Ancram: Colleen Lutz.
Austerlitz: Cara Humphrey is at the forefront of the renewable energy industry and successfully built a loyal following an impressive referral network. Cara was recruited to Astrum Solar and as a Solar Consultant before being promoted to Sales Manager of NY. Cara managed over 18 Solarize Campaigns throughout NY, CT, and MA, and is well acquainted with NYSERDA project expediters, and related non-profits throughout New York State. Most recently, Cara worked as a consultant in New York for a Commercial-Industrial Energy Efficiency Company working with local utilities as a Program Expediter. She has proudly served on the Town of Chatham’s Climate Smart Committee, more recently the Austerlitz Climate Smart Committee and Citizen’s Climate Lobby.
Canaan: OPEN
Chatham: OPEN
Claverack: John Bradley: My wife and I moved to Claverack in 2018 from Long Island City. I am retired from a career mostly in health care management. My activism started with the Peace Corp in the mid 60’s, working with squatter settlements in Lima Peru and co-ops in the Andes. After grad school in Regional Planning and Economics in Pittsburgh Pa, I was a community organizer for several years, helping to found a consumer co-op and a Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, working with local unions in the steel towns around Pittsburgh. This led to a management position with a United Mine Workers’ medical clinic in the nearby coal fields, and then a series of management positions with regional agencies, hospitals, physician practices, and even a stint as a planner for US Steel. In 2007, I ended up as a minor executive at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. Through this progression, I was interested in change management. I learned about quality practices such as process improvement and sought to apply them in healthcare. I volunteered as an examiner in the Pennsylvania Baldrige Program for several years. Working in the Rust Belt and in the healthcare industry, I was continuously confronted with the aberrations and dysfunctions of real world market economics. Ever since leaving grad school economics, I sought to learn about how to relate systems thinking to market economics, especially drawing from the fields of natural ecosystems, evolutionary biology and anthropology. I am pleased to have a practical opportunity to work with the EMC and the Climate Smart Communities. It is reassuring to see growing interest in grassroots environmentalism, stewardship of our natural commons, and a ‘new economics’.
Clermont: OPEN
Copake: Cara Boyle
Gallatin: Carol Smilie
Germantown: Barbara Hughey
Ghent: OPEN
Greenport: OPEN
Hillsdale: Mary King
Hudson: Michael O’Hara, Chairman. Director of sales and marketing with Lotus Energy, a local provider of solar electric systems; former City of Hudson Public Works Commissioner; former Operations Director for Sustainable Hudson Valley; trained in environmental systems design. EMC member since 2010.
Kinderhook: Melissa Miller
Livingston: Stan Yarian
New Lebanon: Bruce Shenker. Software developer and outdoor enthusiast. BA in mathematics from Middlebury College. EMC member since 2013.
Stockport: Alexander Jennings
Stuyvesant: Christian Swengingsen. Retired. Serves on ZBA. Active in restoration and events at Stuyvesant Depot, and trail building and maintenance at Hummel Park nature preserve. BS with physics concentration. Two years post-grad, Waldorf education certificate. Taught high school physics, technology, and geometry for nine years. Designed and built hundreds of solar heating systems; seven-home hybrid subdivision featured in LA Times magazine. Public Information Officer, Columbia County Amateur Radio Emergency Services. Member of EMC since 2016.
Taghkanic: Robert Brush
Village of Chatham: Amy Walsh
Village of Kinderhook: OPEN
Village of Philmont: Tom Paino
Village of Valatie: Donna Welton
Columbia County Department of Health: Tara D. Becker. Public Health Sanitarian with the Columbia County Department of Health, Division of Environmental Health since 1994. EPA Certified Lead Risk Assessor. Executive Board Member and Past President of the Central Atlantic State Association of Food and Drug Officials. AAS in Environmental Science SUNY Sullivan Co. CC, BS in Environmental Policy from Marist College. Lifelong avid perennial gardener using sustainable practices and native (non-invasive) plant species.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Columbia and Greene Counties: OPEN
Columbia-Greene Community College: Dr. Steven Gavlik
Academic Background
Long Island University -- BS Marine Science/Biology
University of South Carolina -- MS Marine Science
University of Rhode Island -- PhD Biological Oceanography
I joined the CCEMC to better understand the process by which issues of environmental concern are discussed and brought to the attention of county government representatives. At CGCC, I teach a range of courses in the sciences, such as Anatomy and Physiology and General Biology. My scientific interests include fish physiology, endocrinology, and development, which were the topics of my graduate research. More generally, I'm interested in understanding how life "works" (physiology) from the whole animal down to the cellular level -- it just so happens that I picked fish as my organism of choice for research!