Photo cred: Food and Water Watch

Fossil fuel company Enbridge has recently proposed expanding a fracked gas pipeline through Northern Westchester, NY, known as Project Maple. However, moms showed up to put a stop to it.

On June 25, 2025, the Croton-on-Hudson Board of Trustees voted to pass a resolution opposing Project Maple. This project is a dangerous plan to expand the Algonquin pipeline and pump even more fracked gas through local neighborhoods. The vote followed a rally where members of the Mothers Out Front Northern Westchester team joined community leaders in rejecting the fossil fuel industry’s latest threat.

“As mothers, we refuse to stand by while pipeline expansions threaten our children’s health, safety, and future,” said Mothers Out Front member Donna O’Malley. “These projects endanger our communities with toxic leaks, climate chaos, and irreversible environmental damage. We demand an immediate halt to all pipeline expansions and a swift transition to clean, renewable energy. Our families deserve a safe, healthy world — and we will fight for it.”

This success is proof that when moms organize, speak out, and demand better, real change occurs.

Mothers Out Front is building a movement of moms who are ready to fight back against the fossil fuel industry. Join our Moms v. Methane campaign to help stop fossil gas infrastructure and accelerate the transition to clean energy in your community. Because our kids deserve better, and our moms don’t back down.

Contact: Kia Smith, kia.smith@mothersoutfront.org
Bella Cockerell, bella.cockerell@mothersoutfront.org

Mothers Out Front New York Creates Space for Moms and Caregivers During Climate Week NYC

NEW YORK (September 27, 2024) – Last week, Mothers Out Front New York hosted over 90 mothers, caregivers and others at two events during Climate Week NYC. At these events, mothers, caregivers and others participated in an electric school bus experience, learned how to advocate for electric school buses in their communities and took the time to pause and rejuvenate from the demanding work of advocacy and caregiving. 

On Tuesday, September 24, mothers and other caregivers gathered at Greenwich Village for an immersive electric school bus experience, Green Dreams & Electric School Bus Rides: A Family-Friendly Climate Week Celebration. While kids used watercolors to imagine their sustainable future with art, moms and other caregivers discussed the dangerous impact that dirty, diesel buses have on students and learned how they could advocate for electric school buses in their community. 

“My son was spending 40 minutes on the bus each day to travel the one-and-a-half miles to his preschool,” said Jennifer Gessner, a member of Mothers Out Front’s Westchester Rivertowns team. “ Forty minutes is a long time for a four-year-old to breathe in dangerous toxins and air pollutants.”

“We know moms and caregivers are the best ESB messengers for school districts, because our kids are suffering the health and climate effects from diesel buses every day,” said Bobby Monacella, Senior Campaigner at Mothers Out Front. “Our goal is to give advocates the tools to ask their districts to apply for the $965,000,000 in federal funding available right now for ESBs.”

After a week of advocating and connecting with other moms and advocates, our caregivers took some time for themselves and rejuvenated during Pause: A Space to Heal and Reconnect During Climate Week on Thursday, September 26th. Co-sponsored by Mothers Out Front, Dear Sundays, Climate Mental Health Network and Safe Space, moms and other climate advocates enjoyed light snacks and workshops geared toward relieving stress and anxiety as they relaxed and connected with each other.

“Pause was such a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Climate Week NY, advocacy and the daily responsibility of caregiving,” said Damaris (Lizeth) Argueta from Mothers Out Front NY. “It’s hard to take care of others when you’re operating from a deficit, so I’m really grateful that Mothers Out Front was intentional about creating space for moms to pause and take care of themselves.”

For photos of these events, click here.

About Climate Week NYC
Climate Week NYC is the largest annual climate event of its kind, bringing together over 600 events and activities across the City of New York – in person, hybrid and online. Each year, business leaders, political change makers, local decision takers and civil society representatives of all ages and backgrounds, from all over the world, gather to drive the transition, speed up progress, and champion change that is already happening. Climate Week NYC is hosted by Climate Group, an international non-profit whose purpose is to drive climate action, fast. 

