John S Szalasny

My latest LTE in @buffalonews.com. Despite the editorial change to my suggested title, the No Kings protests are more an offshoot of the other founding document of the American experiment, the Declaration of Independence. buffalonews.com/opinion/lett...

Letter: Is It Time for the Amherst Solar Band? The University at Buffalo has its Solar Strand. Is it time for Amherst to have a Solar Band?

www.beenews.com/amherst_bee/...
My LTE from The Amherst Bee. Using NYSERDA's Build-Ready Program, Amherst could gain a power-generating sound barrier from the ring highway cutting through town and make use of undevelopable land connected to National Grid substations.

My latest LTE from @buffalonews.com. Sneaking in my displeasure of not having the Packaging Reduction bill passed in NYS, it sums up the problems with govt in Albany. NOTE: the editors took out my criticism of hometown Gov Kathy Hochul whose silence doomed the PRRIA and many other bills this year.

“Kicking the Can Down the Road” is no longer an option to the waste crisis in NYS - Buffalo Rising Last week’s press release may site an underutilized, aging facility and high operations costs as the reasons for the upcoming closure of the Cascades container mill in Niagara Falls but the timing for...

My latest in @buffalorising.bsky.social . Recycling will have to be part of the waste reduction equation in NYS. Recycling only works if there are users for the collected material. We can't afford to let businesses that use recycled content close their doors.
www.buffalorising.com/2025/07/kick...

My LTE in support of the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act in @buffalonews.com printed on the same day the editorial staff wrote in support of the bill. It aligns with the stated corporate greenwashing sustainability goals of major corporations. buffalonews.com/opinion/lett...

Public Supports NYS Packaging Reduction Bill  - Buffalo Rising The reason we have a problem with plastic can be explained with the principles of compound interest. As many of us learned as a child, if a penny doubles every

My latest in Buffalo Rising, written in terms simple enough for a child. The mass of plastic pollutiion exceeds the total mass of all animals & humans on Earth. Doubling that every 20 yrs is our future unless we change & stop the explosion of plastic production.
www.buffalorising.com/2025/06/publ...

An LTE I sent to my local Amherst Bee. When I'm not raising hell with the local leaders through the newspapers, I'm doing my part to actively improve the community - in this case, by working with the community organics recycling initiative.

I sent this LTE to their sister newspaper, the Niagara Gazette. As long my words are seen and heard by lawmakers before the PRRIA is passed, it doesn't matter to me who prints my message of support. The third reading was Wednesday so it could be voted on as soon as Tuesday in the Senate.

Microplastics have now been found in the human heart, lungs, brain, testes, placentas, and breastmilk. Babies are being born pre-polluted by plastics. We MUST reduce the huge amount of plastic being produced and put into the marketplace and our bodies.

Positive Signs as We Approach Earth Day 2025 - Buffalo Rising It may be the times we live in.  Just before settling in to write my annual Earth Day article, I was in a creative writing workshop and given a prompt

It would be easier to write about the negatives as we reach the 90 day mark of the hate administration but chose to focus on the environmental positives of the past year to mark #EarthDay2025 for Buffalo Rising.
www.buffalorising.com/2025/04/posi...

WNY Would Benefit from a Rare Bipartisan Bill in Congress  - Buffalo Rising When you hear a topic once, a writer may not make a conscious note of it. When it comes up a second time, it becomes an idea for a story.

Federal funding bills can be nit picked to death, turning them into rolling pork barrels or empty vessels that alter the work done by agencies. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is an exception w/strong bipartisan support with every five year funding cycle. www.buffalorising.com/2025/04/wny-...

bsky.app/profile/clim...

New bill seeks to grant legal rights to water in New York — Buffalo’s Fire A groundbreaking bill could provide local communities, including Native nations, the legal tools to protect their waters from pollution and industrial exploitation.

I continue to support Assemblymember Patrick Burke in his efforts to extend Rights of Nature to the Great Lakes watershed within NYS jurisdiction. A05156
www.buffalosfire.com/new-bill-see...

I didn't think there was a bigger nutjob representing New York State than Rep. Elise Stefanik, but I may be wrong. She may have to hand over her crown to Rep. Claudia Tenney with her proposal to turn the traitorous felon's birthday into a national holiday.

Buffalo to Stand Up and March (Again) for Science - Buffalo Rising Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson regularly points out in his StarTalk videos, “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.”   This is

The cover photo for my @buffalorising.bsky.social article comes from my t-shirt from the 2017 March for Science. Join me in Niagara Square on March 7 from 2-6 and Stand Up for Science.
www.buffalorising.com/2025/03/buff...

Big Apple Trash to be Landfilled here due to Albany Inaction? - The Niagara Reporter by John S. Szalasny Town of Amherst Recycling and Waste Committee Chair Editor’s note: This is a follow-up to Mr. Szalasny’s March, 2024 article. Sometimes I wonder why our State Government set up reg...

Another "trash talking" article. Nothing better than politicians passing a bill, passing the buck to an administrative body, then not do the follow up needed to make the initial bill work. We have reached a point where there is nowhere else to send our trash. niagarafallsreporter.com/big-apple-tr...

After viewing the bills she supports on her website, it will be difficult to find things where my views and those of Rep Claudia Tenney will align. If we all start pointing out the things that she is doing right, maybe her views will stop being a MTG clone. www.lockportjournal.com/opinion/mail...

My public engagement doesn't stop with me talking about trash or hugging trees. This was in the January 25th edition of the Amherst Bee.
www.amherstbee.com/.../begin-fa...

Letter: Hochul forgoes transparency promise Editor:

The process of finalizing approval of bills passed in NY needs to change. The Governor has too much power to bury the bad news of a veto or gut the intent of the legislation in the dead of the night at the close of the year. No transparency!
www.thedailynewsonline.com/opinion/lett...

Insect Habitat is Key to Their Survival – And Ours - Buffalo Rising The 60th anniversary of the federal Highway Beautification Act, the crowning achievement of Lady Bird Johnson, will be commemorated later this year. Although its lasting political outcome was to elimi...

Tried to make a "buzz" with my first article of 2025. Pollinator habitat is the forgotten piece of environmental protection and if they go extinct, we'll quicky join them.
www.buffalorising.com/2025/01/inse...

Guest Comment: Rules for signing NY legislation need to change In the dying days of 2024, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Climate Change Superfund Act (S.2129/A.3351) and an expansion of the existing ban on hydraulic fracturing to include the prohibition

Governor Hochul needs to be more transparent on her handling of passed legislation - even when she signs bills into law that I favor. Over 6 months to sign?? www.oleantimesherald.com/commentary/g...

New to BlueSky. Write on a wide range of environmental issues and will be posting the published articles here.