Events: LI Small Farm Summit & Anti-Fracking Rally

There are two big Long Island sustainability events this week, starting tomorrow morning! For those interested in small- and mid-scale agriculture on Long Island, there will be a planning meeting for the 2nd annual Long Island Small Farm Summit. And for energy-minded residents, Food & Water Watch will be hosting a rally against hydrofracking in Manhasset, right next to the LIRR station.

Both events are sure to be great networking opportunities with other Long Island citizens concerned about sustainability. You may also happen upon chef & Slow Food Huntington co-founder Bhavani Jaroff of I Eat Green, who shared these Nassau events in her weekly newsletter & radio show.

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Tuesday: Long Island Small Farm Summit Planning Meeting
9:30 AM at the Old Bethpage Village Restoration
1303 Round Swamp Road, Old Bethpage, NY

"Sold out in advance, the first Small Farm Summit held April 15, 2011 at SUNY College Old Westbury was attended by more than 600 people interested in locally sustainable agriculture on Long Island.

Organizers of the 2012 Summit are expecting to bring together an even larger, more diverse group of educators, farmers, parents, children, municipalities, land trusts, not-for-profits, community leaders, restaurant owners and chefs, and concerned citizens focused on strengthening the local food system and increasing community awareness of and access to more locally grown food."

Thursday: Rally Against Fracking with Food & Water Watch
3:30 PM - 4:15 PM at Mary Jane Davies Green

200 Plandome Road, Manhasset, NY

Facebook Event Page

"Long Islanders will be directly affected by hydraulic fracturing. Fracking upstate will increase our air pollution, and could send millions of gallons of toxic and radioactive wastewater to treatment facilities on Long Island. That is why this coming Thursday, December 15th, at 3:30 PM, Food and Water Watch, Grassroots Environmental Education and Reach Out America will be holding a rally to show that Long Islanders care about hydraulic fracturing. The rally will take place at the Mary Jane Davies Green in Manhasset- the small park right on Plandome Road, near the train Manhasset train station. Come, and bring as many friends and family members as possible!"

Event: Moving Planet Worldwide Rally, Sept. 25th

This Saturday is Moving Planet's worldwide day of action, calling for urgently needed climate change solutions & immediate responses from governments. Already, 168 countries (out of 195) are participating, making this a truly global event for our planet & our future.

There 2 events in Nassau County, 2 events in Suffolk County, 1 major event in Manhattan, and 1 major even in Brooklyn. For a complete list of events, see Moving Planet's event finder page.

To highlight Nassau County's events, there will be a demonstration in Elmont and at Jones Beach. On Sunday, the day after the worldwide day of action, Crossroads Farm at Grossmann's in Malverne will be hosting a potluck dinner & farm tour with tribute to 350.org & Moving Planet.

As is the case with demonstrations, numbers matter most! Showing up for as little as 15 minutes can help these events become successful rallies & send a strong message to our government to lead fossil-fuel-free energy initiatives [see: the recent Tar Sands Action protests in Washington, D.C., Tar Sands Action's October 7th follow-up, the 2010 documentary Gasland]. There is plenty of momentum for clean, renewable energy - now it's just a matter of showing up.

Tar Sands Action Protest: Over 1,250 people traveled to Washington, D.C. earlier this month, risking arrest to peacefully protest the Keystone XL pipeline. President Obama will be deciding this fall whether or not to approve the 1,900 mile pipeline, stretching from Canada to Texas to bring tar sands (a low-quality, unrefined fossil fuel) to the US's Gulf Coast. 

Featured as the first speaker in this video is Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and the Moving Planet events, including this Saturday's worldwide demonstrations.

Gasland Trailer: a 2010 documentary about hydrofracking or "fracking," a process used to extract oil & natural gas by injecting highly-pressurized water and chemicals into the ground. Fracking is often advocated by politicians as a "solution" to the energy crisis.