signs of change

[Image: J. Schnakenberg/AMNH]

Starting this Friday at the Union Square Greenmarket, leave your mark on the world by adding your name to the traveling "Signs of Change" globe. It's an awareness activity related to the recently opened exhibit, Climate Change: The Threat to Life and A New Energy Future, at the American Museum of Natural History.

Stop by to sign the 5-foot-diameter white acrylic globe, choose your color -- browns and greens over the continents and blues and purples over the oceans. Signing the globe is a commitment to reduce your carbon footprint. Seeing the globe with so many signatures is a reminder that every voice counts and contributes to positive change on a large scale.




Related posts
climate change exhibit @ AMNH
learning events @ AMNH

can nyc be an exemplary eco city?

That was the question posed last night at the Open Center, in a lecture of the same name. The panelists approached sustainability from both an individual and governmental perspective.

Rohit Aggarwala
Director of the Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability in NYC

According to Rohit, PlaNYC started out as an economic plan. But with population projected to reach 9.1 million residents by 2030 (it's currently over 8 million), it became clear that the focus needed to be on sustainability.

One consideration led to another: if you think about land use patterns, especially with regard to housing, you can't ignore transportation infrastructure; when you consider transportation, air quality becomes a factor; a contributor to poor air quality is the city's current energy resources -- yet another layer; and those energy resources also pollute our waterways, so there's water quality to think about.

Its population growth makes New York City unique among old American cities. There was no model to follow. So the mayor's office turned to other cities around the world. For example, London was the model for congestion pricing, which is up for reconsideration. Or as one NYTimes reporter put it, Governor Paterson is "rescuing the controversial program from the brink of death."

Read the full PlaNYC report.


Starre Vartan
One of the original green bloggers (eco chick), author of The Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to Be Fabulously Green, and managing editor for the Greenopia guide

Starre offered up 7 of her top 10 ways to live sustainably in NYC (her time was cut short).

In general, she says to consider what you do most in your daily life, and then figure out how you can make changes to reduce your impact.

[NB. I've paraphrased a bit]

1. Food. Support farmer's markets and local food, as our food miles add a considerable heft to our carbon footprint.

2. Goods. Buy local. There are many great designers of furniture, clothing, and other goods right here in NYC. When you consider a simple article of clothing like a t-shirt, think about all that went into it. The cotton, grown with chemical fertilizers and treated with pesticides is grown in one country. Then it's shipped to another place to be dyed. Then the fabric is sent somewhere else to be sewn together. The tags may be sewn on in an entirely different place. The carbon footprint of a t-shirt is astronomical! (Read about the perfect t-shirt ever made [!])

3. Transport. Keep using public transportation. Bike if you've got one. There are bike advocate groups you can join or support (like Recycle a Bicycle). Limit cab rides or share with a friend (or try a service like Ride Amigos).

4. Toxins. Get them out of your life. One of the simplest, easiest, and least expensive ways to do this is to swap your cleaning supplies. Toxic chemicals from cleaning products pollute our waterways and our bodies. Waste treatment facilities only filter out bio-organisms, so those cleaning biproducts are mixing together in our water. Another way to eliminate toxins is changing your beauty products.

5. Energy. Switch to clean energy through services like ConEdison Solutions, which offer wind and hydroelectric power that feeds into the grid (which unless you're off the grid, and you'd know if you were, you're hooked up to). It may cost a little more per month, but what you're paying for is clean air and health. It's really the one place you should spend a little more to help save our health and the planet.

6. Junk mail. Sign up for services that stop junk mail, like GreenDimes or DMAChoice (I know it works, 'cause I've used it!).

7. Office. Green your workplace. Some motivated employees may already be volunteering to help reduce the carbon footprint of their office. But many businesses still have along way to go to achieve eco-friendly status. Implement recycling, start a campaign to eliminate paper cup use (bring your own!), encourage printing on both sides. These steps will make the office more sustainable and help the bottom line!

