Join us Tuesday, January 31, for the first 2012 event in Solar One’s and NYC ACRE’s cleantech discussion series Clean Energy Connections: No Money No Problems? Financing Cleantech in the Post-ARRA Era.

Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2011 7:00pm-9:00pm (doors open at 6:30p)
The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC
44 Charlton Street, New York, NY 10014
General Admission: $25, Students: $10

Register for your advanced tickets here
A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.

The beginning of 2012 ushers in a new era in renewable energy funding. Section 1603 Treasury Program is dead in the water thanks to a gridlocked Congress, and low tax appetites have hamstrung potential investors. As we move into an uncertain financial landscape, where will today’s renewable energy upstarts find funding for their projects and companies? Will private financing step in to sustain the industry’s momentum? How can the considerable financial power of New York City take a leadership role? Financial experts will examine these issues and offer a realistic assessment of where cleantech is headed now that the federal buck has stopped.

A networking reception will follow the panel discussion and audience Q&A.

Opening Speaker:
- Nathanael Greene, Director of Renewable Energy Policy, Natural Resources Defense Council

Panelists:
- Izzet Bensusan, President and CEO, Karbone
- Ann Davlin, Director of Development, Carbon War Room
- Jason Scott, Partner, EKO Asset Management Partners

Moderator:
- Michael Molnar, Partner, Greentech Capital Advisors

Can’t make it? Greentech Media is the media sponsor for this series and will host a free live web stream of this event at www.greentechmedia.com. Questions for the panelists and comments can be submitted via Twitter@CleanECNYC, #CleanNRGx.

No Money No Problems? is the first event of the second season of the cleantech discussion series Clean Energy Connections. Clean Energy Connections is a program of Solar One and NYC ACRE at NYU-Poly that brings together professionals, policymakers, investors and academia to explore major topics shaping NYC’s blossoming cleantech industry, and provides an expert forum to share best practices and new inspirations.

Starting January 30, New Yorkers will be able to conveniently finance energy-efficient upgrades to their homes through a charge on their electric bill. On average, this charge will be less than the money saved by the improvements, so participants should not see their bills rise on a yearly basis. And if you act soon, you won’t have any payments due until June 2012.

This is the new On-Bill Recovery Loan Program, which we explained in November. The program will be available to homeowners who are customers of Central Hudson Gas and Electric, Con Edison, Long Island Power Authority, New York State Electric and Gas Corporation, National Grid (upstate NY customers only), Orange and Rockland, and Rochester Gas and Electric Corporation. The program will soon be offered to small businesses, not-for-profits, and multifamily building owners, although it is not yet available for these groups.

NYSERDA recently released the details of the On-Bill Recovery program, which offers lower interest rates than its current financing programs.  For a rundown of the newly released details and an explanation of how the program will benefit you, continue reading after the jump.

The money awarded by the DOE is for SunShot NY, a two-phase $3.4 million dollar plan that aims to increase the accessibility and affordability of solar for New York City residents by driving down administrative costs.

Phase 1 will shorten NYC’s approval process for solar installations by creating an online multi-agency permit tracking portal. Development of the portal will involve the support and collaboration of 30 organizations that are part of the solar industry, including utility companies, installers, government agencies, and industry leaders. Once completed, it will remove delays in city installations, cutting down the permitting processes from one year to 100 days. These changes will significantly increase the rate of new solar installations in NYC.

For more information on the award, you can read the press release here. You can also check out the DOE’s page about the Rooftop Solar Challenge, where you can see info about the other 22 award winners.

Join us this Wednesday for the 6th event of Solar One’s and NYC ACRE’s cleantech discussion series Clean Energy Connections: EVs in NYC: What Roll-out Strategies Work Best for the Big Apple?

Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 7:00pm-9:00pm (doors open at 6:30p)
The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC
44 Charlton Street, New York, NY 10014
General Admission: $25, Students: $10

Register for your advanced tickets here
A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.

New York City has the nation’s largest hybrid vehicle fleet and the best access to public transportation in the United States. City officials and Con Edison are planning for widespread adoption of electric vehicles and its impact on the electric grid. This event will focus on fleet-based approaches for electric vehicles, charging infrastructure challenges, and what this roll-out means for grid-scale storage and reliability issues.

A networking reception will follow the panel discussion and audience Q&A.

Opening Speakers:
- Christina Ficicchia, Executive Director, New York City and Lower Hudson Valley Clean Communities
- Keith Kerman, Deputy Commissioner, New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS); New York City’s first Chief Fleet Officer

Panelists:

- Brian Asparro, Chief Financial Officer, Green Charge Networks
- John Shipman, Department Manager, Electric Vehicle Programs, Con Edison
- Brett Gipe, Regional Sales Director, Eastern U.S. & Canada, Smith Electric Vehicles
- Anatol Feygin, Vice President, Energy Strategist, Loews Corporation

Moderator:
- David Leeds, Senior Manager, Smart Grid Research, Greentech Media

Can’t make it? Greentech Media is the media sponsor for this series and will host a free live web stream of this event at www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/evs-in-nyc-what-roll-out-strategies-work-best-for-the-big-apple. Questions for the panelists and comments can be submitted via Twitter@CleanECNYC, #CleanNRGx.

