Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor

Wake up now
To the Editor:

Last Friday Night Dialogues at the Shelter Island Library presented East End advocates for clean, renewable energy. They spoke about scientific elements involved with climate change, explaining how dependence on fossil fuels threatens life on earth.

We were informed about community and individual ways to share in the work that must be done.

The urgency for action was striking; the timeline for saving our planet daunting. We have little time remaining to shift the situation. This is fact, not opinion. We were encouraged to meet this news by taking personal interest in “meeting the greatest challenge (and opportunity) humankind has ever faced.”

We can be the generation that recognized the situation and took necessary action. Or, we can be those in planetary and human history who thought only of their own, immediate needs and wishes, not rising to the challenge. The technology to mend this dire situation exists — amazing, wonderful news. Citizens and their representatives must make this the ultimate priority. The long view must prevail.

With so many crucial social issues currently at hand, we appreciated this timely perspective — without our beloved planet, everything else becomes meaningless.

Collectively prioritizing the protection of the Earth as a life-sustaining planet is crucial.

This is a human issue, and it can be a unifying issue.

The plants and animals, the sea, the atmosphere, the very ground itself, and the next generations of human beings need us to wake up now, collectively. We must change our individual lives, educating ourselves about community choices, ensuring we do the right thing. East Hampton and Southampton towns have successfully set renewable energy goals. Actions necessary to realize these goals are happening.

Clean energy advocates from these towns generously offered their guidance and assistance in helping us take positive actions towards sustainable energy and an environmentally safe footprint on our wonderful Island.

All individual homes are entitled to a free “Energy Audit,” when an expert visits, assessing how to create efficiency with heating, cooling, etc. (money saving advice). We were reminded that even if solar panels, etc. don’t work on every house, a community has many viable tactics for working together towards clean energy.

Thanks to the library, New Yorkers for Clean Power, East Hampton Sustainable Energy Board and Renewable Energy Long Island for your encouragement, expertise and generosity. Further information is easily obtained online.

Here’s to Planet Earth!
JUDITH GRODOWITZ & REID BAKER
Shelter Island

Opening new worlds
To the Editor:
The Shelter Island Educational Foundation (SIEF) offers Island students unparalleled opportunities to learn outside the classroom. These opportunities will be showcased on Sunday, November 18 when students and teachers tell us about the experiences they’ve had, thanks to the support of generous donors. We invite you to join us for the Grants Celebration at 2 p.m. at the Shelter Island Library on November 18.

During the past year, SIEF awarded $47,000 in grants.

Students traveled to Yellowstone, Glacier and Grand Tetons national parks and sailed on the open seas on a Tall Ship. We funded trips to Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera, Ground Zero and the New York City Tenement Museum. One student attended an artificial intelligence and coding camp; another participated in a college-level science and engineering course.

We hosted Perlman Music Program musicians at the school. Eighth graders wrote and performed a play, working with a professional director through the Young American Writers Program at Stony Brook/Southampton. We also sponsored 2Rs4Fun, a reading and writing program at the Shelter Island Library that pairs young students with adult writing mentors.

As you may know, we rely solely on private donations to offer quality programs that open new worlds, create lifelong passions and help kids make good choices.

All donations benefit Island students. When you give to SIEF, you invest in our community, our children and our future. Visit us at ShelterIslandEdFoundation.org, where you can make a tax-deductible donation and learn more about our educational programs.
JoANN KIRKLAND
President, Shelter Island Educational Foundation

Thanks for the Spooky Walk
To the Editor:
Now that the excitement of Halloween has passed, I would like to thank the people responsible for our very successful “Halloween Spooky Walk” this year.

Youth Services Library staff Anthony Zutter and Mary Theinert worked closely with Town Recreation Director Bethany Ortmann and Island resident Karen Brush to pull together an exciting and scary experience for a huge crowd of ghouls, princesses, cartoon characters and their friends.

Special thanks to Karen Brush for supplying the spectacular props. From the scary witches to the screaming spiders, her amazing collection raised the Spooky Walk to new heights.

Anthony, Mary, Bethany and Karen are already making plans for next year, so start planning your costume now!
TERRY Z. LUCAS
Library Director

Touching our Island
To the Editor:
The Shelter Island volleyball teams would like to thank the community for their great support of our Dig Pink match held on October 19. The festive, pink-themed day is fun, but also raises funds for an important cause — breast cancer research.

The event raised $1,170, our best ever! All funds have been donated to the Side-Out Foundation — side-out.org — which focuses on research for Stage IV breast cancer.
A huge thank you to the donors to our raffle: Jane Richards, Maria’s Kitchen, Ram’s Head Inn, Regina Mysliborski, Shelter Island School Athletic Department, Shelter Island Heights Pharmacy, Shelter Island House, South Ferry and STARs Café.
Breast cancer touches so many people on our Island. Thanks again for your part in supporting our young athletes as well as your friends and neighbors.
CINDY BELT & LAURA MAYO
Varsity & JV coaches

Harmony
To the Editor:
Among the many blessings of living on Shelter Island are harmony, ecumenism, health care here to Southampton, Riverhead and Eastern Long Island Hospitals, respect for our fragile environment, our pristine seas and precious land and trees

Politically we may have opposing views, but philosophically we all desire harmony, tranquillity, privacy and silence, to hear nature and all of its creatures. It is truly a taste of heaven to be free to live here.

ANNAMARIE RAMPMAIER
Shelter Island