thank you for prop 2!

In case you haven't heard, over all of the hoopla surrounding the presidential election results, proposition 2 passed in California. I just wanted to thank everyone who contributed to the movement to help get it passed. The farm animals will have a more comfortable existence thanks to you!


Baahk-baah-caaw! (that's thank you! in chickenish)

Read more about it here.

a little reminder

A friendly little reminder from Whole Foods:
what we throw away doesn't just go away.

people are screaming outside in brooklyn

Woo-hoo!!!

nothing like it

This morning when I went to (well, attempted to) vote, I wish I had my camera. The line went out of the school building where the polls are, down the block, around the corner and almost all the way down a full avenue block. I've never seen anything like it... the last presidential election I was able to go right into the building, right away.

I like to vote early in the day to get it out of my system, but I had to come in to work. If I had waited, it would have taken almost an hour and a half just to get to the door of the building.

What I wonder is this: why isn't election day a national holiday? It's such an important event. Many people have off for Columbus Day, honoring someone who didn't even really discover America -- he thought he was in India for goodness' sake. But on the one day where people get to exercise one of their greatest rights, a right that was literally fought for by this country's founders, by the suffragists, by people of color, many people cannot wait on a long line because they have to get to their jobs.

It's just not right!

text out the vote with sierra club and credo mobile

No time to make a phone call to remind friends and family members to vote tomorrow?

Pop on over to txt out the vote to send out a quick note to your loved ones.

get out and vote!

I try to be as nonpartisan as possible on this blog, and how I've done this until now was to avoid talking about the presidential election pretty much altogether. Well, I'm going to go out on a limb a bit here.

While I won't directly tell you which presidential candidate to vote for, I'm going to provide you with the endorsements of some environmental advocates (how passive-aggressive of me!). So if you haven't decided yet, maybe this will help!

Cleantech and Green Business:
Barack Obama
Sierra Club:
Barack Obama
Defenders of Wildlife:
Barack Obama
Friends of the Earth:
Barack Obama
Environment America:
Barack Obama
League of Conservation Voters: Barack Obama
Humane Society Legislative Fund: Barack Obama
Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP): John McCain


Regardless of who you're supporting,
get out and vote!
Find your polling place

how to live sustainably in nyc: part 3

Part 2 of 3 in a series, how to live sustainably in nyc.

A class I recently attended at Borough of Manhattan Community College, led by Les Judd of Green Boroughs, helps New Yorkers find simple ways to live more sustainably.

In the final class, green business owners and non-profit leaders told us about their experiences working toward sustainability. [Read part 1 and part 2] Here are the representatives from the non-profit sector.

Panel 2: Green non-profit

Paula Lukats
CSA in NYC Program Manager
Just Food

Just Food works with local farms and communities in New York City to create a just and sustainable food system. They do this through community supported agriculture (CSA) programs that help family farms stay in business, while providing city dwellers with access to locally grown produce that's both high quality and affordable.

Just Food also serves the community by teaching people how to prepare farm-fresh food. Through the Community Food Education (CFE) Program volunteer food educators are trained to teach workshops on subjects such as cooking skills, food storage, nutrition and wellness, and the value of eating locally grown food.


Chris Collins
Executive Director
SolarOne

A solar-powered “Green Energy, Arts, and Education Center,”
SolarOne works to educate the public -- especially students in grades K-12 -- about renewable energy and the urban environment around them. One of their programs, called TruLight, empowers students to be green entrepreneurs through the marketing and sales of compact fluorescent light bulbs.

To help ensure that the demand for skilled green collar workers is filled for the emerging green economy, SolarOne also provides high school students with hands-on green jobs training.

SolarTwo, the city's first carbon-neutral or net-zero energy use building, is expected to open next year.

Miquela Craytor
Executive Director
Sustainable South Bronx

In a part of the city frequently slated for waste management facilities, where brownfields are common, and the poor often don't have a voice to fight against the pollution that is occurring in their backyard, arose an advocate: Sustainable South Bronx. Majora Carter founded SSBx 7 years ago as a way to revitalize the South Bronx by providing environmental education and tackling issues such as land-use and waste management policies. (Majora Carter, founder, not to be confused with Miquela Craytor, executive director. Their names are so coincidentally similar!)

Miquela mentioned so many incredible projects they are working on it was hard to keep up. They provide green job training and placement in jobs like green roofing, river front restoration, and brownfield restoration through their B.E.S.T. program. As part of their solid waste and energy program they're part of a coalition that created a zero waste campaign, which provides the city with an action plan on how to achieve it.