EVs in NYC is a part of the cleantech discussion series Clean Energy Connections. Clean Energy Connections is a program of Solar One and NYC ACRE at NYU-Poly that brings together professionals, policymakers, investors and academia to explore major topics shaping NYC’s blossoming cleantech industry, and provides an expert forum to share best practices and new inspirations.

Get your spooky fun on this Friday at BuildItGreen!NYC’s brand-new space in Gowanus, Brooklyn! From 3-6pm, kids can stop by the BIG!NYC/GrowNYC costume swap and trade their old finery for new, plus watch family-friendly Hallowe’en films, do some eco-crafts (Solar One will be making cardboard animal masks), play games and much more!

Then at 7pm, it’s time for more adult fun at BIG’s costume fundraiser. Tickets start at just $10 and are available HERE!

BIG!NYC Costume Swap and Fundraiser
Friday October 28, 2011
Costume Swap at 3pm, Fundraiser at 6pm
69 9th Street, Brooklyn
Get directions HERE!

How can smart co-ops and condos turn pressure to “go green” into an opportunity to reduce costs and comply with new codes?

Solar One and the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums (CNYC) are hosting another Intro to Green workshop for co-ops and condos at 7:00pm on October 13. This two-hour workshop will present cost-effective ways to reduce energy expenses and have a healthier, greener building; details on the NYSERDA Multifamily Performance Program for energy efficiency retrofits and financing; an overview of new green laws and code changes; and strategies for engaging owners in the greening process.

Date: Thursday, October 13, 2011
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: New York Society for Ethical Culture
2 W. 64th Street, New York, NY 10023
Register

If your building wants to go green but doesn’t know where to start, this is the workshop for you. We hope to see you there! See below for how to register, or check out the Intro to Green website to learn more. Pre-registration is required due to limited space.

This workshop is free for residents of CNYC member buildings. If your building is a CNYC member, please register by contacting CNYC at (212) 496-7400 or info@cnyc.coop. For questions about the workshop, call Solar One at (212) 785-0734 or email jeff@solar1.org.

There is a $30 fee for non-CNYC members. Please sign up by clicking here.

Taken together, these upgraded technologies are known as the smart grid. In August, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), the non-profit organization that manages New York’s electricity grid and administers the state’s wholesale electricity markets, unveiled a $74 million initiative to upgrade New York’s electricity grid with new smart grid technologies.

Backed by more than $37 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, these technologies will improve the efficiency of the state’s bulk transmission system and improve grid operators’ visualization capabilities and situational awareness. NYISO also held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new $35.5 million primary power control center in Rensselaer County.

What does it all mean?

New Yorkers will save money. New capacitor banks will reduce electricity costs in New York State approximately $9 million per year by reducing the amount of electricity that is lost when carried over long distances on the bulk transmission system. All told, the upgrades will provide New York with approximately $190 million in annual savings.

Power reliability will improve. New phaser measurement units will improve NYISO’s ability to receive, process and monitor changing conditions, which it does on a moment-to-moment basis, 24 hours per day. Ultimately, NYISO hopes to integrate its smart grid with others across the Northeast and Canada, which could help avoid potential outages, such as the 2003 blackout.

Renewable energy will get a boost. The smart grid upgrades and new power control center will aid the integration of renewable energy supplies, such as solar and wind, into the power supply.

To learn more, visit the NYISO website, read its press release or check out the NYS Smart Grid Consortium overview.

Considering that we’re supposed to have a hurricane this weekend, we may have to cancel more than one film for the second week in a row. We are going to try and reschedule for later in the year- please check back here and on the Film page to find out what the plan is for DIRT!, Urban Roots and An Evening with Matthew Modine.

Please come tomorrow to the screening of Dirty Business,  a new film about coal.

Our speaker tomorrow night will be Lyna Hinkel from 350.org:

With a background in international children’s television and documentary film production, Lyna has a long history of environmental activism.   She is presently organizing the 350.org Moving Planet NYC climate march and rally coming Sept 24^th.

350.org is an international organization working to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis. With over 500 partners and tens of thousands of active volunteers in 192 countries, we have thus far successfully organized the two largest coordinated days of climate action in the planet’s history. This year, our third mobilization is called Moving Planet: A Day to Move Beyond Fossil Fuels and will take place on September 24.

Moving Planet NYC

Out of the 300+ events scheduled to take place from coast to coast, NYC will be home to the spotlight Moving Planet event in North America. It will consist of a bike/march and rally from Columbus Circle to the United Nations Dag Hammerskold Plaza, with participants highlighting the need to move beyond fossil fuels and asking their elected leaders to push for clean energy solutions and a fair, ambitious and binding climate treaty at COP 17 in Durban, South Africa.

