Union Square Holiday Market Offers Some Nifty Options
Monday, December 3rd, 2007
While the Union Square Green Market is not has hopping as it is during the summer, the Holiday Market will be with us through the end of the season. There are over 100 vendors, and some decent options for local and environmentally conscious goods and toys. Explore them for yourself–and do some of your shopping out of a store and away from the computer.
Photo by ShellyS on Flickr
Posted in New York City, Products | Permalink
Trees Making a Comeback
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
The UN reported that a BILLION trees were planted last year around the world, with Mexico and Ethiopia at the top of the list. People are getting the idea that economy and the environment is not a choice, but a team. Cutting trees gives versatile building materials and fuel, but trees prevent costly erosion damage and soil loss, and help mitigate local droughts. They also provide natural shelter from the heat in summer and cold winds in winter, as well as absorbing carbon dioxide to to their share to mitigate climate destabilization.
Here in NYC, the New York Restoration Project (nyrp.org), in partnership with PlaNYC, is on a mission to plant a million trees in the city. There are lots of ways to get involved including recommending places for trees (like on your street!), volunteering and more. Visit their site at milliontreesnyc.org.
Photo by experiencingkenya on Flickr.
Posted in Global Warming, New York City, Sustainability | Permalink
Organic and classy debauchery in the East Village
Friday, November 9th, 2007
Competing with other hip storefronts in one of the hippest parts of town is Counter, an organic wine & martini bar and vegetarian bistro. I went there a little bit ago for my birthday dinner for two and was not disappointed. They have friendly service and sophisticated homie-ish cooking. I had a lentil loaf, akin to the veggie version of meatloaf. (Definitely try the sweet potato fries, see them in the picture!)
Of course, Counter’s feature is a stocked list of organic wines and organic liquors. They have over 100 wines to choose from, and whatever wine my girlfriend picked I quite enjoyed. Not to be outdone, the bar is outfitted with harder-to-come-by organic liquors and the martinis have typically adventurous names like “Up All Night” and “Angry Lesbian”.
picture by katrinbird on Flickr
Posted in Food, New York City | Permalink
New Protected Wetland in NYC
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
In today’s NYT, check out this article about the Parks Department’s newest project- Arlington Marsh in Staten Island. The 55-acre wetland parcel on Staten Island’s north shore will be cleaned up and protected, and is already home to a large assortment of wildlife, despite its less-than-pristine condition. The Arlington Marsh is especially exciting because it’s linked by the Kill Van Kull to another protected wetland on the nearby NJ coast called Mariner’s Marsh. This could be the start of a whole new prognosis for the heavily industrialized area.
Posted in Native Plants, New York City, Pollution, Sustainability | Permalink
SlowLab
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007Feeling a bit frenetic in the city? Well then slow down, with NYC’s slowlab:
SlowLab is an emerging organization based in New York City and with activities worldwide.
The mission of the organization is to promote ’slowness’ as a positive catalyst of individual, socio-cultural and environmental well-being, engaging the innate creative capacities of individuals and leveraging the collaborative potential of communities to spur networks of cooperation that incite new thinking and approaches.
To achieve this, slowLab has initiated and is growing a network of creative, civic-minded individuals from all areas of the general public to exchange ideas and resources, share knowledge and cooperatively develop projects that positively impact the lives of individuals, the communities they participate in and the planet that we share.
slowLab’s current and future programs include public lectures, discussions and exhibitions, a dynamic online project observatory and communication portal, academic programs and publishing projects. Our objective is to reach a wide spectrum of disciplines and communities, enabling slowLab’s more holistic approach to take root and grow among the national and international public.
Posted in Art, Education, New York City, Sustainability | Permalink
Zen Palate Closes Doors
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
The Asian vegetarian eatery on the northwest edge of Union Square closed on October 29 because of rent increases. Well known in the area for a nice atmosphere and good vegetarian cuisine that was at least not crazy expensive, it will be sad to see this one go. There’s still one near Times Square and one by Wall St. And also one in Princeton.