SSBx also teamed up with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to create their own FabLab (fabrication lab), connecting community members with digital arts and technology to design and create real world solutions to environmental problems in their community.


Bob Muldoon
Associate Regional Representative NYC Field Office
Sierra Club

Bob is one of the rare staff members for a mainly volunteer organization. Most people are aware of the Sierra Club, founded by John Muir and other conservationists in 1892 as a way to preserve the natural places in the United States.

The Sierra Club has regional chapters and field offices with member-organized committees that help shape local and national environmental policy. From the very beginning, an integral part of the club has also been the organization of wilderness excursions for those with the common interest of enjoying the great outdoors.

Bob is part of a campaign to fight climate change through reduction of greenhouse gases, specifically through the reduction of coal-fired power plants. According to Bob, the Sierra Club recently helped block 50 new coal power plants.


Hope for a cleaner, greener future
Being able to hear these amazing advocates and activists talk about how they are making a difference was really inspiring. It really made me hopeful that there are people who care enough to take action in their communities to fight the big polluters, educate people about sustainability, and shape the future of our emerging green economy. I feel fortunate to have been in the presence of such motivating individuals.

happy halloween!

Related post
an eco-friendly halloween

how to live sustainably in nyc: part 2

Part 2 of 3 in a series, how to live sustainably in nyc.

A class I recently attended at Borough of Manhattan Community College helps New Yorkers find simple ways to live more sustainably. Led by Les Judd of Green Boroughs, the class consisted of an initial classroom session, two walking tours, and finally a panel discussion with green business leaders.

My favorite part of the class was the panel discussion. Four green business owners and four leaders of sustainability in the non-profit sector spoke about their work creating or maintaining their organizations and the challenges they face. Here's a little taste of what the panelists had to say.

Panel 1: Green biz

David Kistner
CEO
Green Apple Cleaners

Green Apple is no ordinary dry cleaner. And they're not one of those so-called "organic" cleaners either. To clean clients' clothes they use liquid CO2 that was recaptured from processes like beer brewing. In a Consumer Reports study, CO2 dry cleaning was found to be the most effective dry cleaning method, beating out conventional, toxic perchloroethylene (PERC)-using dry cleaners.

They also skip the disposable plastic bag to cover your freshly cleaned clothes in favor of reusable garment bags.

Green Apple's pick-up and delivery service, which is powered by biodiesel, is so far only available in Manhattan and North Jersey. David hopes to open a Brooklyn location early next year (I hope so!).

According to David, Green Apple is more than a dry cleaning operation. They do interior work for clients such as ABC Carpet & Home, they sell cleaning products, and they also have a not-for-profit educational program for school-aged children. David also consulted on the Greenopia guide.


Mark Caserta
Owner
3R Living

Mark was an environmental lobbyist and his wife, Samantha was a buyer for Fishs Eddy. So it was only natural for them to open a store like 3R Living. It's a great resource for eco-friendly gifts and housewares, with two locations: Park Slope, Brooklyn, and Maplewood, NJ. Though the towns aren't so near to one another, Mark said it was a fairly easy decision to open the second Maplewood store, since so many Park Slope transplants now live there.

You can also shop through their online store.


Catherine Barton
Corporate Director of Business Development
Green Depot

Green Depot is an amazing source for green building supplies. Some of the notable projects they've supplied include the new Brooklyn Center for Urban Environment building, the platinum LEED certified Bank of America Tower, and Entourage star Adrian Grenier's Brooklyn townhouse.

They also work with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to create affordable, sustainable homes for New Yorkers.

According to Catherine, one of the biggest challenges with green building is the installation learning curve (I know this from experience!*). To solve this problem, Catherine works directly with builders to educate workers on how to use their materials.

*When we were having coconut palm composite (DuraPalm) flooring installed in our kitchen last year, it didn't go so smoothly. The carpenter laid down the entire floor using traditional wood floor nailing methods. Almost every board ended up cracked or split. He had to rip up the entire floor and we had to checked every single board for damages to see which pieces were salvageable. Not fun!


Mark Ehrhardt
Co-founder
Movers, Not Shakers

Back when Mark was a stock broker, the moving business was the furthest thing from his mind. When the dot com bubble burst, a friend suggested that helping people with moves was an easy way to make a buck. So Mark started small, using rented trucks to relocate people. Now he runs the sustainable moving company, Movers not Shakers.

His trucks run on biodiesel and instead of wasteful cardboard boxes, Mark's company uses reusable plastic ones he calls GothamBoxes.

At the end of the business year, Mark gave part of the company's proceeds to the Prospect Park Alliance to support a New York City green space, and in a way, offset carbon. He plans on contributing to environmental organizations as a regular business practice.



