grow your knowledge in an east village garden

Come learn about the latest in sustainable design in a quaint little garden in the East Village. Brought to you by the New York Restoration Project.

Series on Sustainable Design in East Village Garden!
Toyota Children’s Learning Garden
603 E 11th St between avenues B & C

Join us in the Toyota Children’s Learning Garden for a 4 part discussion series highlighting techniques to green our limited urban space. Whether you’re working in a garden, apartment, business, or home, come and learn from New York City’s leaders in sustainable design.
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The discussions and workshops will take place every other Thursday, July 30th-September 24th, in the garden from 7:00-8:00pm. We will also highlight the area's environmentally conscious restaurants and businesses at the presentations. Following the discussions we invite everyone to join us for hors d'oeuvre and giveaways in the garden generously donated by Sustainable NYC, Angelica’s Kitchen, Quintessence, Hummus Place, Spino, and more.

July 30, 2009: Sarah Siegel, of Michael Van Valkenburg Associates: designer of the Toyota Children’s Learning Garden. She will give a short garden tour and speak about urban garden design, specifically the shad tolerant planting palette and sustainable technologies in this garden.

August 13, 2009: Chris Collins, Executive Director Solar1, will discuss benefits of renewable energy, the work of Solar1, and how to feasibly incorporate such technologies in your everyday life.

August 27, 2009: GreenItYourself Green Roof Workshop: Lori Gibbs and Atom Cianfarani, believe that living a healthy and environmentally responsible lifestyle should be accessible to everyone! They will teach about green roofing and prove tips and techniques for gardening in small spaces.

September 10, 2009: Marni Horowitz, CEO and founder Alive Structures, will speak about green wall installation and other techniques to make sue of our abundantly available vertical space. She will also discuss ecological gardening practices which mimic natural ecosystems that increase abundance, beauty, and biodiversity.

Space is limited, to RSVP and for more information about New York Restoration Project please contact Rachael Brody, 212-333-2552 or rbrody@nyrp.org

events for memorial day weekend and beyond

No plans yet this Memorial Day weekend? Here are a few eco-minded events for the holiday and beyond.

Saturday, May 23

Flatbush Supper Club Compost Potluck
Get your hands dirty digging in compost and enjoy a lovely (vegetarian or vegan) potluck meal with some new friends. The fun begins at 3pm.

The Flatbush Supper Club - an ongoing series of community-led potluck meals and environmental discussions - is sponsored by Sustainable Flatbush, GreenEdge Collaborative NYC, and Educating Tomorrow.

Hosted by collaborators just like you, these small potlucks are intended for neighbors to get to know neighbors while sharing their skills, ideas and interests in urban sustainability.

RSVP and get the full details at GreenEdge NYC.

Saturday, May 23 or Sunday, May 24

Crawfish Boil to benefit the Make It Right Foundation
@ SolarONE
(2420 FDR Service Road East @ 22nd Street)
Help yourself to some tasty crawfish while helping the Make It Right Foundation rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans using environmentally sound designs and materials. Make It Right is working with the heavy-hitting cradle-to-cradle architecture firm of William McDonough + Partners.

The feast includes 4 crawfish pours (4-5lbs of crawfish per person) along with corn on the cob, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, sausage and spices served with unlimited beer and New Orleans Hurricanes!

The good times roll from 4 to 8pm.

Get tickets here.

Sunday, May 24

What Will it Take to Create a New World?
The Awakening the Dreamer Initiative
@ Park Slope Food Coop
(782 Union St btwn 6th and 7th, Brooklyn)
Upstairs in the Community Room
FREE

This workshop connects the dots between environmental sustainability, social justice and personal fulfillment, and zooms out to ask, How did we get here? Experience a new sense of hope grounded in action, understanding the future of our planet as not inevitable, but creatable through the global movement of many acting on behalf of our world.

Combining reflection, video and dialogue, this is an experience you will remember! Please plan to attend from start to finish.

RSVP here

Monday, May 25

On the Horizon: Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Potential in New York City
@ SolarONE
(2420 FDR Service Road East @ 22nd Street)
7pm
FREE

Anyone who has visited the top of a Manhattan high-rise knows that our city enjoys a wealth of wind power potential. However, it is only recently that technological designs have emerged that can efficiently, cost effectively and silently convert that potential into electrical power for city buildings.

Russell Tencer is the CEO of AeroCity, a Hudson Valley based start-up that manufactures and markets vertical axis wind turbines. In this discussion Mr. Tencer will survey the technology’s potential and readiness in the New York City area, and review case studies of current and upcoming projects.

