JANUARY 25, 2026: IN THE TRENCHES

MANNA JO GREENE

Please join our guest speaker, Manna Jo Greene, who will provide examples of struggles that worked, those that still present challenges, and of course new ones that aim to set back the hard won progress we have made.

Manna Jo Greene has served on the Ulster County Legislature for 12 years and served on the Rosendale Town Board for 8 years prior.  She was the Environmental Action Director for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater for 23 years, retiring in June of 2023 to work full-time on developing and implementing Climate Solutions. While at Clearwater, she helped coordinate Congressional briefings and regional forums to educate community members and elected officials about the environmental dangers of PCBs and other pollutants, and the need to protect the Hudson River and everyone living in its watershed.  She was instrumental in getting the Environmental Protection Agency to require General Electric to clean up Hudson River PCBs and helped to create the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board to ensure its safe remediation.  Most recently she helped develop a successful campaign to prohibit the discharge of radioactive waste water into the Hudson River.

Before coming to Clearwater, Manna served as a Registered Critical Care Nurse for 22 years, during which she organized two union campaigns, and then, as Ulster County's Recycling Coordinator/Educator for 10 years, she helped take the County's recycling rate from 4% to 40% in less than a decade.  

Manna currently serves on the Ulster County Energy, Environment and Sustainability, Chairs the Climate Smart Committee, and coordinates a Working Group to develop an implementation plan to achieve 70% renewable energy generation by 2030, municipality by municipality, in Ulster County.  She lives in Rosendale with her son, daughter-in-law, and 7-year old grandson, Emmett.