Local Groups + Organizations

“5  Loaves Farm redeems vacant lots on Buffalo’s Upper West Side by creating   sustainable market gardens that produce healthy foods, along with spiritual, educational, & economic resources for our neighbors.

Just as Jesus’ first followers looked at the hungry masses and humbly offered five loaves of bread and two fish to feed them, we too have responded with compassion by bringing what started as five city lots and two community gardens to feed the hungry.”

“Common Roots Urban Farm is located in the Broadway Fillmore Neighborhood on Buffalo’s East Side. We began in 2012 with the support of the Farmer Pirates Cooperative and are situated on 1 acre of now thriving land. On just over 1/2 acre we grow a variety of vegetables and fruits using organic and ecologically sustainable methods.

We aim to be a vibrant, healthy part of our community by providing access to honest, healthy food at affordable prices.  We believe our small farm is an important and integral part of urban revitalization in Buffalo by restoring neglected vacant land into a beautiful place our neighbors can take pride in. Respecting life in and out of the soil is essential.”

“The mission of the Massachusetts Avenue Project is to nurture the growth of a diverse and equitable local food system and promote local economic opportunities, access to affordable, nutritious food and social change education.”

“People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo) is a local membership-based community organization fighting to make affordable housing a reality on Buffalo’s West Side. PUSH was founded by Aaron Bartley and Eric Walker in 2005.

The mission of PUSH Buffalo is to mobilize residents to create strong neighborhoods with quality, affordable housing, expand local hiring opportunities and to advance economic justice in Buffalo.”

“PUSH Green is a community-based energy efficiency program funded by People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), part of a statewide effort to make your home or small business more comfortable, reduce your energy usage and bills, address climate change and create local jobs. We provide Erie County residents access to free energy assessments, installation services, low-cost financing, solar, and, most importantly, workforce opportunities.”

Re-ENERGIZE Buffalo is a local blog focused on “all things green: energy, environment and economy.”

“When the Dutch Elm disease struck Buffalo in the 1970s, the City government could not afford to replace the thousands of elms wiped out by the disease. The Buffalo Green Fund, working as a project of the Junior League of Buffalo, and the City worked together to promote private contributions to replace over 3000 trees which the City then planted on public property at no cost to the taxpayers. The Buffalo Green Fund formed its own 501c3 corporation in 1978 and its purpose, to this day, has been to cultivate, promote, foster, sponsor and develop urban beautification, and to stimulate the interest of the public therein.”

“The Clean Air Coalition builds power by developing grassroots leaders who organize their communities to run and win environmental justice and public health campaigns in Western New York.”

“The WNY Environmental Alliance is an independent, member-run organization with a mission to mobilize change through collective action and collaboration, in order to ensure sustainable, thriving ecosystems and communities in Western New York. With more than 100 member organizations, affiliates and supporters, the WNYEA wants to ensure that the environment is the key factor in local and regional planning.”

“West Side Tilth Farm is an urban market garden on Buffalo’s West Side committed to providing the community with naturally grown produce using sustainable practices.”

“Wilson Street Urban Farm is a family-operated urban garden. Our goal is to make fresh, local, naturally grown produce readily available to residents of Buffalo, especially the East Side. We encourage community participation and desire to help people in the neighborhood reconnect to the environment and to each other.”

 

National + International  Organizations

“350 uses online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions to oppose new coal, oil and gas projects, take money out of the companies that are heating up the planet, and build 100% clean energy solutions that work for all. 350’s network extends to 188 countries.”

“The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) Portal was launched in 2010 as a National Science Digital Library (NSDL) Pathways project. It is led by the science education expertise of TERC, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder, and the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College. As of 2012, CLEAN has been syndicated to NOAA’s climate.gov portal.

CLEAN’s primary effort is to steward the collection of climate and energy science educational resources and to support a community of professionals committed to improving climate and energy literacy.”

“Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace by:

  • Catalysing an energy revolution to address the number one threat facing our planet: climate change.
  • Defending our oceans by challenging wasteful and destructive fishing, and creating a global network of marine reserves.
  • Protecting the world’s ancient forests and the animals, plants and people that depend on them.
  • Working for disarmament and peace by tackling the causes of conflict and calling for the elimination of all nuclear weapons.
  • Creating a toxic free future with safer alternatives to hazardous chemicals in today’s products and manufacturing.
  • Campaigning for sustainable agriculture by rejecting genetically engineered organisms, protecting biodiversity and encouraging socially responsible farming.”

“Environmental injustice, including the proliferation of climate change, has a disproportionate impact on communities of color and low income communities in the United States and around the world. The NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program was created to support community leadership in addressing this human and civil rights issue.”

“NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Climate.gov provides science and information for a climate-smart nation. Americans’ health, security, and economic well-being are closely linked to climate and weather. People want and need information to help them make decisions on how to manage climate-related risks and opportunities they face.

NOAA Climate.gov is a source of timely and authoritative scientific data and information about climate. Our goals are to promote public understanding of climate science and climate-related events, to make our data products and services easy to access and use, to provide climate-related support to the private sector and the Nation’s economy, and to serve people making climate-related decisions with tools and resources that help them answer specific questions.”

“Founded by legendary conservationist John Muir in 1892, the Sierra Club is now the nation’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization — with three million members and supporters. Our successes range from protecting millions of acres of wilderness to helping pass the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act. More recently, we’ve made history by leading the charge to move away from the dirty fossil fuels that cause climate disruption and toward a clean energy economy.”

Our local Sierra Club chapter

*All quotations are taken from the organizations’ own websites.