FREE AND OPEN TO ALL. Space can be limited, RSVP by calling 212.505.6050 or by e-mail to greenrenter@solar1.org.

Tuesday, May 26

Help Build Biking into NYC's Social Green Map!
@ Open Green Map
(220A East 4th St. in Manhattan's East Village)
4 to 7pm
FREE

We're inviting cyclists and 'non-smoking lane' advocates citywide to Green Map's global office to contribute their fav bike sites, routes and resources to the Open Green Map. Open to exploration, comments and contributions anytime at http://OpenGreenMap.org/nyc, you can help build in the bike sites and lanes in person at this special Bike Month event.

my weekend in pictures

Saturday


The bluebell hyacinths were in full bloom at Brooklyn Botanic Garden.


Chris Roddick, Brooklyn Botanic Garden's chief arborist, teaches us how to plant companions for street trees in the Trees NY Citizen Pruner course. This clematis will climb the trunk - but care needs to be taken to prevent it from encroaching on the canopy (it'll deprive the leaves of light and hide potential damage to the tree).


Mulching is a group effort.


A fellow student uses the pole saw to prune an oak tree. Don't try this without your Citizen Pruner certificate!


You may have to squint, but the leader branches (those at the top) are co-dominant stems, which could be a problem for this tree in the future.


These brilliant azaleas were at the end of their bloom.


Sunday


After brunch, I brought some friends to Green Depot to check out their cleaning product refill station.


An edible green wall caught my eye when walking passed Valcucine.


Strawberries ripe for the picking. Hmmm... I want to try this at home.


My friend Jane had to drop off her bike for repairs and this beauty was outside: the electric hybrid Ultramotor A2B bike.


Same friend Jane lives in The Solaire. I asked for a tour of the building's green roof.


A rooftop oasis awaits...


Green roofs provide habitat for birds and butterflies...


They keep buildings cool in summer and insulated in winter...



They prevent storm water run-off and heat island effect...


And there just so darn inviting. If it were a nicer day I don't think I would've wanted to leave.


Another green building, The Verdesian across the way.


And for the green dwelling trifecta, The TriBeCa Green.


The park they all share below. It's much more intriguing when you're down there (sorry I missed that photo op).


Back on terra firma, a sign for the latest car-sharing service, Mint, caught my eye. (Move over zipcar, now there's something fresher...)


NYC is slowly becoming more bike-friendly. Sans bicycle, I rode the subway home.

introducing the first LEED-certified bowling alley in the US

[Not my shot: images via Brooklyn Bowl flickr page]

Manhattan has Chelsea Piers, Bowlmor, and the Port Authority bowling alley. But what about Brooklyn? The only bowling alley I know of in Brooklyn is Melody Lanes in Sunset Park, and the miniscule lane or two at Brownstone Billiards in Park Slope. Until now - and this one will blow all of those other alleys out of the water. 

It's not open for business yet, but Williamsburg's Brooklyn Bowl looks like a great place to knock down some ten pins and a few pitchers of local beer. The great thing is, it's not just a fun spot to recreate with friends, it's also got eco cred.

Brooklyn Based got a sneak peek of the new bowling alley/music venue, and here are some of its sustainable features:

• Salvaged Brooklyn Navy Yard windows that decorate the banquettes and tables fashioned from the former Woodhaven Lanes in Queens (by Ferra Designs)
• A stage made from recycled truck tires
  
• Salvaged or sustainably harvested wood throughout
  
• ...plus many other green details that make Brooklyn Bowl the first LEED-certified bowling alley in the country

And if that's not enough, some more eco features (from their site):

• 100% Wind-powered electricity
  
• Pin-spotters use 75% less energy than a typical pin-spotter
  
• No bottles, no cans. All our soft drinks and beers are on tap
  
• Our 10 draught beers are all brewed locally in Brooklyn, New York
  
• LED stage lights use 90% less energy than the typical draw
  
• Energy Star Certification wherever possible
  
• HVAC Johnson Controls are the most efficient units available
  
• HVAC also features CO2 sensors, variable frequency drive motors, air-side economizers
  
• Four “Big Ass Fans” brand ten-foot fans to augment HVAC system
  
• 100% reclaimed cork floors in Bowler’s Lounge
  
• 30+ capacity bike racks
  
• 16 trees planted in and around property
  

All this from Peter Shapiro and Charley Ryan of Wetlands, an environmentally conscious music and activist venue.

I'm not a great bowler, but I can't wait until they open, just to check out the space.

