The following article is from the May 2007 issue of
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On a beautiful day in Cazenovia, NY - a small town about 30 miles from Syracuse - NYLCV board member Rhea Jezer and Cazenovia College hosted the Third Annual Symposium on Energy in the 21st Century.
The conference, whose theme this year was Sustainable Communities, was attended by over three hundred guests including elected officials from over 20 towns and cities throughout the state; students from over 30 colleges and universities, industry experts, environmental advocates and community leaders.
The event focused on the environmental and economic benefits that come from building sustainable cities and discussed some of the new technologies that are available around the state. Representatives from municipalities and universities - small and large - discussed the steps that they were taking to cut down on energy use, increase the supply of renewable energy sources and work to combat global climate change on a local level.
Mayor Timothy Lattimore from Auburn, New York presented on the advances his small city has made by tapping into the natural resources around the town. All of the government buildings in the City of Auburn use geo-thermal energy to provide their electricity and heat. This allows the city to utilize its environment while decreasing its carbon footprint and experimenting with new technologies.
Other speakers included Mayor Matthew Driscoll from Syracuse, who highlighted the efforts he has made to make Syracuse the "Greenest City in America," Kit Kennedy from the NYS Attorney General's Office, Ashok Gupta from NRDC, and representatives from Morrisville State College and the SUNY School of Environmental Science and Forestry.
After lunch, attendees had the opportunity to see some of these projects in action as they toured the Fenner Wind Farm, a nuclear power plant or an anaerobic digester facility. All in all, the event served as an important forum for leaders around the state to share best practices to advance sustainable policies in localities around the state.