Buffalo Rising Online

Nov 15th 2008, 1:03am By Eli George

I grew up in a small community about an hour outside of Buffalo. Maybe you’ve heard about it. It did make the front page of the Buffalo News a few weeks ago (for probably the first time ever). My hometown Sheldon is suddenly a much different place than what I remember. I was driving to my parents’ house one weekend, crested a hill, and my eyes were shocked to see nearly twenty windmills on the horizon. Like it or not, green jobs are coming to WNY – even in places where there are more cows than people (that’s really a statistic of Wyoming County – something the people who live there take particular pride in repeating).

There have been efforts to talk about green jobs. Organizations have seemingly sprouted up out of nowhere attempting to foster the idea of growing the WNY economy through the environmental movement. After all, no matter what you do, being move environmentally conscious is here to stay, and why shouldn’t Buffalo be a benefactor? Sam Hoyt is one politician thinking that way. He hosted a Green Jobs Summit back in April and will now be hosting a Green Jobs Conference – a more focused version of the initial meeting.

Many hear about these meetings and can’t fathom that they generate much interest – but at the Summit, over 300 people came out to discuss green jobs. At the Conference, around 100 are expected to take part in much more concentrated groups to initiate discussion and brainstorming on the topic of how to create green jobs. Several members of the Common Council and Country Legislature, representatives of several state agencies – including the Department of Labor, multiple businesses – for-profit and non-profit, and educational institutions – like BPS, ECC, and BOCES will all be in attendance – which just goes to show you that much like I discovered windmills in what used to be my backyard, before you know it, Buffalo can expect green jobs to be just around the corner.

The Conference will start with a breakfast and a few opening remarks and right from there, small group discussion will begin with ten breakout group topics. After the small groups discuss the topics, they’ll conglomerate into larger groups to summarize their findings. The discussions won’t just be anything goes - they will be facilitated by the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College. Each group will hopefully agree to meet in the future and continue to discuss objectives and ideas. Hoyt’s office will act as a data-gatherer, utilizing information to generate ideas, overcome obstacles, and ultimately, foster green job growth.

The Conference will take place on November 22nd from 8 AM until 12 PM on ECC’s City Campus in the Minnie Gillette Auditorium at 121 Ellicott Street. If you’d like to attend, you’re running out of time to register, which you need to do by November 19th. You can do that by either calling Teresa at 885-9630 or online. You can also use the website to find out more information about the Conference.

To give you an idea of what you might expect at the Conference, here is a list of things that participants at the Summit, whose main goal was to designate opportunities for growing a green economy in WNY:
1.) Save Energy and Build the Value of WNY’s Housing Stock
2.) Attract a Major Renewable Energy Manufacturer
3.) Build the Local Bio Fuels Industry
4.) We Can Lead In Transportation
5.) Support Green Sector Communication and Outreach Efforts
6.) Build a Critical Mass of Green Showcases
7.) Energy from local Waterways
8.) Create a Green Job Zone
9.) Make Food Production even more Green and Local
10.) Adopt Proven Renewable Incentives
11.) Facilitate Education for the Green Economy
12.) Build only Green Buildings
13.) Replace Waste with Reuse
14.) Build Eco-Tourism Restore and Protect the Local Ecology
15.) Maximize the Public Benefit to WNY of Wind Energy Using Public Ownership
16.) Connect Local Businesses to the Renewable Manufacturing Supply Chain