Brooklyn Bowl * 61 Wythe Ave Brooklyn, NY 11211 * 718.963.3369

empire state building retrofit

One of the most iconic structures in NYC is about to get a makeover. When it was built, it was a model for engineering ingenuity. Now, it's going to serve as a model for energy efficiency. A retrofit is in order. It's estimated that the building's energy consumption will be reduced by 40%.

Video and blurb from Rocky Mountain Institute, one of the partners in the project, below.




In February 2008, project partners Rocky Mountain Institute, the Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls, Inc., and Jones Lang LaSalle began working with existing and newly created modeling, measurement, and projection tools to fully analyze the Empire State Building's energy use. RMI's Built Environment Team then provided realistic recommendations that would help increase the building's energy efficiency without harming bottom-line performance.

According to RMI's Chief Scientist Amory Lovins, "In order to make cities cleaner and more energy efficient, there is a real need for a replicable model for retrofitting existing buildings. This visionary example will help to significantly reduce carbon emissions and conserve energy in buildings all over the world through these initiatives."

The Empire State Building team will undertake improvements, including window retrofits, daylighting, a radiator insulation retrofit, and a whole-building control system upgrade that will achieve a projected $4.4 million in annual energy savings while reducing energy consumption by close to 40 percent and cutting the building's overall carbon output.

Beyond the numbers, the process that the partners used made this project unique and the improvements possible. The program currently underway at the Empire State Building is the first to provide a comprehensive modeling approach to help capture energy savings on existing buildings. Over time, these breakthrough methods will make the Empire State one of the most efficient pre-war buildings in the world.


Learn more about the retrofit

upcoming program explores adaptive reuse

The Municipal Art Society of New York City (MASNYC) presents...


A Second (and Green) Career for Industrial Buildings

New York City was once the nation’s power house for manufacturing, and many of the buildings and factories that fueled that industry remain. Preserving these buildings and using them to foster green-collar industries or adapting them to new housing, cultural, and retail uses is the most sustainable action New York could take.

This program will explore two approaches to preserving industrial buildings: keeping them for manufacturing uses (which also means retaining good-paying jobs) or adapting these buildings to new uses.

Panelists include Andrew Kimball, president & chief operating officer of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, home to traditional maritime uses and new green jobs, Robert Powers, preservation consultant on the tax-certified rehabilitation of the Austin-Nichols Warehouse, Norma Barbacci of the World Monuments Fund, with news of imaginative projects from Latin America, and Lisa Kersavage, MAS director of advocacy and policy. Moderated by Mary Habstritt, president of the Society for Industrial Archaeology.

Recycling New York’s Industrial Past: Inspiration From Home and Abroad
Wednesday, October 22, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. Reception to follow.
$15, $12 MAS members/students. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075.

For details of upcoming MAS programs, visit www.mas.org/programs, and for a downloadable version of our fall program calendar in PDF form, click here.

this weekend in bklyn...

If you're in Brooklyn this weekend be sure to take advantage of one of these cool eco happenings:

Clean out your closet!

Collecther Clothing Swap
What: Dig in your closet for some tired old duds (12 of them, to be precise) and bring them to the swap. You'll get 100 fake bucks to bid on some "new" get-ups. $15 gets you in on all the action.
When: Saturday 10/4 @ 6pm
Where: Franklin btwn Lafayette and Clinton, Bed-Stuy

My So Called Swap
What: One lady's old sweater is another lady's treasure. Bring some clothes your willing to part with and mix with fellow swappers while swooning over Jordan Catalano as “My So Called Life” plays in the background. Drink specials, cupcakes, and Tarot readings are also in store.
When: Sunday 10/5 from 4-8pm
Where: K&M Bar, 225 North 8th at Roebling, W'burg, 718-388-3088



Bring out your read!

The Great American Book Drive
What: Dust off those old books you never read and bring them to the drive to support some worthy organizations, like Better World Books.
When: Saturday 10/4 from 10am - 3pm
Where: Brooklyn Central Library, Grand Army Plaza



It's open, come on in!

NYC Green Buildings Open House
What: GreenhomeNYC’s annual guided tour of green buildings all over NYC. Learn about sustainable building features like energy saving and indoor air quality while touring unique residences and businesses via bus, bike, or your own two feet.
When: Saturday 10/4, times vary
Where: Locations vary, check here for tour details

[Image: Greenbelt]

[via Brooklyn Based]

green brooklyn event recap part 1: exhibitors

Some of the exhibitors (and some innocent bystanders) at Green Brooklyn 2008

Held at Brooklyn Borough Hall and in Cadman Plaza fittingly among the greenmarket, Green Brooklyn 2008 was packed with great exhibitors and informative sustainability events -- all free to the public. Here's a recap of some of the things I saw (part 1):

Exhibitors

Blacksmith Institute
This non-profit group helps communities in developing nations overcome pollution and its effects. Jen, a representative of the Institute, told me about their list of the top 10 worst polluted places in the world, which is continually being reassessed. According to their site:

The World Heath Organization, in conjunction with the World Bank, estimates that 20 percent of deaths in the developing world are directly attributed to environmental factors from pollution.

