GreenStar Honored with Earth Stewardship Award

From: HeatSmart Tompkins

On April 20, HeatSmart Tompkins presented Earth Stewardship awards to three Tompkins County businesses: Florae Collaborative, GreenStar Cooperative Market, Inc., and Salt Point Brewing.

“HeatSmart Tompkins is pleased to highlight these businesses that demonstrated outstanding leadership and commitment to sustainability. Their climate-friendly business practices include outfitting their buildings with air source or ground source heat pumps,” said Lisa Marshall, HeatSmart Tompkins director.

Accepting the award on behalf of GreenStar were Marilyn Chase, President; Kara Cusolito, Vice-President; Eldred Harris, Council Member; and Bryan Smith, Facilities Manager.

“GreenStar Food Co-op supports sustainability by heating and cooling its new store with air source heat pumps and solar-generated electricity. They also provide a broad selection of organic and locally sourced dairy, meats, fruits, and vegetables,” said Jonathan Comstock, HeatSmart co-founder. “Greenstar’s innovative store design was a collaborative effort among the John Snyder Architects, Taitem Engineering, the owners, members, and the Ithaca community.”

With the support of its members, GreenStar has consistently invested in the health of our planet. From being the first grocery store in Ithaca to eliminate single-use plastic shopping bags and using 100% solar power to building the largest solar array owned by a food co-op in the U.S. at the time and installing a fossil-fuel-free heating and cooling system in our adaptive-reuse store on Cascadilla Street, GreenStar is proud of these environmentally responsible choices and we are honored to be recognized by HeatSmart Tompkins with the Earth Stewardship Award. Thank you to our members and community partners, without whom this award would not be possible, for supporting your community-owned co-op as we  continually work towards real solutions that will have a lasting, positive impact on GreenStar, our community, and our planet.

Salt Point Brewing in Lansing, NY, hosted the award ceremony. They also catered the event with specialty pizzas, flatbreads, and dips featuring locally sourced ingredients. “Salt Point Brewing was founded on the ideal of holding space for the community in a way that uplifts the community,” said Sarah Hesse, co-owner. “Beyond producing great beer and food, we are committed to sustainable business operations with a focus on using New York State grown ingredients and supporting local agriculture. We are proud to be a certified New York State Farm Brewery, meaning we source most of our grain and hops from NYS farms.”

See video about Salt Point Brewing produced by HeatSmart Tompkins: