Float it Forward 2020 - Climate Solutions Accelerator

Pattie at her home away from home, the Park Ave plaza.

Stress awareness is our specialty at Bodymind Float Center. Every day I help my guests manage their stress, and so it surprises me that I have such a hard time dealing with my own stress lately. 

I worry about many things - as a small business owner, parent of a teenager, daughter of an elderly mother I can not visit, resident of a county that shows the largest margins of racial inequity in the nation, and member of a performing arts group that is still unable to give live-audience concerts.

Yet the crisis I fear most in 2020 is climate change. It can devastate the world as we know it, impacting our health, infrastructure, food sources, and well, just about everything else. I notice how frequently this topic comes up in my conversations with people now, particularly with the youth. For many of them, the issues seem too large and a sense of helplessness pervades. Climate change stresses me out to no end.

Behold, we have reason to embrace hope! Climate Solutions Accelerator, a local nonpartisan and non-profit organization, is helping me find this hope through their mission to create a healthier, more equitable, and environmentally sustainable community by catalyzing local efforts to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and address the effects of climate change.

The Accelerator is facilitating a dizzying number of initiatives, each a measurable milestone on the path towards zero emissions. It brings to the table major stakeholders in our region from different sectors such as government, utilities, housing and development, commerce and transportation. It focuses on the larger systems, and not on each glass bottle that ought to be returned for recycling.

It also brings together a network of concerned volunteers like me who might not have expertise or experience in the field, but can collectively build a movement towards change. To inspire a change of this magnitude we need EVERYONE, and we need everyone NOW.

A project of particular interest to me as a commercial tenant is Community Choice Aggregation (CCA). At Bodymind we do laundry all day and use multiple infrared heating panels to keep our guests comfortable. The cost of a solar panel that can meet our high energy demands far exceeds our gross annual revenue! It's not a simple matter for Bodymind Float Center to secure clean energy.

Thanks to the ongoing work of the Accelerator and its member organization Roctricity, New York State very recently approved a clean-energy CCA proposal for the municipalities of Brockport and Lima. Residents and businesses there will draw their power from solar energy by default, a first IN THE NATION! Just last week, the Town of Brighton announced its own 100% clean energy CCA contract for its residents and businesses. Our municipality, the City of Rochester, passed legislation authorizing CCA in November, 2019. We call on Mayor Warren to expedite its implementation.

As a member organization, Bodymind Float Center is proud to announce that we will donate 100% of the proceeds of our Float it Forward 2020 fundraiser to Climate Solutions Accelerator so they may continue to lead us towards a livable climate.

If the events of 2020 bring you stress, please visit the Accelerator's new beautiful website to learn more about their work (you'll feel better!) and consider a donation of time or money. No donation is too small. I am always available for questions or just to chat.

~Pattie, owner of Bodymind Float Center and member of the Board of Directors, Climate Solutions Accelerator