Here's their list of the top 10 worse polluted places:

• Sumgayit, Azerbaijan
• Linfen, China (pictured right)
• Tianying, China
• Sukinda, India
• Vapi, India
• La Oroya, Peru
• Dzerzinsk, Russia
• Norilsk, Russia
• Chernobyl, Ukraine
• Kabwe, Zambia

You can support the Blacksmith Institute by donating here.

CeleBritAy
Brooklyn-based vegan skin care line CeleBritAy is the creation of Liz Santiago, whom I had the pleasure of speaking with. She had some products on hand to sample, sell, and smell -- and the scents were naturally delicious. Sesame oil- and cocoa butter- or almond-based body creams are enhanced with bergamot, raspberry, lavendar, rose/peppermint, or arabian musk (or unscented if you prefer). They contain only natural emollients and essential oils -- no petroleum, synthetic fragrance, or chemical stabilizers. You can treat yourself to these creams or her other bath and spa products at celebritayny.com.

GreenHome NYC
According to their site, GreenHome NYC's mission is "to facilitate the adoption of sustainable building methods and materials by owners of small residential and commercial buildings in New York City." They had a wide array of products for green building and renovation on hand for participants to look at, including recycled denim insulation, PaperStone, and sorghum plywood. GreenHome holds a green building forum on the third Wednesday of each month. Learn more here.

Wearable Collections
386 million pounds of textiles end up in the NYC waste stream every year, reports Wearable Collections on their site. And they seem to have a sensible solution: clothing recycling pick up at residential buildings throughout the city. So far, they've kept 350,000 pounds of textiles out of landfills. You can request a bin for your building here.

Sims Metal Management
Sims is the world's largest recycling company with recycling operations all over the globe, and several facilities in the NY Metro area. They're opening a new metal recycling facility in an industrial part of Sunset Park, Brooklyn at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. A representative from Sims told me that this waterfront location would reduce truck traffic by limiting the distance needed for Department of Sanitation trucks to travel from collection to drop-off. It also allows for easier access to carrier barges. Read their environmental policy statement here.

Eat Well Guide
With this non-profit program, you can find Good Food near you -- food that's local, sustainable, and organic. There are thousands of listings of farms, markets, restaurants, and other good food producers.

The Eat Well Guide was developed by Sustainable Table to educate consumers about the problems of factory farming and to provide them with access to sustainable food options. Watch The Meatrix and learn the truth about where food comes from.

Kiwi Magazine
This family-oriented publication provides parents with information on how to raise children in the healthiest way possible. Their magazine shows parents how to practice a healthy and sustainable lifestyle in light of their busy schedules. I was happy to learn they have a free online version of their magazine.

RePlayGround
I spoke with Stephanie of Garbage of Eden Designs at the RePlayGround table about her cool plastic bag jewelry. She's got great earrings and bangles for sale on Etsy -- 10% of their sale goes to various non-profit organizations (including Added Value Farm). You can read an interview with her at Indie Fixx.

Read about my earlier post about RePlayGround here.


Exhibitors I missed:

• Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture
  I'd love to visit their farm in Pocantico Hills, about 30 miles north of NYC. Their restaurant in the city, Blue Hill, has incredible farm-fresh food and at the farm they have tours, a farmer's market, and a restaurant. I think Autumn would be a great time to visit (harvest, fall foliage, &c.)
• Added Value Farm
  This Red Hook, Brooklyn-based farm has a harvest festival coming up on Saturday, October 18 -- and with food from local restaurants, live music and performances, a pumpkin patch, and farm tours, I plan on being there

Exhibitor I meant to give a piece of my mind:
Bettencourt Green Building Supplies -- when we were renovating our kitchen last year, they didn't show up for an appointment we made and didn't answer my numerous calls when I tried to reschedule. (Grrr! Okay, enough griping.)

TNT-free demo

In Japan, they're implementing this pollution-saving way to demolition buildings. It's called daruma-otoshi, based on a video game of a similar concept. What they do is take the building apart from the bottom up instead of just blowing the whole thing up, which would scatter debris all over the place. It also saves about 20% of the time of just blowing the building up, as the clean up is more methodical and less laborious.



[Gizmodo via Kajima via Pink Tentacle]