Perhaps you’ve noticed, updates have been few and far between of late. That’s because the tiny editorial team (read: Ben) has entirely run out of bandwidth, and hasn’t been able to find a spare moment to devote to this little passion project.
But fear not (as if you were afraid)–we’re working behind the scenes on developing this project a bit and turning it into something steadier, more reliable…better.
In the meantime, we encourage you to check out all the orgs and news outlets linked to on the right there. That’s where we learn pretty much everything. Finally–and this is important–if anyone out there has an hour or two a day to spare, and wants to work with an emerging hyper-local sustainability news outlet (that’s us, SustaiNYC, if it wasn’t clear), please do drop us a line at: ben (at) sustainyc.com. You’d get to work with a couple of established, relatively-savvy folks in the world of sustainability (Ben) and technology (Naveen). And we write amazing references and give shining recommendations.
Stay tuned. Good things to–eventually–come.
And if you’d like to be notified when these developments are underway, drop a line to the same address above.
3 months. 3 meals a day. Do it for your wallet! Do it for the planet!
PACKAGING STATISTICS: What are we doing?
Almost 1/3 of the waste generated in the US is from packaging! Plastic takes 1,000 years to decompose (and really it just keeps getting smaller and smaller).
The US population tosses out enough paper and plastic cups, forks and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times. Read that again.
Paper comes from trees. Plastic comes from oil. To obtain either one, worldwide forests are being contaminated and destroyed.
This site is also an excellent resource for statistics describing take-out containers on the environment.
This article from Treehugger.com gives helpful tips on what to do with the glut of take-out containers piling up in your cabinets.It also describes an initiative by the New York based group, The Eco-Agents, in which customers can request to use their own take-out containers from Restaurants.
This article from The Daily Green lists the ten most (and least) green containers. It contains the pluses and minuses on take-out containers from Styrofoam (Least Green) to Cardboard Boxes (Not As Green As You Might Think) to Edible/Inedible Containers Made From Food (Cha-Ching!).
This article from Diamondback Online describes an initiative at the University of Maryland to reduce take-out container uses and discusses the difficulties and successes they had in attaining their goals. SOLUTIONS: Sure You Can!
Breakfast at Home. Pack Your Lunch. Stay at the Restaurant.
Visit our website for a list of restaurants that use eco-friendly take-out packaging.
If you must take something to go, get a sandwich or burrito wrapped only in foil (and reuse it) and put in your own bag or tote.
Check our blog for suggestions on restaurants that use eco-friendly packaging.
email brooklyngreen@gmail.com and write “I Take No More!” (Include first & last name and zip)
FRANK MEUSCHKE’S garden, which surrounds the house he rents in Brooklyn, is a bountiful source of tomatoes, snap peas, green beans, peppers, lettuce and multiple varieties of flowers. It is also, as he recently discovered to his dismay, a rich repository of lead. He had his soil tested last month, and the analysis showed more than 90 times the amount of lead expected to occur naturally.
We’re excited to let you know about an upcoming opportunity to learn about the intersection of faith and climate change. This is something we care a lot about at 350.org, and we have just launched our Interfaith Call for 350.
To kick it off, we are co-hosting an event at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine this coming Sunday at 4 p.m. Special guests include Bill McKibben of 350.org and Mary Evelyn Tucker of the Forum on Religion and Ecology.
Please join in on the fun and the conversation! You can read more about this on the 350 website, here.
Event details:
Cathedral of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, New York 10025
Sunday, May 17th
4:00 pm: Evensong service
5:15 pm: Renewal, a documentary film about America’s growing diverse religious-enviornmental movement. Introduction by Bill McKibben
7:00 pm: Call to Action: a conversation with Bill McKibben, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Marty Ostrow (filmmaker), Terry Kay Rockefeller (filmmaker), and others
For more information, contact Ms. Tenzin Dharlo, tdharlo@stjohndivine.org, phone number 212.316.7468
There’s really no excuse for us not covering Bike Month NYC until the 11th. Except that we really didn’t cover anything in May yet until today. (Long story–we’re working on it. Wanna intern?)
Well you’ve seen the thousands of posters around the city, no doubt. So here’s the link to know everything you possibly could want to about Bike Month NYC. Truly something we get excited about for months ahead of time. Can’t you just feel it out there? Here’s some more:
May is Bike Month in New York City!
T.A. has teamed up with the Department of Transportation to bring you Bike Month NYC, a month of cycling celebration. The DOT announced a dramatic 35% increase in bicycle commuters in 2008. With so many new commuters why not give them a way to celebrate. Join us in celebrating 19 years of biking in New York City, plan your month filled with cycling parties, rides, tours, classes and races.
Don’t miss out on these amazing events during Bike Month NYC!
National Bike to Work Day in New York City
May 15, 7-10:30 am
We are doing it again; meet us at the bridge or the park for your “Thank You for Riding to Work” snack. T.A. will be at the East River Bridges (Queensboro, Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge) plus Madison Square Park, City Hall Park. Stop by for some hot coffee, quality reading material and your extreme commuter bag! National Bike to Work Day is brought to you by Transportation Alternatives and for the second year in a row Clif Bar. Watch a StreetFilm of last year’s Bike to Work Day.
Commuter Race
May 21th
8th annual New York City Commuter Race between the Automobile, Subway and Bicycle. Call it crazy but yes the bicycle has won the past 7 years. Here’s a video of last year’s winner.