Visit Eco chick for more green living tips.


Janna Olson
Sustainability consultant and NYC market manager & researcher at Greenopia

I was excited to see Janna there, as I'm currently taking a class with her (which I'll write about soon). She had some technical difficulties (her Mac couldn't communicate with the overhead projector), but Janna raised some really compelling points -- many of them directed at Rohit Aggarwala.

One of the concepts Janna discussed was distributed energy generation, specifically solar empowerment zones -- a term coined by City Councilmember and Infrastructure Task Force co-chair Daniel Garodnick [OnEarth]. Essentially, buildings in areas of the city that have been identified as suitable for photovoltaic solar panel installation (“low-density areas that have buildings with large rooftops to create a synergy for an entire neighborhood to become solar-powered,” according to Garodnick) would be given incentive to invest in solar. This method makes solar more cost-effective through sharing of maintenance responsibility, tax incentives, and the potential for a consolidated connection to the grid within the zone.

Janna also talked about the usefulness and importance of the Greenopia guide. While helping consumers living in cities like New York find green businesses, the guide helps green businesses -- some of which might have a limited marketing budget -- get the attention they deserve. She also stressed that living green should not be a chore, it can and should be a fun endeavor.

Read an interview with Janna [alldaybuffet].



Sign up for an upcoming eco event at the Open Center:

How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint, and Still Have a Great Life
with Colin Beavan (No Impact Man) and Janna Olson
Friday, January 16 2009, 7:00pm - 10:00pm

cooper-hewitt people's design award

Really good design should be more than just functional, and more than just sustainable (that of course is key!). It needs to look good, too.

Cooper-Hewitt, as part of The National Design Awards, is letting you be the judge of what's good design in their annual People's Design Award show. There are many eco-friendly designs to vote for, from gDiapers to the Green Map System (which I've mentioned before). But if you want to get your two cents in, ya gotta act fast. Judging ends today at 6:00pm (you can also vote on facebook).

Winners will be revealed on their site on Thursday, the 23rd at 10:00pm (there's also an after party if you're interested).

Bonus!
Get free admission to Cooper-Hewitt all week long in honor of National Design Week (through October 25th).

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, a subsidiary of the Smithsonian Institution, is the only museum in the US that focuses solely on design.

nau is back!

Eco-activewear makers Nau are back! Check out some of their new designs (see Flection Wrap Skirt and Men's Riding Jacket below), as well as some of their classics, like the Urbane Jacket (for women, last pictured below).





Related post
welcome back, nau!

vimeo climate change video contest

Brighter Planet and 1Sky put together a video contest to inspire the next president to take action on climate change. Climate Matters winners will be announced tomorrow, October 21st.

Here's one of the finalist videos. Go to Vimeo for more.


Climate Matters from Brighter Planet on Vimeo.


The top videos will be delivered to Washington just before the November elections to ensure that our next president and next Congress receives the message loud and clear: America is ready for bold leadership on climate change!

[Vimeo]

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.

appetizing arts

Also at the Red Hook Harvest Festival were Elizabeth Johnson and Ludie Minaya of Conscious Cravers.

At the Harvest, Elizabeth and Ludie were selling some adorable and provocative t-shirts, with messages focused on healthy eating and farm practices.





What is Conscious Cravers all about?

[Conscious Cravers] are performance art food educators who use interactive skits, role plays and visuals to empower people to be conscious about their cravings and gain the skills they need to take responsibility for their health. We travel throughout the New York tri-state area (and beyond) with knives, cutting boards and portable burners in tow bringing the message of sound food for a sound mind and a sound body to anyone who is willing to listen to us.

Check out their workshop offerings.


The Appetizing Arts Exhibit

Be sure to catch this "exploration of food as fuel for artistic expression" on display at The Rising Arts Gallery in Brooklyn. The exhibit will feature photography, painting, and mixed media works by artists who use food as inspiration. Full details below:

Appetizing Arts

The Rising Arts Gallery
35 Claver Place #1
(btwn Fulton and Jefferson)
Brooklyn, NY 11238

Opening reception
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
6-9pm

On view until December 12th, 2008.

