Working toward a sustainable LI

Long Island has made strides in becoming sustainable — that is, green and environmentally conscious — but it still has a long way to go, says Sustainable Long Island executive director Sarah Lansdale.

“People can see there’s been an improvement in the quality of life” on the Island in the past 10 years, Lansdale said. “But we still have a lot of work ahead of us.”

The nature of that work will be discussed at the Bethpage-based group’s fifth annual conference Friday at Carlyle on the Green in Bethpage State Park. The daylong conference, “Rally for Resources,” focuses on utilizing financial and other resources in an era of shrinking government funding.

A keynote speaker will be Woody Tasch, author of “Inquiries Into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered.” The fee $150.

Lansdale applauded projects that have helped upgrade downtowns in Patchogue and other places, but she lamented the Huntington Town board’s recent decision to reject the Avalon Bay housing project.

Where should the Island be headed? “That depends on Long Islanders,” Lansdale said. “I don’t think there’s ever going to be an end product. The Island is going to continue to evolve.”