On a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon with the snow melting and a spring-like feeling in the air, about 30 interested folks turned up to see Dr. Melissa Everett, Executive Director of Sustainable Hudson Valley. Her presentation, which took place on March 25 at the Ellenville Public Library involved a Powerpoint presentation derived, in part, from Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

That said, it was Dr. Everett's additions to the material that were the focus of interest, because with the national response to global warming muted by political opposition, the response must come at the local and state level. Dr. Everett hopes to energize Ulster County so that as citizens, neighbors and communities, we can respond to the gathering storm of higher global temperatures and climate change.

And if you still doubt that things are warming up, take note. The region is 3.9 degrees warmer in winter now than it was in 1970. The process is accelerating and within another couple of decades we may not have any snow at all in winter. How will that affect the water table that provides our drinking water? Will it be possible to farm at all in this area? What will summer be like if we have 30 days or more with temperatures above 90 degrees?

Heidi Wagner, Manager at Sam's Point Preserve, opened the meeting, explaining that by holding it in the library we were all saving half a gallon of gas, which we'd have burned driving up to Sam's Point. A drop in the ocean of world consumption (1,000 barrels of oil a second), but important nonetheless, as a guide to the way we will have to eventually live.

Then Barry Edelman, singer songwriter, sang the 'Tree Song' celebrating a great titan of the forest. Humble beginnings for what we have to hope will become a mighty tree of possibilities for Ellenville and Ulster County.

You can look at the current situation and go, as Doctor Everett puts it, "from denial about Global warming right over to despair without stopping where we need to, where we can work on making the changes that we will have to make sooner or later."

The message from Dr. Everett is that we don't have to give up hope, but that we do have to start working towards making our communities sustainable. What does that mean? It means creating an economy that doesn't eat the seed corn. It means recognizing that we must leave resources for future generations.

Considering where we are now that seems like a tall order. But to answer all the questions that inevitably spring up on this topic, Sustainable Hudson Valley has ways to measure sustainability at the local and regional level. In time we will be able to judge whether our communities are getting closer to sustainability or not, whereas now we have no idea.

"What does a sustainable economy look like?" asks Dr. Everett. "It would be an economy where we weren't having to constantly clean up pollution and environmental destruction."

Of course, such an economy would be very different from what we have today. As Dr Everett said, quoting Amory Lovins, "The US is the Saudia Arabia of waste." But while we might not be buying and throwing away so much stuff, there would be business opportunities galore in the recycling and reusables sector.

A number of ideas came from the audience, such as eating less meat, since the meat industry is one of the biggest producers of global warming gases. Another idea was that Ellenville has to attract green technology companies to make use of our big "brownfield" site, the former Schrade and Hydro factory complex.

The meeting ended with the recognition that this was just a start, and that a great deal more must be done. Dr. Everett promises to be back with more ideas. She's also keen to hear local input. Visit the web site for Sustainable Hudson Valley (http://www.sustainhv.org/) and hit the feedback button to send her email.

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