Read more about Appetizing Arts here.

red hook harvest

This past Saturday my friend Anne and I hopped on our bikes (after the helpful guys at Bicycle Station put Anne's bike chain back on) and headed down to the Red Hook Harvest Festival hosted by Added Value and Herban Solutions at Red Hook Community Farm.


Truer words were never written

We arrived just in time to get a tutorial from Classie Parker on canning for the leaner months. She showed us how to "put some love into" pickled onions and dilly beans and we sampled some of her delicious canned peaches. Spectators were able to participate by canning their own veggies.

Classie's puttin' her love into it


Classie shows them how to can-can

There were all kinds of activities for kids: pumpkin picking and a carving contest, bite the apple on the string, and Halloween costume making from fabric scraps. Families had the opportunity to pet the farm's chickens (whom, I'd like to add, were extraordinarily handsome).

Pickin' pumpkins at the pumpkin patch


Here chickie-chickies


That's one handsome chicken!


Swaying and bobbing for apples

Local restaurants including Applewood, The Good Fork, iCi, and Rice were serving up delicious soups and savories. I was happy to see that Rice sends their compost to the farm in these buckets.

Rice's compost buckets

Companies like Tri-State Biodiesel, orgs like Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (we rode on part of the new bike path on the way to the fest), and nonprofits like Heifer International were on hand to answer questions and provide information to the public.

Local musicians provided entertainment, local students offered up African dance lessons, and the local farm stand was set up to sell fresh produce and meats.

Some of the entertainment

It was a beautiful, sunny day that brought together an urban community in an agrarian way.


Learn more about canning farm fresh food

• FreshPreserving.com
• Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (new edition)
  by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine

thanks threadbanger!

Thanks to my Halloween post, Threadbanger featured my blog on one of their videos.




Be sure to check out Threadbanger's fun Halloween costume ideas. (I think the bat is my fave.)

banksy dolittle

Instead of talking to the animals, he talks for them. Today, I took a look at British street artist Banksy's latest statement at The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill (7th Ave South btwn West 4th and Bleecker). Animal testing, commodity meat, fur, and general animal exploitation all demonstrated in a fun animatronic medium. Now through October 31st.




Baby McNuggets



Cat? No coat.


Fishy sticks


Thirsty dog


Monkey pawrn


Bunny beauty
(I found it interesting that he chose Orly nail polish, which is NOT tested on animals. Though there is also a Revlon polish on that bunny's bureau.)

bcue: introducing third thursday public forums

The Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment (BCUE) launched their series of Third Thursday public forums yesterday, October 16th at 6pm. The series will explore the economic challenges facing the borough in greater detail.

I couldn't make it to yesterday's forum (and sorry I'm just announcing it now!), but I hope to attend future events. Stay tuned to BCUE's website, or sign up to receive their announcements.

“Being Your Own Pied Piper: How the Song of Local Business Will Save NYC’s Economy,” will feature leaders in NYC’s local economy and discuss how our locally owned and operated industries are weathering the recent and ongoing storms on Wall Street. From manufacturing and construction to the food and event planning sectors, learn who and what the anchors of the new “local living economy” are —and how they can benefit businesses and local communities. Join us at our first “Third Thursday” forum to learn more about how strong community relations and environmentally responsible practices serve as capital to support and strengthen your portfolio and neighborhood economy.

Panelists include: Carl Hum, President, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce; Max Carey, CEO, CRD Analytics; Jennifer Stokes, Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership; and Catherine Bohne, Owner, Park Slope Community Bookstore.

Check here for details.

the lost 8 years

Many in the environmental community consider the past 8 years of Bush Administration Policy as the lost 8 years. Here, Environmental Defense Fund shows us some of the devastation that ensued under the watch of our careless rulers.


