[SustainableTompkins] October 12 ST meeting: DEVELOPING COMMUNITY SUSTAINABILITY

[GayNicholson at aol.com]

Be sure to mark your  calendar for our next Sustainable Tompkins gathering on 
October  12. 


”DEVELOPING  COMMUNITY SUSTAINABILITY” 
Today’s headlines bring us the latest news on  the next development project 
or new business in our community, but how will  these influence the health of 
our community in 20 or 30 years?  How can we make plans today that  anticipate 
our needs in the future?   
Local governments and community leaders generally try to  address the 
challenge of linking economic development, land use, and  transportation 
infrastructure in an effective manner.  But the models we’ve  used to attempt that 
synthesis have not anticipated factors such as global  warming and the transition to 
a new energy economy.  Citizens and community  leaders have expressed a 
growing concern about the need to plan for a future  that may be dramatically 
altered by these forces and other emerging trends.   
Sustainable Tompkins will host a conversation on  Thursday, October 12 about 
guiding growth and development in a more sustainable  manner in the Ithaca 
area.  We know  we need to take a systems approach, and to do that we will need 
to engage people  working in different sectors of the sustainability equation 
and help them  integrate their efforts.  We will need both a plan for how to 
adapt to  rapidly changing conditions, and an infrastructure for communication 
and  partnership as we attempt to implement our design for a more sustainable  
future.  
How  can we get started in this process?  What organizing framework should we 
use?  What tools and resources are  available?  We don’t know what the  
answers are yet, but in this first conversation we can come together to explore  
and refine the questions that we need to answer. 
All are invited to attend the  meeting, to be held 6:00 to 8:30 PM, Thursday, 
October 12 at Cornell Cooperative  Extension on 615 Willow Ave.  The  monthly 
Sustainable Tompkins gatherings are a place for local citizens to  network 
and learn about each other’s interests and involvements in the  sustainable 
community movement. The event will begin with a potluck dinner  -including many 
locally-grown and processed foods.  Please join  us and bring a friend or two! 
Sustainable Tompkins is a  coalition of citizens, community organizations, 
elected officials, educators and  professionals from diverse fields - all 
working to promote a more just and  sustainable community 
(_www.sustainabletompkins.org_ (http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/) ).  For more information, contact: 
Gay  Nicholson, Sustainable Tompkins Program Coordinator, 
gaynicholson at aol.com,  607-533-7312. 


----------------------------------------------------
Gay  Nicholson, Ph.D. 

607-533-7312 (home office)
607-279-6618  (cell)

1 Maple Avenue
Lansing, NY  14882
gaynicholson at aol.com

Sustainable Tompkins 
Program  Coordinator 
w_ww.sustainabletompkins.org_ (http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/) 

Southern Tier Energy$mart Communities
Regional  Coordinator
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County
615 Willow  Ave., Ithaca, NY  14850
agn1 at cornell.edu