Look for part 3 of how to live sustainably where I highlight the non-profit green business panelists.

Read part 1.

byob @ kaight

A discount -- what better incentive for bringing your own bag? (Well, aside from knowing you're not creating waste.) If you BYO bag to eco-fashion store Kaight, you'll get 10% off any purchase in the store. Love it!

Dear Friends,

In these times, even the smallest things can make a big difference. For instance, being wasteful simply isn't good: not for our wallets and certainly not for our environment. So, going forward, refuse a bag with your next purchase at Kaight, and we'll give you 10% off, no matter how tiny or large the purchase.

We've got some incredible scarves, mittens, coats, shoes -- the list could do on forever -- in stock. So grab one of the gazillion totes you've got lying around and receive 10% off your next, and then your next, and your next (see where we're going with this?) purchase.

See you soon!

Sincerely,

kate mcgregor
kaight inc.


Kaight
83 Orchard Street
New York, New York 10002
212-680-5630
www.kaightnyc.com

how to live sustainably in nyc: part 1

A class I recently attended at Borough of Manhattan Community College helps New Yorkers find simple ways to live more sustainably. Led by Les Judd of Green Boroughs, the class consisted of an initial classroom session, two walking tours, and finally a panel discussion with green business leaders.

The basics
In class 1 we talked about the basic steps to living sustainably, including shopping at the farmer's market and community supported agriculture (CSA), plus reducing meat in our diets as ways to reduce our carbon footprint.

I learned a little something about recycling in this city -- just because the plastic has a #1 on the bottom doesn't necessarily mean it is recyclable. City recycling only processes plastic bottles with a #1; this excludes iced coffee cups, salad takeout containers, and the like.

We also discussed switching to alternative energy resources such as wind power through ConEdison Solutions.

The walking tours
Les took us to some great businesses in downtown Manhattan. We went to both the East and West Village locations of Birdbath Bakery and shops such as Sustainable NYC, Moo Shoes, and Organic Avenue. We also walked through community gardens like Toyota Children's Garden, one of the green spaces saved by New York Restoration Project which was founded by Bette Midler.

Look for parts 2 and 3 of how to live sustainably where I highlight the green business panelists, including the CEO and founder of Green Apple Cleaners and the Executive Director of Sustainable South Bronx.

thoreau, climatologist

[Photo: Image design by C. Davis and C. Willis.
Photographs depicting those groups in decline
courtesy of K. Cerrudo, A. Miller-Rushing,
J. Novak, T. Barnes, and C. Rushworth.]

Unbeknownst to him, Henry David Thoreau was a climatologist. His recordings of plant flowering patterns from 1851 to 1858 are helping modern climate scientists determine plant abundance and decline in New England. They can then, in turn, link those patterns to climate change.

One of the things they've discovered is that flowers are blooming seven days earlier now than in Thoreau's time. And they could only find 7 of the 21 species of orchids Thoreau recorded. An excerpt:

Henry David Thoreau endorsed civil disobedience, opposed slavery and lived for two years in a hut in the woods here, an experience he described in “Walden.” Now he turns out to have another line in his résumé: climate researcher. He did not realize it, of course.

Thoreau died in 1862, when the industrial revolution was just beginning to pump climate-changing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In 1851, when he started recording when and where plants flowered in Concord, he was making notes for a book on the seasons.

Now, though, researchers at Boston University and Harvard are using those notes to discern patterns of plant abundance and decline in Concord — and by extension, New England — and to link those patterns to changing climate.

Read the rest.

[New York Times]

eco skivvies

What do you hold closest to your nearest and dearest parts? How about pesticides or polluting synthetic materials? Next time you're in the market for unmentionables, make the switch to pure organic cotton, bamboo, recycled polyester, or eco-friendly silk instead.

For the Guys

Boxers or briefs from Patagonia ($25 - $32)
(organic cotton or recycled polyester)

Hemp boxers at BuyGreen.com ($24)


Boxer briefs by Red Dog Sportswear ($50 for 3)
(organic cotton)




For the Gals

Bras and undies from Patagonia ($20 - $50)
(recycled polyester)


Perfectly Imperfect undies at The Greenloop (sale $15)
(organic cotton and lace)



Louella Bloom boyshorts ($22)
(soy & organic cotton, made in USA)



AngelRox wing brief ($30)
(organic cotton, made in USA)


Bra and pantie set by On the Inside ($58)
(organic cotton, sourced and made in USA)


Bra & pantie set by On the Inside ($70)
(organic cotton, sourced and made in USA)