The climate is going haywire, and politicians are bickering over what to do about it, or whether to do anything at all. But around the country, communities are taking matters into their own hands, publicly pledging to shrink their carbon footprints, then setting out to make good on their promises. Leading, they hope, from below.

In this special hour for State of the Re:Union, guest producer Jonathan Miller gives us a tour of his uber-progressive but practical-minded hometown of Ithaca, New York, where citizens and civic leaders are hustling to wean themselves from fossil fuels.

Acknowledgments: Thanks to Judy Hyman for composing and performing most of the music in the program. Also thanks to Peter Bardaglio (Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative), Gay Nicholson (Sustainable Tompkins), Ed Marx and Katie Borgella (Tompkins County Planning Department), City and Town of Ithaca Sustainability Planner Nick Goldsmith, Mike Sigler (Tompkins County Legislature), Jim Catalano, Dylan Brown, Annie and Marie Burns of The Burns Sisters, The Horse Flies, Jeff Claus, Richie Stearns, and the Cornell Glee Club.

A list of all the music heard on the program can be found here.

Links:

Black Oak Wind Farm
EcoVillage at Ithaca
Sustainable Tompkins
Sustainable Ithaca
Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative
Solar Tompkins
Cornell University Sustainable Campus
Tompkins County Sustainability
Town of Ithaca Sustainability
New York State “Reforming the Energy Vision” Initiative
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)