Borough President Snacks
May 5, 7:30-8:30 am Brooklyn
May 13, 7-8:30 am Staten Island
May 15, 7-9:30 am Bronx
May 21, 5:15-6:15 pm Manhattan
Snack before or after work with your Borough President- take this opportunity to meet your borough president and meet other bicycle commuters in your borough.
Car Free Saturday in Crotona Park
May 30, 12-5pm
Half a mile of open road to ride your bike, run and play games in Crotona Park. We are shutting down the street and opening it up to the public come out for a wonderful day filled with music, and fun activities. Brought to you by the Car Free Bronx Coalition.
Transportation Alternatives, your advocate for bicycling, walking and public transit, presents Bike Month NYC in conjunction with the NYC Department of Transportation to celebrate and promote bicycling in metropolitan New York City.
NYPIRG, RAN, and the Sierra Club are organizing another Coal Kills Rally, the third so far, this time against JP Morgan Chase.
As some of you may know, JP Morgan Chase is one of the largest financiers of coal-fired power plants in the United States. Despite the fact that JP Morgan signed on to the Carbon Principles, a resolution to ensure that these institutions make all investment decisions with an eye towards the environment, it still continues to fund new coal plants. In fact, currently, JP Morgan Chase serves as the lead underwriter for the proposed AMP-Ohio coal plant. For more info about the proposed AMP Ohio plant, please visit http://www.ohiocitizen.org.
What’s even worse is that since the US government has lent banks billions of taxpayer dollars via the bailouts, they are using our money to finance the very plants that are speeding global warming and killing us. Now, more than ever, we have a right and a responsibility to demand that they stop.
Members of NYPIRG, Rainforest Action Network, and the Sierra Club will be out in force to protest the JP Morgan Chase Annual Shareholders Meeting and I hope you will be there too. We can’t sit by while the bank uses our money to fund global warming. They are mortgaging our future and it must end with us.
JP MORGAN AGM RALLY
When: Tuesday, May 19 • 9am - 12pm
Where: 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, New York (corner of William and Pine)
We will be staging at the Pine St. entrance to the right of the large black and white sculpture in the picnic area
JP Morgan TEACH-IN (Join us to learn about the relationship between banks and coal)
When: Monday, May 18th, 6pm-9pm
Where: Community Church of New York, Chapel, 40 E. 35th St. (Btwn Park and Madison)
Food docs galore this month, apparently. Can’t have too many, we thinks. Check out FRESH:
FRESH will be screening in NYC on Wednesday May 27th. FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Joel Salatin (Polyface Farm), Will Allen (Growing Power), Joan Gussow (Columbia University), Dan Barber (Blue Hill), and moderated by Jacquie Berger (Just Food.) .
Are you passionate about local food, urban gardening and social justice?
Would you like to make
your passion your job?
Come spend a year with Just Food as an
AmeriCorps* VISTA!
Apply to serve as a fulltime AmeriCorps* VISTA member and help build a more just and sustainable food system in New York City.
Just Food and several of our partner organizations are currently seeking 11 AmeriCorps*VISTA members to dedicate a year of service to address hunger, poverty, and food justice problems in New York City.
Applications for most July positions are due tomorrow, April 30, but the submission deadline has been extended for Just Food’s Development Associate, FSNYC’s Program Associate, and the Sylvia Center’s Program Promotion Associate.
For additional details, please visit the AmeriCorps*VISTA website and review the details in the left-hand column.
If you are interested in learning more about these positions, please visit Just Food’s website http://www.justfood.org/jobs/index.html. If you have additional questions, please contact vista@justfood.org.
Solar in the City: Episode II - Financing Solar Systems
Monday, May 18, 2009 • 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Columbia University • Altschul Auditorium
The International Affairs building • 420 W. 118th Street • NYC
The first panel of the Solar in the City series explored the extensive scope for solar in an urban setting. This panel will explore the cost of solar, as well as provide attendees with comprehensive information on the various financial incentives currently in place for solar installations of both residential and commercial scale. Panelists will also discuss the various third party financial models available in some states, such as equipment leasing and power purchasing agreements. We will also explore different opportunities created through the financial stimulus bill.
The Solar Panel:
Stanley Fishbein, President, Capquest Group
Gabe Selig, Gabriel M. Selig, Esq., President, Southport Power, LLCAndrea Watson, NYC Solar Coordinator, Center for Sustainable Energy, Bronx Community College, CUNY
Tickets: NYSES members: $10 / $15 for non-members.
Schedule 6:00 - 6:30: Registration 6:30 - 8:00 Panel discussion and Q&A 8:00 - 9:00 Networking Topics for discussion
The cost of solar?
What are all the financial incentives, how do they work, to whom are they available?
The financial models - leasing, PPA’s
Financing solar thermal
How does net metering work?
How to calculate the ROI for solar PV
What new funds are available for solar businesses?
Does solar make sense financially? What is the ROI, IRR, payback period?
Who should attend?
Members of the New York Solar Energy Society, members of the American Solar Energy Society, members of the International Solar Energy Society, members of other renewable energy organizations, solar energy professionals, engineers, green building professionals, architects, construction professionals, building owners, consultants, urban planners, students.
This is a reblog covering NYC's sustainability scene. It is edited/curated/sometimes written by Ben Jervey and is designed/maintained by Naveen Selvadurai. Read more here.
There’s really no excuse for us not covering 
