On June 24th, Assembly Bill 11226 was passed allowing building owners in New York City who install green roofs on at least 50 percent of available rooftop space to get tax credit for it. Property owners will be able to apply for a one-year property tax credit of $100,000. The credit is equal to $4.50 per square-foot area that is planted vegetation. This is essentially 25% of the typical cost associated with materials, labor, design, and maintenance. The Storm Water Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M.) spear-headed the initiative with the help of Assembly Member Ruben Diaz. The law goes into effect on January 1st 2009 and will expire in 2013.
FILM FESTIVAL
“Sustainable Planet”TMis a film festival that promotes sustainable development. It is the first platform where moviemakers can meet with for-profit and non-profit organizations in order to watch movies and discuss sustainable solutions in an entertaining way. Films to screen come from India, Belgium, the USA, France, Haiti, Lebanon, Germany, Australia, and Brazil and showcase community building efforts and/or environmental care practices. Contact Pamela Peeters for the entire program and the list of selected movies at info@pamelapeeters.com.
FILMS AND KNOWLEDGE: A NEW CONCEPT
For 2008 we have expanded our concept and now also offer a “KNOWLEDGE ROOM” in addition to our traditional “VISION ROOM” (where sustainable film screenings take place). The “KNOWLEDGE ROOM” is a space where we will showcase presentations and panel discussions on sustainable breakthroughs in various categories. It is through the “KNOWLEDGE ROOM” that the audience can gain information on products and corporate initiatives in 8 different categories (art, business, lifestyle, culinary delight, entertainment, personal development, ECO-tourism and sport).
Plenty to keep you occupied through the dog days. As always, if you have any events you’d like listed, please send them along to ben (at) sustaiNYC.com.
Wednesday, July 2, 6-9pm
Everybody’s Talkin’ Bout Building Green
Doug Farr, chair of the US Green Building Council’s LEED Neighborhood Development task force and board member of the Congress for the New Urbanism, has some big ideas when it comes to building green cities. His new book, Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature, details the legislation that’s gotten us to where we are today, suggests where we went wrong and how we can mend our mistakes, and tells all about the technology and systems that inspire architects, engineers and urban planners. RSVP to info@cnu-ny.org.
Want to hear more about LEED, green buildings, or urban design? Check out our latest podcast, One Bryant Park—and get a tour of the brand new, ultra-sustainable, Bank of America building.
Time: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Place: Municipal Art Society-Urban Center, 457 Madison Ave., at 51st St.
Beginning in fall 2008, pending approval from the New York State Department of Education, The New School will offer two new programs of study focusing on the environment, a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies.
This innovative new program, administered by the Tishman Environment and Design Center, takes you beyond natural ecology and resource conservation, emphasizing urban ecosystems, sustainable design, and public policy. The New School has always taken a proactive stance in addressing challenging social issues right here in New York City. In keeping with that tradition, the university offers this wide-ranging program that allows undergraduate students to study and work at the intersection of society and nature, relying largely on interdisciplinary courses that capitalize on the faculty’s expertise and the students’ interests.
Last week, Friends of the High Line unveiled some new images of what we can soon expect on that long derelict site. Curbed has all the coverage:
Phase One of The High Line runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 20th Street. We’ve seen some renderings from this stretch before (particularly the Gansevoort-to-15th bit), but nothing like what came to light today.
At today’s announcement, by the way, Friends of the High Line honcho Robert Hammond re-asserted that Phase One is “on schedule and on budget to open by the end of this year.”
greenbuildingsNYC has a rather startling post on NYC’s only national park, and how it’s fragile ecosystem is under seige from, of all things, shipwrecks. Stephen del Percio explains:
Jamaica Bay has become the dumping ground for derelict yachts, boats, and even barges according to a recent report on MSNBC.com. Despite its protection as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area- the only National Park in New York City- the Bay has accrued 88 shipwrecks.
Jamaica Bay is a 25,000 acre bay which is surrounded by Rockaway Peninsula on one side and John F. Kennedy Airport on the other. A third of the Bay is a national wildlife refuge which plays host to over 350 species….
These wrecks pose an environmental hazard by leaking oil and gas into the sensitive ecosystems surrounding Jamaica Bay.
Next spring, 490 acres of polluted mud will be dredged out of a stretch of the Hudson River so toxic that fish are considered unfit for consumption, according to the Buffalo Times.
To kick off the six-year project, General Electric is building a wharf, processing facility, and rail yard to remove a portion of the river bottom, which the company contaminated with PCB-laden wastewaterdecades ago.
Once all the tools for cleanup are in place, GE will set dredges in motion 24 hours a day and place PCB collection devices in tunnels beneath the river.
This doesn’t have immediate or specific local relevance, but anytime one of the world’s best science writers talks interviews the world’s preeminent climate scientist–and they’re both based here in NYC!–it’s worth tuning in to. Learn something.
Sunday, June 29th - Supper Club: Urban Forager and Committed Locavore, Leda Meredith 5pm potluck dinner, 6:30pm speaker. @ reBar: 147 Front Street, first A/C and F train stop in Brooklyn. $5 early RSVP or pay via our website, or $8 at the door Leda Meredith, educator, activist and savvy local food expert, will be inspiring us with her experience of “The 250″ (she has been subsiding on a diet sourced from within a 250 mile radius of Park Slope, Brooklyn since August 2007), educating us on how we can do it too and sharing from her new memoir, Botany, Ballet and Dinner from Scratch: A Memoir with Recipes. Leda will also be leading Green Edge NYC on an urban foraging tour on Saturday, July 19th! Save your spot now by pre-paying on our website: www.GreenEdgeNYC.org
Questions about Citywide Supper Club? Email Joanna@GreenEdgeNYC.org for more info.
Lots of discussion and debate about the Mayor’s now-approved plan to open a new waste transfer station in Manhattan. While nobody is really thrilled about having the station break up Hudson River Park, the Mayor and environmental advocates point to the efficiency and air quality improvements of moving all the recyclables by barge direct from the borough, rather than trucking them up to the Bronx, as is now standard practice.
In October 2004, the Bloomberg administration announced its intention to reopen a long-closed waste transfer station in Greenwich Village, on the Hudson River near 12th Street, to handle recyclable materials from Manhattan. The idea was part of a much larger Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan — pronounced “swamp” — that would transform how the city handles residential waste.
The plan, a response to the closing of the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island by the Giuliani administration in the 1990s, called for shipping the bulk of the city’s residential waste elsewhere by barge, which emit less pollution than trucks.
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.
