February 2nd, 2008 was the first meeting of the Columbia County Green Towns Initiatives. It was held at the Real Food Network/Farmers Market Coop on Church Street, Chatham, NY at 10:00AM and lasted two hours. We had 12 people attending and they were from three different towns, Chatham, Hudson and Kinderhook/Valatie and one person all the way from Berkshire County in Massachussetts. Tom Stokes from South Lee, MA of the Climate Crisis Coalition gave us his version of what is going on in Berkshire County and how we can follow guidelines to make things actually happen in terms of contacting government agencies, grants available etc.. Also in attendance was Betsy from Sundog/Solaqua who gave us the newest news on what Congress is currently debating regarding renewable technologies.

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We started the meeting by showing the 11th Hour trailer which broke the ice and started people talking and expressing their desire to see the film in its entirety. On several occasions they commented on what was mentioned in the trailer.

Ideas for grants to put solar power on all the buildings on Main Street Chatham was discussed and action will be taken in writing grants not only for Main Street but also for Chatham School.

Both Hudson,NY and Great Barrington, MA are asking for the film to be shown in the next month.

Sumaya Conners will take action in bringing the documentary to these two towns along with discussions post film showings.

Mayor Clarence Speed of Philmont, NY was invited to attend our first meet up COLUMBIA COUNTY GREEN TOWNS INITIATIVES.

He was also given the US MAYORS CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE PROTECTION agreement and urged to support and sign the agreement page and send it to Washington DC.

Further a meeting will be held in Philmont Village Hall to introduce 11th hour documentary and its action group to the Mayor, his board members and the people of Philmont.

On January 24th, 2008, Karla Kavanaugh and Sumaya Conners were invited to talk to Mayor Boehme and his Village Board members about our new organization Columbia County Green Towns Initiatives and the documentary film 11th Hour.

Mayor Boehme was very interested in our presentation about green building, solar energy, developing clean and alernative energy not only for the Town Hall but for Main Street Chatham as well. Two of the board members were adamantly opposed to anything about climate change, did not believe in it and called it fear mongering and that climates have always changed even since the Roman times!?! We explained that the population has grown tremendously, that industry has contributed to global changes and that we all need to heed the warning signs.

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After about 10 minutes of beligerent comebacks from these three men - excluding of course the Mayor who is more knowledgeable on this subject, they all at once calmed down and informed us that they indeed are conserving in many ways, just because it makes their budget more manageable. For instance they changed their light bulbs many years ago before anyone else was into it. They have energy efficient ways to decimate village sewage and now that Chatham is undergoing major changes in the roads on Main street they had wanted to explore taping into the ambiant earth heat and have geo thermal heating for the buildings on Main street only to find out that the government does not allow it. I interjected and asked if they wanted us to call upon "government" to see if anyting can be done, no answer was given, but I will continue working on this subject.

Both Karla and I were extremely surprised at the level of conservation that the Village Board is taking and asked them why they do not advertise it to their constituents in Chatham and encouraging all to do the same. They said they do not have the time to keep telling people what they are doing in their own building, so Karla and I will take on that task of informing Chathamites of how our Mayor and his board are GREEN and encourage all to do the same.

Sumaya Conners and Sharifa Perry attended a seminar titled "SOLAR ENERGY for your HOME - The Options and The Imperatives", held in Chatham, NY at theTracy Memorial.  A panel consisting of Solar Power company, NYSERDA representative and our Columbia County representative of our Congresswoman, Kirsten Gillibrand.

Talk was about what kind of solar energy are available;  what does it cost;  how much will I save on energy bills, can I retro fit my current home;  who are the people I should be talking to;  will I have power during blackout.

The seminar was well attended, over 50 people from all over the County,  which also gave us an intro to our own organization COLUMBIA COUNTY GREEN TOWNS INITIATIVES and announcing our first meet up on February 2, 2008 at 10AM at the Farmers' Market on Church Street in Chatham, NY.