Lost Eight Years by the Numbers

Over the last eight years, global warming took its toll on the world.

While climate scientists confirmed that it is undoubtedly a man-made phenomenon and predicted its disastrous future effects, the Bush Administration worked with various members of U.S. industry to bury this evidence and block action.

Check out our 10 Facts About the Lost Eight Years to learn more.

150,000
The number of people who died in 2000 due to debilitating diseases caused by climate change in 2000, according to a 2003 study by the World Health Organization.

20 billion
The net tons of water oceans gain each year through melting glaciers and ice caps, according to a 2006 study by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

1,260
Square miles in area of the Larsen B ice shelf that collapsed off the Antarctic Peninsula in 2002 – this area is roughly the size of Rhode Island.

2050
Year by which polar bears could be at or near extinction according to the U.S. Geological Survey in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

4.5 feet
The amount the seas could rise by the end of the century, according to scientists at the University of Arizona.

928
Number of peer reviewed papers used in a study that found there were no serious challenges to the global warming consensus that the phenomena was real and largely man made.

385 ppm
The concentration of CO2 in the earth's atmosphere in 2008 - the highest level in at least the past 800,000 years and 37% higher than CO2 concentrations at the start of the Industrial Revolution.

$200 billion
The amount of economic losses resulting from the intensity of climate change through the year 2005, according to the reinsurance company Munich Re.

0
Number of global warming bills passed by the Senate.

0
Number of global warming bills passed by the House.

Sources:

• McMichael, Anthony J., ed. Climate Change and Human Health: Risks and Responses. World Health Organization. 2003.
• "NASA Finds Arctic Replenished Very Little Thick Sea Ice in 2005." The Earth Observer. Volume 19, Issue 3. May/June 2007.
• National Snow and Ice Data Center. “Larsen B Ice Shelf Collapses in Antarctica.” March 18, 2002.
• Roach, John. "Most Polar Bears Gone By 2050, Studies Say." National Geographic News. September 10, 2007.
• Borenstein, Seth. "Global warming's rising seas projected to overtake unique U.S. coastal spots in 100 years." Associated Press. September 22, 2007.
• Oreskes, Naomi "Beyond the Ivory Tower: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change" for Science December 4, 2004.
• Hansen, James. "Twenty Years Later: Tipping Points Near on Global Warming." The Huffington Post, June 23, 2008.
• Faust, Ebhard. "Climate Change impact on the (re-) Insurance Industry and Munich Re's Response." Global Roundtable on Climate Change Session II at Columbia University. November 14-15, 2005.

What do you think?

Leave your answer to the following questions posed by Environmental Defense Fund:

With a new administration only months away and a significantly new Congress just around the corner, do you think the United States will finally give environmental concerns the priority they deserve? Or will we end up falling into the pitfalls of the past, with political disagreements hindering progress?

apple day, this sunday

Eat some apples in the big apple while learning simple ways to go green, this Sunday on the Lower East Side. It's New York City Apple Day!

Sunday, October 19
11am to 4:30pm
Orchard St btwn Broome and Grand

• Apple Tastings - Apple Pie to Chicken Apple Sausage to Chocolate Apple Truffles and Apples and Honey for Sukkot

• Face painting and Family Activities for kids

• Free giveaways! Toys, 500 Energy Efficient Light Bulbs, T-Shirts

• Live Entertainment

• Learn the best way to recycle

• Learn how to save energy and money

• Learn the simplest things to do in your home to Go Green

It's true what they say, "an apple a day..."

I just read this fitting little tidbit from Yoga Journal editor Andrea Kowalski:

According to Ayurvedic medicine, apples help draw out of the body the heat that accumulates over the summer—heat that can dry out and cause digestive distress in the winter season. The pectin in apples also helps to clean and heal digestive mucosa, according to Ayurvedic doctor John Douillard.

Love apples? Share your favorite apple recipes here.


Honeycrisp, one of my favorites