encourage someone to put their gardens between the house and where they park so they pass by it often, rather than sticking the garden in an inconvenient corner of the yard.

Yet permaculture lessons will only be one part of a busy weekend. Workshops will touch on a range of topics including cooking with a solar oven, constructing your own wind turbine, the politics of sustainability and building a local food network.

Organizers are expecting more than 100 people to attend from all areas of the state, including Buffalo, Albany, Syracuse and New York City. Already in town and helping with set up is Michele Danels, a local food organizer and community gardener in East New York, which is an impoverished edge of Brooklyn.

“When I heard about this I said ‘I'm in.' People are really depressed about what's happening in the world, and this offers hope,” Danels said.

Working along with Danels Tuesday was Rachel Treichler, a former Green Party candidate and an organizer of the 2003 Green Fest. Triechler has been spearheading this year's efforts and said they decided to be more ambitious with this summer's agenda after the positive reception they received four years ago.

This year's events begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday at The Community School of Music and Art, 330 E. State St. All events Saturday will be at Cayuta Sun, 2962 S. Swamp Road, and events Sunday will begin at 10 a.m. at the Bernie Milton Pavilion on The Commons.

The cost for Friday and Saturday is $35, including lunch and dinner Saturday. There is an added fee for camping.

With the schedule set and the sites coming together, now all the organizers have to do is figure out how to feed those 100-plus people. One menu item was easy for them to settle on, locally grown salad.

Lois Hilton's Earth Oven

Lois Hilton (in orange), Elizabeth Thompson (holding child) and their fellow oven builders at last summer's Earth Oven Festival at Tickletown Trust & Trade in Humphrey, New York. Lois and Elizabeth are leading our Earth Oven Baking Workshop at Green Fest, Saturday, August 11 at 8:30 am.

Getting Around Downtown Ithaca

Below is a map of downtown Ithaca showing the location of the Bernie Milton pavilion in the Ithaca Commons, the Community School at 330 East State St., and parking garages in the area. Click on the map to enlarge. Click here for driving directions to the Commons.

The Ithaca bus terminal is located in downtown Ithaca at the corner of W. State St. and N. Fulton St. (Route 13 South). It is six blocks walking east on State Street from the Ithaca Bus Station to the Ithaca Commons and nine blocks walking east on State Street (through the Commons, which is closed to vehicular traffic) to the Community School at 330 East State St. It is not possible to drive east on State St, because the street is one way the other way. Drivers should take Greene St. from the bus station to the Commons or the Community School.

Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) buses service Ithaca and the surrounding areas. Routes 14 and 21 connect the Commons with the Ithaca bus terminal on the weekend. Click here for TCAT weekend service map.

Activists Share Sustainability Skills

Activists from across the state will gather Aug 10-12 for a weekend sharing sustainability skills and visions at NY Green Fest. Workshops at locations in Ithaca and Cayutaville will address how to build a small wind turbine, bake in an earth oven, build a green roof, live off the grid, practice permaculture, live job free, build local food networks, practice liberation ecology, build new media outlets, and use third party politics to effect social change. Green Fest has been organized by an ad-hoc group to promote sustainability and is a benefit for the Green Party of New York. The festival is open to all who are interested in sustainable living and sustainable politics.

Exhibitors include VoxPop, the Climate Change Action Group of Central New York, Democracy School, Farm Sanctuary, SOA Watch, Cures not Wars, the Citizens Environmental Coalition, Eco Books, the Shopping Bag Action group, Sustainable Tompkins, Community Energy, Indigo Summer, MyshellaZ Art, Joey Gates henna body art, a veggie car and a small wind turbine. Musicians include the Native Earthling Band playing on their solar-powered stage, Deborah Magone, Dan Hill, the Peacesmiths and Burnin' Hearts.

The weekend offers many opportunities for sharing visions of sustainability.

Green Fest begins Friday evening, August 10, with a program on the politics of sustainability at the Community School auditorium, 330 E. State St., Ithaca from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. Three speakers will address the power relationships that promote sustainability. Art Weaver from Renovus Energy in Ithaca, will speak on social change and its connection to renewable energy, Virginia Rasmussen from Alfred, a founder of the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy, will speak on the politics of sustainability, and Dan Hill, the Cayuga Nation representative to the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force, will speak on sustainability for the long term. Dan will open and close the program with native flute music.

Saturday’s programs take place at Cayuta Sun, an off-the-grid permaculture homestead at 2962 Swamp Rd. in Cayutaville, 15 miles southwest of Ithaca. The workshops begin at 8:30 am with a bread baking workshop in the earth oven at Cayuta Sun lead by Lois Hilton from Tickletown Trust & Trade in Humphrey. Lois will also join Saturday’s panel on building a local food network, along with Matthew Glenn from Muddy Fingers Farm in Hector, editor of Southern Tier Farm to You Local Food Directory, Gwen Quigley from Keuka Cookin’ in Bath, Josh Dolan from EcoCity Ithaca and Michele Danels from East New York Farms in Brooklyn.

