Sustainability

Join the 2024 Earth Day Festival on the Ithaca Commons, April 20 from 12-5 pm! 

Come celebrate your community’s efforts to address climate change and other environmental issues with a family-friendly celebration featuring lots of hands-on activities, food, music, free raffles, and more. Learn all about the Ithaca Green New Deal, home electrification, sustainable transportation and agriculture, and much more! Help us explore a positive future and learn how you can be part of the solution! 

The Earth Day Festival is hosted by Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Tompkins County in collaboration with the City of Ithaca and significant partners.

The Town of Ithaca is launching a campaign to provide residents and small developers with technical assistance to comply with the Ithaca Energy Code Supplement. This no-cost assistance is designed to help individuals in the Town obtain information, guidance, and consultant expertise regarding energy options that can help reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Individual homeowners and design professionals working on single- or two-family dwelling unit projects interested in this program or with questions about eligibility can reach out to Town of Ithaca Code Enforcement & Zoning at codes@townithacany.gov or 607-273-1783. There are also a number of free books available at Town Hall that provide a good introduction to energy- efficient building practices- stop by and grab your free copy today!

In March 2020, the Town of Ithaca adopted a Green New Deal resolution by unanimous vote of the Town Board. The main goal of the Town’s Green New Deal is to achieve an equitable transition to carbon-neutrality Town-wide by 2030. The Town also set two goals for its own operations to be met by 2025: to meet the electricity needs of Town government operations with 100% regionally sourced renewable electricity and to reduce emissions from the Town fleet of vehicles by 50%.