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Mothers Out Front is a member-led climate justice organization. We are mothers, sisters, aunts, grandmothers and other caregivers coming together to make climate justice a priority issue that our decision-makers can no longer ignore. We are building a powerful grassroots movement to ensure a swift, complete and just transition away from fossil fuels and toward a clean and renewable energy future where our children and families can thrive, not just survive.

On May 31, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded $96 million to New York State schools through its Clean School Bus Rebate Program to replace more than 350 existing fossil fuel buses with clean, electric buses.  The Union Free School District of the Tarrytowns, located in Tarrytown, NY, was awarded $1.02 million to purchase 5 electric school buses.  This marks a major milestone in the campaign of the Mothers Out Front Westchester Rivertowns team, which started advocating for electric school buses in Tarrytown back in 2019.

Our journey began when team members learned about the serious health impacts that can result from riding diesel school buses, and about the major climate benefit of transitioning to zero-emission buses.  The team gathered research on electric school buses, as well as state funding sources, and met with their school district administrators.  The administration was tentatively receptive, and the MOF team continued to make their case, including speaking at school board meetings and publishing a letter to the editor in the local newspaper.  The team also tabled at the local farmers market to build community awareness and support.  They coordinated with the Northern Westchester Mothers Out Front team to present a County-wide electric school bus webinar in partnership with the County Executive’s office.

In March of 2020, just before the Pandemic, the team’s state Assembly Member, with whom they had also been meeting, offered to give their school district funding to help cover the upfront cost difference between an electric bus and a standard diesel bus.  That motivated the school administration to pursue a second state grant, all of which eventually led to the district purchasing its first electric school bus, which arrived in 2023.  The district celebrated its arrival with MOF at a ribbon-cutting ceremony as part of its Back to School Bash that August.

Fortunately, New York State and the federal government (thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) have since developed more robust electric school bus funding programs, including money for charging infrastructure and assistance with fleet electrification planning.  And the Tarrytown district is helping to lead the way to a healthier, more sustainable future for our children.

The Northern Westchester team began advocating for this change in 2020, before there was a state mandate to do so.  With a fossil fuel bus included in the budget vote that year, they raised awareness in their community about the health risks of diesel buses, and the huge climate benefit of transitioning to electric buses, which have no tailpipe emissions. 

“When our mem­bers learned that emis­sions from our school buses made up a quar­ter of the trans­porta­tion green­house gas emis­sions in the U.S., we re­al­ized we could help mit­i­gate the cli­mate cri­sis for our kids,” said team volunteer Megan Dyer.  “Tran­si­tion­ing to elec­tric would make a mas­sive pos­i­tive im­pact for the cli­mate, air qual­ity, and school cost-sav­ings.”

The team collaborated with other local climate organizations, including Croton 100, to educate the public and the school board and administration.  They spoke at multiple school board meetings and participated on the district’s Fleet Electrification Task Force.  In addition to air quality and climate concerns, they spoke about the positive financial impacts of electrification. To help raise awareness across municipal boundaries, In January 2022  the Northern Westchester team and Westchester Rivertowns team of Mothers Out Front co-hosted a webinar with the Westchester County Executive’s office.  Patty Buchanan of Croton 100 presented a tool to calculate the total cost of ownership (called the BEST tool) to help school districts account for the long-term savings of reduced maintenance and fuel, particularly when paired with government incentives. 

Local middle schoolers also teamed up with the Northern Westchester group, helping to spread the word with an electric bike raffle as a way to build excitement and support. They tabled at different locations around town, allowing them to engage with community members and local business owners, and partnered with the Catholic Church’s Care for Creation ministry to table outside the church. The students were empowered to educate the public, and also speak before the school board, about why it was important to them that the schools move away from fossil fuel buses.  

The students love their new electric school buses, and had a blast naming them – EVie and Lighting McGreen. 

Like any major transition, there are challenges along the way, but each new electric bus that is purchased instead of a gas or diesel bus is a step in the right direction. This latest EV bus purchase demonstrates the district’s commitment to continuing on its journey to make a healthier, brighter future for our kids.