Living job free living and minimizing the need for money with ecological frugality and resourcefulness will be presented by Ed Haffmans and JoAnn Myers from the Catskills. A permaculture workshop will be conducted by Michael Burns and Steve Gabriel from the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute. Grassroots organizing for sustainability is the topic discussed by Gay Nicholson from Sustainable Tompkins, Mike Sellars, Mayor of Cobleskill, from Sustainable Cobleskill, and Tony and Mary Lipnicki, the founders of a monthly discussion group in Andover, NY. Two off-grid pioneers, Steve Nicholson from Ithaca and Tony Moretti from Hammondsport will offer advice on living off-the-grid.

How to build a small wind turbine will be demonstrated Saturday afternoon by Barry Miller, a mechanical engineer from Hinsdale, New York. Barry has spent 20 years in the wind energy business. For nine years he operated a wind farm in Altamont Pass west of San Franciso. Four media activists, Sander Hicks from Brooklyn, Carl Lawrence from Brooklyn, Bill Huston from Binghamton and Deborah Magone from Rochester will discuss getting media access for alternative viewpoints. Carl, Bill and Deborah produce cable access television programs. Sander is editor, publisher and reporter of New York Megaphone, the founder of Soft Skull Press and the proprietor of Vox Pop bookstore.

Saturday evening Rafter Sass will present ideas for a Liberation Ecology. His topic is refusing to choose between social justice and sustainability. Rafter lives and works at the Germantown Community Farm, a collectively-run community food security project in the Hudson River Valley.

A Cob for Kids workshop will run throughout the day on Saturday. Lunch and dinner including local foods will be served on Saturday. Sunrise yoga at 7:00 am with Ann Eagan from Sunnyside, Queens begins the day. Deborah Magone will perform gutsy blues at 1:00 pm. The Native Earthling Band will perform from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, and Burnin' Hearts will perform in the evening.

On Sunday, August 12, Green Fest moves to the Ithaca Commons in downtown Ithaca with a series of speakers and musicians at the Bernie Milton Pavilion in the center of the Commons. Lexie Hain from Motherplants will show how to make a green roof. Ilonka Wloch, the editor of Positive News in Ithaca, Craig Seeman from Third Planet Video in Brooklyn, and Cyril Mychalejko from Upside Down World in Vermont will discuss building new media outlets that address sustainability issues. Helene Williams, Susan Blake and Leonard Lehrman from Peacesmiths will perform political songs.

Using third party electoral activism to foster social change and challenge the underpinnings of corporate power will be discussed by Howie Hawkins, SKCM Curry, Tony Gronowicz and Jason Nabewaniec. Howie was the 2006 Green Party candidate for US Senate from New York and is a current candidate for Syracuse Common Council. Tony Gronowicz, the 2005 Green Party candidate for Mayor of New York City, teaches at the City University of New York. His most recent book is Grand Illusion: American Democracy from its Roots to the Present. Jason Nabewaniec from Batavia is a Co-Chair of the Green Party US. Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry from Los Angeles is a Green Party candidate for Vice President of the US.

Sunday’s program concludes with a discussion of campus organizing for sustainability led by Ethan Rainwater, Sustainability Intern at Cornell University, Peter LaVenia from the Albany University Campus Greens, and Krista Carlson, a student at Alfred University.

$35 admission for Friday and Saturday, includes Saturday lunch and dinner, Sunday free. Camping available for an additional charge. Green Fest is a benefit for the Green Party of New York. For a detailed schedule, directions, registration forms and more information, visit http://nygreenfest.blogspot.com or call 607-569-2114.

Art Weaver on Social Change and Its Connection to Renewable Energy

Art Weaver will open Green Fest on Friday evening, Aug. 10 with a talk on Social Change and Its Connection to Renewable Energy. Art is a founder of Renovus Energy, a renewable energy systems design-build firm based in Ithaca. The Renovus Energy building, shown below, is the first zero-energy commercial building in Ithaca. The building produces and exports more energy to the utility grid than it consumes in its day-to-day operation including the energy used by its radiant floor heating system. Passive solar design and superinsulation in conjuction with active solar technologies - a 10kW photovoltaic system on the roof make this possible.

Michele Danels from East New York Farms

Michele Danels, a farmer in the Hands and Hearts Garden, a project of East New York Farms in Brooklyn, is a panelist on building a local food network at Green Fest on Saturday at Cayuta Sun. Articles about East New York Farms recently appeared in Plenty Magazine and the Nation. Below, a young farmer sells at the East New York Farm Market.

Native Earthling Band on their Solar Stage

Native Earthling Band, Crow Weaver, Paul Kimball and Frank Giambrone, will perform at Green Fest on Saturday, Aug. 11 from 4:15 to 6:00 pm, with a break for an Old Growth Award Ceremony at 5:15. Below is a photo of the band performing on their solar stage.

Cayuta Sun Work Parties, Aug. 2, 3, 4

Our next work parties at the Cayuta Sun Festival site will be Aug. 2, 3, and 4. It would be great to have your help:
1. Clearing campsites
2. Making signs
3. Collecting firewood for the bread oven and campfire
If you can help, call Michael at 607-227-0316. Much of the work on the compost toilet building has been completed. Below are Bob Nape, Bill Rogers and Michael Burns after they finished putting the roof on the building today.

