On Earth Day this year I spent some time contemplating the contributions of Sustainable Warwick to our community. Sustainable Warwick is a non-profit organization that has dozens of unpaid volunteers, who across the year contribute thousands of hours to promoting a healthy environment in Warwick. Our annual budget amounts to a few thousand dollars, which we spend on a wide array of projects, including supporting local food banks, running a community garden, hosting the Coolest Recycling Drives, composting initiatives, supporting the town’s development [of] Transformation Trails at Wickham Woodlands, funding trees for the Town of Warwick Shade Tree Commission, running our informative website, and hosting webinars.
One of our most active members is paid for the professional hours she devotes to developing our graphics and maintaining our website. But she charges Sustainable Warwick a reduced rate for that work and generously donates many, many other hours. I’m not aware of any other Sustainable Warwick member being paid or receiving any other remuneration for the services they provide, but I am aware of many generous residents who contribute time and/or money to our programs.
It is really disheartening that the local papers would give a serious platform to someone who has seriously misrepresented Sustainable Warwick. In his letter dated April 16, Jay Westerveld said:
“This is a good point at which to mention that the private NGO “Sustainable Warwick” earns monetary referral bonuses for some of their solar initiatives, and they enabled Warwick to become New York State’s only municipality, outside of NYC itself, to join an initiative that “streamlines” toxic battery farms, etc. from having to undergo ecological assessments.”
The idea that there is “an initiative that ‘streamlines’ toxic battery farms, etc. from having to undergo ecological assessments” is a complete fabrication. If there were such an initiative, Sustainable Warwick would not support it. Also, I’m confident that the elected and appointed officials of Warwick (both the town and the village) would still follow state and local regulations for all building projects as well as their own moral compasses, and they would not support it either.
It’s true that Sustainable Warwick has received monetary referral bonuses from community solar companies that have met all state and local criteria for building community solar arrays and have made the investments to construct them. None of our members pocket those bonuses, they simply go to fund our community projects. Let’s also remember that in most cases signing up for community solar helped residents and businesses save money on their electricity bills. It’s really a stretch to call those our “solar initiatives.” Anyone can earn a referral bonus for helping friends and neighbors sign up for community solar, which you can learn about on the O&R and NYSERDA websites. Furthermore, when Sustainable Warwick ran the Triple Win Campaign in 2021, all the referral bonuses were given to other local non-profits, including the Warwick Valley Humane Society, Grow Local Greenwood Lake, and the Community Center.
Mr. Westerveld also wrote: “To recap: Chester has just made a new municipal Conservation Advisory Board [sic] that was co-founded by the NGO that allows Warwick to sidestep ecological regulations for solar projects.”
One of Sustainable Warwick’s members is a resident of Chester, and he was appointed to Chester’s Conservation Advisory Council. That was Sustainable Warwick’s only connection to the founding of the Chester CAC.
We are blessed to live in a place that has so much to offer. At Sustainable Warwick, we believe in giving back to the community and in promoting healthy public discourse on environmental issues. We also feel strongly that the errors contained in Mr. Westerveld’s letter should be pointed out to the public, because the obligation to tell the truth is so important these days.
If you would like to learn more about Sustainable Warwick or volunteer in any capacity, please contact us through our website, sustainablewarwick.org.
Michael Helme
Sustainable Warwick Steering Committee
Warwick