Posted in Food, New York City | Permalink
Bloomberg Advocates Carbon Tax
Monday, November 5th, 2007
At a convention in Seattle Mayor Bloomberg advocated for a national carbon tax to incentivise the reduction of carbon emissions. He called a “cap & trade” method more politically feasible, but he went on to say that a carbon tax is the much better structure, as it puts a clear price on polluting.
He would balance out a pollution tax with a corresponding tax cut, so it would be revenue neutral. On an individual scale, it would encourage people and companies to watch where they release their carbon.
The NYTimes has the transcript of the speech and some interesting introduction.
Posted in Global Warming, Legislation, New York City | Permalink
Promoting Re-use at NYC.gov
Monday, November 5th, 2007Coming on the heels of the news that New York City is conducting a modest expansion of its public recycling program, comes the new NYC Stuff Exchange. I believe that this is a new endeavor building off of the Dept. of Sanitation’s Wastele$$ program, and it promises to help New Yorkers find ways to donate/sell/buy/rent/repair their “gently used” items of all kinds. They are also hosting a calendar of events to keep track of the various book fairs, donation drives and swap meets taking place around the city. Should be a valuable resource as we gear up for a holiday season full of parties, good cheer, gifts, leftovers and a whole lot of extra waste.
These are small steps for a city that has not made much progress at improving its recycling and diversion rates, and that lags well behind cities like Seattle and San Francisco, but at least there are steps being taken. We’d still like to see the adoption of some ambitious goals (up to, and including Zero Waste), as PlaNYC was largely silent on the matter of waste and the cost of disposing on NYC’s trash in the far-flung landfills of Virginia, South Carolina and beyond is only going to get more expensive (and carbon intensive - all those truck miles!).
For more options for re-use and waste prevention, check out Freecycle NYC , Wa$tematch, and the NYC Materials Exchange Development Program.
And we’d be totally remiss to not remind you (as always) that Build It Green! is the place to go for building materials, paint and a whole lot more at deeply discounted prices. Wine cooler, anyone?
Posted in Build It Green, New York City, Recycling, Waste | Permalink
Water on the Big Screen
Friday, November 2nd, 2007
The Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, the longest-running showcase for international documentaries in the US and one of New York City’s best-kept cultural secrets, will kick off next Friday night at the American Museum of Natural History.
This year’s lineup, as usual, features a broad spectrum of films in both traditional and experimental form that tackle a range of issues from coping with disabilities to global human rights and the plight of indigenous communities. One current issue that many of this year’s entries deal with is water rights and accessibility. As our planet continues to grow more crowded and our environments continue to deteriorate under the prevalence of environmentally irresponsible practices, availability and access to water is quickly becoming one of the more vital concerns of the 21st Century.
Among the festival’s 29 entries, five films (packaged in two separate programs) are dedicated to this pressing issue: “Village of Dust, City of Water” and “Thirst” (@ 3:15 PM on Saturday, Nov. 10); and “El Agua en Tiempos Extras (Water in Extra Times)”, “Gimme Green” and “The Water Front” (@ 1:15 PM on Sunday, Nov. 11). These screenings will be held in conjunction with the museum’s current exhibit, “Water: H20 = Life”, on view through May 2008. As is typical of the Mead screenings, these films will only be shown once during the course of the festival. For more information, click here.
Posted in New York City, Other Events | Permalink
E-waste recycling: Do it.
Thursday, October 25th, 2007The recycling of electronic waste is on the brink of hitting main-stream in the United States. Most of it in NYC is done by large institutions using recyclers like Per Scholas, but the DSNY is also getting in on the game to bring the good policy to individuals. Go to our recycling page to learn to save your e-waste for convenient collection days and places.
This video was made by GOOD Magazine.
Posted in New York City, Recycling | Permalink