Green Fest Media Release

For Immediate Release: July 18, 2007

Build A Small Wind Turbine, Local Food Networks and Liberation Ecology at NY Green Fest, Aug. 10-12, Ithaca and Cayutaville

July 18, 2007. NY Green Fest, a festival of sustainability with programs and exhibitors on how to build a small wind turbine, bake in an earth oven, practice liberation ecology, live off the grid, build local food networks and much more will take place Fri.-Sun., Aug. 10-12 in Ithaca and Cayutaville. The weekend festival has been organized by an ad-hoc group interested in promoting sustainability. The festival is a benefit for the Green Party of New York and is open to all who are interested in sustainable living and sustainable politics.

NY Green Fest kicks off Friday evening, August 10, with a program on the politics of sustainability at the Community School auditorium, 330 E. State St., Ithaca from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. The speakers are Art Weaver from Renovus Energy in Ithaca who will speak on social change and its connection to renewable energy, Virginia Rasmussen, a founder of the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy from Alfred, who will speak on the politics of sustainability, and Dan Hill, the Cayuga Nation representative to the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force, who will speak on sustainability for the long term.

Saturday’s programs take place at Cayuta Sun, an off-the-grid permaculture homestead in Cayutaville, 15 miles southwest of Ithaca. Saturday starts with a bread baking workshop in the earth oven at Cayuta Sun lead by Lois Hilton from Tickletown Trust & Trade in Humphrey, New York. Lois will also participate in Saturday’s panel on building a local food network, along with Matthew Glenn from Muddy Fingers Farm in Hector, editor of Southern Tier Farm to You Local Food Directory and Gwen Quigley from Keuka Cookin’ in Bath.

Michael Burns and Steve Gabriel from the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute will lead an introduction to permaculture workshop. A discussion on grass roots organizing for sustainability will be lead by Gay Nicholson who has led Sustainable Tompkins since 2003, Mike Sellars, the Mayor of Cobleskill and a founder of Sustainable Cobleskill, and Tony and Mary Lipnicki, the founders of a monthly discussion group on sustainability issues in Andover, NY. Two off-grid pioneers, Steve Nicholson from Ithaca and Tony Moretti from Hammondsport will offer advice on living off-the-grid.

Saturday afternoon Barry Miller from Hinsdale, New York will show how to build a small wind turbine. Barry is a mechanical engineer and has spent 20 years in the wind energy business. For nine years he operated a wind farm in Altamont Pass west of San Franciso. Barry recently taught a class at Olean BOCES on how to build your own small wind turbine. Three experienced cable access TV producers will discuss getting media access for alternative viewpoints, Bill Huston from Binghamton, Carl Lawrence from Brooklyn and Deborah Magone from Greece, NY.

Rafter Sass will speak Saturday evening on Liberation Ecology: Refusing to Choose between Social Justice and Sustainability. Rafter lives and works at the Germantown Community Farm, a collectively-run community food security project in the Hudson River Valley.

A Cob for Kids workshop will run throughout the day on Saturday. Lunch and dinner prepared from local foods will be served on Saturday. Sunrise yoga begins the day. Exhibitors on Saturday include renewable energy suppliers, booksellers, farmers with local produce, local craftspeople, grassroots organizations and non-profit groups.

On Sunday, August 12, Green Fest moves to the Ithaca Commons with a series of speakers and musicians at the Bernie Milton Pavilion in the center of the Commons. Peacesmiths from New York City will perform political songs. Lexie Hain from Motherplants will show how to make a green roof. Ilonka Wloch, the editor of Positive News in Ithaca, Craig Seeman from Third Planet Video in Brooklyn, and Cyril Mychalejko from Upside Down World in Vermont will discuss building new media outlets that address sustainability issues.

Howie Hawkins, SKCM Curry, Tony Gronowicz, and Jason Nabewaniec will discuss how third party electoral activism is essential in fostering social change and challenging the underpinnings of corporate power. Howie was the 2006 Green Party candidate for US Senate from New York and a current candidate for Syracuse Common Council. Tony Gronowicz, the 2005 Green Party candidate for Mayor of New York City, teaches at the City University of New York. His most recent book is Grand Illusion: American Democracy from its Roots to the Present. Jason Nabewaniec from Batavia is a Co-Chair of the Green Party US. Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry from Los Angeles is a Green Party candidate for Vice President of the US.

Sunday’s program concludes with a discussion on campus organizing for sustainability led by Peter LaVenia from the Albany University Campus Greens, and Krista Carlson from the Alfred University Campus Greens.

Exhibitors on Sunday include grassroots organizations, non-profit groups and renewable energy suppliers.

$35 admission for Friday and Saturday, includes Saturday lunch and dinner, Sunday free. Camping available for an additional charge. Green Fest is a benefit for the Green Party of New York. No fees for those who help during the festival or in advance. For a detailed schedule, directions, registration forms and more information, visit nygreenfest.blogspot.com or call 607-569-2114.