On May 23rd, Jason traveled to Washington, DC to represent the ECP at the Department of Energy's Community Power Accelerator (CPA) PitchFest. The first PitchFest brought together 9 innovative community-led solar projects from around the country that received a Phase 1 CPA award and gave them the opportunity to pitch potential funders of their project. A diversity of potential capital providers included…
Read MoreJust a few nights ago, I was sitting in the kitchen with my best friend, staring out the window at the freshly fallen snow. Both of us watched each snowflake with sorrow, as she hadn’t seen real snow since moving to Maryland years prior. We quickly fell into a lengthy, 2 AM discussion about the lack of changing seasons, the wars that will come out of Greenland’s ice melting, and the fears of what my children will have to face in the environmental crisis…
Read MoreWhat powers do we have in our own hands still? We have a great deal of power, small individually but crippling to the system collectively. We can withdraw our money from supporting any institution that causes harm, withdraw our votes from any government that has stopped listening to us, and withdraw our attention…
Read MorePublic food gardens fall under the umbrella of urban agriculture, which includes many agricultural practices in urban spaces. According to the National Agricultural Library, “Urban agriculture allows for the development of a variety of environmental, economic, and social benefits to the surrounding communities.” Often, these gardens will be located in the center of cities, utilizing small plots of land to grow bountiful and vibrant harvests. Urban farming is a necessary part of the food systems in the US, and urban gardens in particular have the power to…
Read MoreI stumbled upon this article when going through the ECP’s original blog and was immediately struck by how relevant this message still is, an entire decade after it was first posted. In the wake of COVID-19, more and more people have fully committed themselves to inactive, indoor lifestyles. The constant development of technology and social media has only added to this issue, making it easier to remain at home and rely on phones…
Read MoreWhen we launched the ECP's Regenerative Communities (RC) program in 2020, our intention was to recruit and train Hudson Valley Regenerators that not only would know how to grow free food for their neighbors, but would also know how to work collectively with others to turn their communities into healthier, more democratic, and more equitable places…
Read MoreThese last ten years of farming in the Hudson Valley have taught us something about the local food economy. At our micro-scale (~1 acre), it’s hard to compete with the low price of food sold in the supermarket – up against all of the subsidies provided by unpaid-for-externalities like fossil fuel driven mechanization, harmful pesticides, and labor exploitation. And we wouldn’t want to. While fruits and vegetables sold in most supermarkets might be grown to look good, our produce is grown to taste good and deliver as many nutrients to our bodies and those we feed as possible - as well as steward the land and soil with future generations in mind….
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