Earth Month ended with 48 hours of showers from April 29-30. Despite the rain, the month was far from a washout. In Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings, and Irvington, special events ranged from cleanups to plantings throughout April.
The four villages were also involved in the Rivertowns GridRewards Challenge, along with Elmsford, Tarrytown, and Sleepy Hollow. The challenge was to achieve the highest percentage increase in GridRewards users based upon population size. Users had to sign up between March 23 and April 28.
Hastings placed first with a 1.29 percent increase, followed by Dobbs Ferry (0.40 percent), Irvington (0.37 percent), Ardsley (0.32 percent), Tarrytown (0.25 percent), Elmsford (0.10 percent), and Sleepy Hollow (0.08 percent).
Hastings will receive $1,000 from Logical Buildings, the company that developed the GridRewards app. The free app prompts users to reduce energy use during peak periods. For their reductions, users receive cash from Con Edison.
The GridRewards Challenge was organized by Sustainable Westchester, the nonprofit based in Mount Kisco.
The GridRewards Challenge has become synonymous with Earth Month. So has the Hastings Bioblitz, which was held for the fourth consecutive year. The Bioblitz involves uploading photos of flora and fauna to the iNaturalist app or website. iNaturalist was developed by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.
For the Bioblitz, 31 observers made 418 observations of 229 species from April 1-30. The most observed species was the yellow-rumped warbler (10), followed by the northern flicker (8), the northern cardinal (7), and four birds tied with six observations. The Bioblitz page on iNaturalist automatically complied all observations made in Hastings.
Efforts to clean and protect the earth continue with two events on Saturday, May 6.
Throughout the day, the 12th annual Riverkeeper Sweep will unfold at locations from as far south as New York City to as far north as North Creek in Warren County. The cleanup sites will include River Glen Cove in Hastings from 3-5 p.m. and Waterfront Park in Dobbs Ferry from 3:30-5 p.m.
Starting at 2 p.m., the Rally to Save the River will be held at Cortlandt Waterfront Park in Verplanck, located at 77 Riverview Ave. The Town of Cortlandt, Riverkeeper, Clearwater, and other allies are mustering the rally in opposition to Holtec’s intent to discharge water from the spent fuel pools at the former Indian Point Energy Center.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.