by Richard Kavesh

With Spring right around the corner, it’s a good time to think green. Next weekend begins daylight savings time, Spring begins in two weeks and Nyack’s April 18-25 Earth Day follows shortly thereafter.

It’s a good time to act green, too. Nyack residents can get in on the ground floor of a new effort to make our village the greenest community in Rockland County by attending the initial meeting of Nyack’s new Environmental Advisory Committee on 3/8 at 7p in Village Hall.

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by Tina Traster

When I looked at the house I was to buy five years ago, I noticed a little green shed on the north end of the property with the inscription “Fresh Eggs Sold Here.” It wasn’t entirely a gratuitous flourish; the owner actually kept a flock of free-range hens. These birds, like roving cats, were known by everyone along the road.

When I met the owner at the house closing, we talked about raising chickens. I swore my family would uphold the hen house tradition.

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by Cliff Weathers

New York State Parks officials announced today that they plan to close 55 parks and historic sites and reduce services at other parks to help shrink the state’s $8.2 billion budget deficit. Several parks and sites located in Rockland County will be affected. The cuts are reportedly in addition to park services cuts implemented over the past two years, which included reduced services at Nyack Beach State Park. The affected parks and sites include: Continue reading →

Spring is almost here and the Nyack Community Garden will soon be opening for the season.

Here’s how the News 12 blog describes the garden: Continue reading →

Village Environmental Committee Seeks Members

by Richard Kavesh

In 2008 Nyack became a “Cool City,” joining thousands of other US municipalities in the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Campaign who vowed to reduce carbon emissions below 1990 levels in line with the Kyoto Protocol. Now there are opportunities for Nyack to look at local environmental issues that have the potential to create a healthier, greener village as well as potentially save taxpayer dollars.

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by Marianne Olive

This Spring, there will be a week of celebration in Nyack for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day with earth friendly events and fun for the whole family.

We’re looking for exhibitors and volunteers for crafts and environmental exhibits, gardens, and alternative energy. Beekeepers, hikers, bikers, woodworkers, non motorized boaters, health, nutrition and natural remedy practitioners are welcome as well as anyone with earth friendly ideas.

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Here’s an opportunity to do good for your community and your plants, too.

The Nyack Center will deliver mulch to your home just in time for the spring gardening season. Order by the Feb 12 deadline and volunteers will deliver bags of black, red or cedar mulch by March 21.

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by Alexis Starke

Are you interested in environmental issues? Concerned about our local environment and related quality of life? Do you think we can do more to keep Orangetown’s environment healthy and beautiful? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then consider joining the Orangetown Environmental Committee.

The Orangetown Environmental Committee (OEC) is seeking new members from the community to join the committee in 2010. Membership is open to Orangetown residents ages 16 and over (including residents of the villages of Piermont, Grand View, South Nyack, and Nyack). This is a great opportunity to become more involved in the community and to have a positive impact on our environment.

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By Tina Traster

Listen up, realtors — I’ve got a tip for you. Forget curb appeal or the new bathroom or the hot tub on the deck.

Think food instead.

Plug the greenhouse or garden. Suggest carving out a vegetable patch where there is lawn. Mention the town’s weekly farmers’ market. When showing a house, drop names of nearby shops and restaurants selling healthy, organic, vegetarian, vegan, local, sustainable, gluten-free, pesticide-free, antibiotic-free whole foods.

Talk it up because food is having its “it” moment. It’s more relevant than granite counters and marble baths.

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by Tina Traster

I’m tired. Noise from a nearby quarry, which operates at night during certain times of the year, disrupts my sleep.

OK, I should have known that there was an open-pit mine less than a mile from my Rockland County house when I bought it four years ago. Silly me for not asking my realtor, “Is there, perchance, a rock-crushing operation in the vicinity that will grind giant boulders through the night?” Why she didn’t voluntarily mention it to me, I cannot fathom.

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