a reblog covering NYC’s sustainability scene
Posted in Community, Parks and Open Space on Apr 22nd, 2008
[Image from Gothamist]
From Gothamist:
First Lady Laura Bush was in Battery Park yesterday to help the National Park Foundation launch First Bloom, a program to encourage children in urban centers to learn about the environment and what they can do for their parks and neighborhoods.
The program sounds awfully nice. And regardless of how you feel about […]
An interesting post on greenbuildingsNYC tells us about how our local Green Drinks NYC is in something of a battle (with Melbourne, of all places) to bill itself as the world’s supreme regularly scheduled eco-suare. A couple highlights:
Last fall, Margaret [Lydecker, organizer of GD-NYC] thought that she could rest on her laurels after […]
The Gotham Gazette’s Wonkster blog had a nice item last Friday about a couple of ways that groups can raise money through materials recycling collection. Writer Mike Muller took an admirable approach in this piece, focusing on how schools or charitable groups could use these programs–in this case EcoPhones and Wearable Collections–to raise funds […]
Yesterday we posted two new additions:
“Oyster Restoration in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary” presented by Meredith Comi of NY/NJ Baykeeper, www.nynjbaykeeper(Jan. 15); and,
“A Critique of International Cap and Trade Systems and the Carbon Offset Trade” presented by Jutta Kill of FERN, www.fern.org (Jan 30)
Go to our Green Renter page and check beneath ‘View Recent Green Renters’ to select from our complete list. Please enjoy and learn from these excellent discussions, and stay tuned for more additions!
Posted in Business, Climate Change, Community, Design, Energy, Environmental Justice, Food, Green Building, Health, Lifestyle, Livable Streets, Parks and Open Space, Politics, Technology, Transportation, Waste, Water on Feb 13th, 2008
Popular Science ranks the country’s 50 Greenest Cities in its latest issue and New York comes in at a respectable #20, despite being beaten out by Boston and Chicago. The magazine used raw data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Geographic Society’s Green Guide, which collected government statics and survey data across 30 different sustainability categories. Pop Sci then distributed these statistics across four broad categories: electricity, transportation, green living, and recycling and green perspective. Cities earned points for items such as their number of LEED-certified buildings, how much energy they draw from renewable sources, how many commuters use public transportation or carpool, and how much land they devote to public green space.
by amy zimmer / metro new york
FEB 12, 2008
UNION SQUARE. To Amy Franceschini, the empty space in front of the Gandhi statue here could be an urban garden. The windows on buildings could have boxes for herbs and tomatoes. The roofs could have raised beds.
Franceschini, founder of the San Francisco-based design collective Futurefarmers, has convinced her city to plant crops in front of its City Hall as part of a pilot program to turn yards, balconies and unused land into food production areas. […]
Franceschini plans to document their gardens online and help other cities adopt the program. She’s been contacted by several New York groups, she said, including Grow Greenpoint.com, the Conflux festival and Solar One.
“We want our audience to think about the potential for change through participation, but also about the messy politics of implementation”… full article
more on victory gardens: here
Posted in Community, Events, Livable Streets on Feb 9th, 2008
Get to know your neighbors. See how differently your block can look. Experience what it’s like not having to worry about your children
playing in the street. It’s Block Party NYC!
This summer the NYC Streets Renaissance is helping throw dozens of block parties throughout NYC. Don’t wait, apply for your grant now.