When the New York Library Association (NYLA) held their annual conference this past November, they encouraged the attendees to make a carbon offset donation to the Finger Lakes Climate Fund for their travel to the event. It’s no surprise that Lisa Kropp was among those who chose to offset their travel emissions.  She serves as the Chair of the NYLA Sustainability Committee and has a strong commitment to climate and equity.

At home on Long Island, Lisa is the Director of the Lindenhurst Memorial Library where she has overseen many sustainability initiatives.  The Lindenhurst Library was the third library in the country to receive Sustainable Library Certification from the Sustainable Libraries Initiative and is also certified as a Climate Resilience Hub through Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW), offering many programs and materials to educate people about climate change.

The library’s Board of Trustees has enacted a sustainability policy; there is a Sustainability Coordinator on staff; and sustainability is embedded in all job descriptions.  Outside the library, there are EV charging stations that can accommodate 4 cars at a time, and a 75 kilowatt solar array on the roof has lowered their electricity bill by 35% so far.  The library even has a community garden which serves local food pantries and also library patrons who come in for a book and leave with fresh produce!

Lisa says: “We all have to be focused on climate change.”  We couldn’t agree more, and we are honored to be part of the work that librarians are doing to protect the climate and to protect safe spaces for all members in the community.