Dirty Business
Friday August 26 at 7pm (film will screen between 8-8:30)
At Solar One (Map)

UPDATE! MORE THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY NIGHT, DIRT! THE MOVIE CANCELED AGAIN

Please check back here to find out when we might be able to screen DIRT!

Due to thunderstorms on Friday, the screening of DIRT! the Movie has been postponed until TONIGHT Sunday August 21 at 7pm (film will screen around 8:30).

The summer is more than half over, and you know what that means- time for Solar One’s annual Solar-Powered Film Series! As usual, we’ll have 6 programs of (mostly environmental) features and shorts, with a few surprises and special guests thrown in. Also as usual, we’ll be partnering with the always-amazing Green Edge NYC, a social network that helps New Yorkers live more sustainably. This year’s Film Series is also sponsored by Chapin Hill Advisors, a financial planning and wealth management firm with a strong commitment to the environment. We’re excited to welcome them to the Solar One family!

Also new this year: the first week of films deal with the themes of food and urban agriculture, and we’re incredibly excited that the urban farmers of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm will be coming to Solar One and setting up a farm stand where attendees will be able to buy popcorn, snacks and produce grown right across the river in Greenpoint, Brooklyn! Eagle Street is close to Solar One’s heart not only because of their farming venture, but also for Growing Chefs, a great program that teaches schoolkids to not only grow food, but to prepare it as well.

  
Come and meet them on Thursday, Friday and Saturday August 18-20!

And now, more about the first film we’ll be screening- DIRT! the Movie:

From the website:

DIRT! The Movie–directed and produced by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow–takes you inside the wonders of the soil. It tells the story of Earth’s most valuable and underappreciated source of fertility–from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation.

The opening scenes of the film dive into the wonderment of the soil. Made from the same elements as the stars, plants and animals, and us, “dirt is very much alive.” Though, in modern industrial pursuits and clamor for both profit and natural resources, our human connection to and respect for soil has been disrupted. “Drought, climate change, even war are all directly related to the way we are treating dirt.”

DIRT! the Movie–narrated by Jaime Lee Curtis–brings to life the environmental, economic, social and political impact that the soil has. It shares the stories of experts from all over the world who study and are able to harness the beauty and power of a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship with soil.

DIRT! the Movie is simply a movie about dirt. The real change lies in our notion of what dirt is. The movie teaches us: “When humans arrived 2 million years ago, everything changed for dirt. And from that moment on, the fate of dirt and humans has been intimately linked.” But more than the film and the lessons that it teaches, DIRT the Movie is a call to action.

“The only remedy for disconnecting people from the natural world is connecting them to it again.”

What we’ve destroyed, we can heal.

Speaker: Leanne Spaulding, Program Coordinator for the Western Queens Compost Initiative will talk abut the latest in compost initiatives and how YOU can get involved! Find out more about WQCI on their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/wqnscompost.

You can see trailers and get information about the entire Series HERE, and check back here in the coming days for more details about each program!

Unfortunately and once again, severe thunderstorms are headed straight for us, so we’ll be canceling the screening of Urban Roots tonight. Since we’ll be screening DIRT! on Sunday August 21, we’ll have to see about a rain date for Urban Roots.

URBAN ROOTS!

We’ve all got some urban roots, don’t we? Well, a small group of Detroit natives have discovered that their urban roots, and brought them to the center of a farming revolution! The movie, URBAN ROOTS, directed by Detroit-native Mark McInnis details the powerful story of a small group of unique individuals involved in Detroit’s inner-city agricultural movement.

The documentary from Tree Media (produced by Leila Conners and Mathew Schmid and directed by Mark Mac-Innis) the film follows the urban farming phenomenon in Detroit. Urban Roots is a timely, moving and inspiring film that speaks to a nation grappling with collapsed industrial towns and the need to forge a sustainable and prosperous future.

While it follows the inspiring stories of several agricultural programs, each story in Urban Roots is designed to address a specific issue. Not only are the organizations amazingly productive and emotionally driven, but the people tilling the soil and picking the harvest have fantastic stories to tell!

Speaker: TBA

Anyone Up For A FOOD FIGHT?

When we walk into a supermarket, we assume that we have the widest possible choice of healthy foods. But in fact, over the course of the 20th century, our food system has been co-opted by corporate forces whose interests do not life in providing the public with fresh healthy and sustainably-produced food.

Fortunately, for America, FOOD FIGHT, produced and directed by Christopher Taylor, is here to expose the nation’s tainted, conventional food system. FOOD FIGHT documents the journey of a group of political, anti-corporate, protesters – led by Alice Waters – as they voice their dissent over the conventional food system. The unintended result was the birth of a vital, local, sustainable, organic, food movement that has brought back taste and variety to our tables.

FOOD FIGHT is a fascinating look at how American agricultural policy and food culture developed in the 20th century, and how the California food movement has created a counter- revolution against big agribusiness.

In addition, FOOD FIGHT empowers views to share in this revolution. We have the power through our food choices to put the culture back in American agriculture. We get three votes a day, and they don’t all have to be perfect. But if just one meal is made with a mind to the small farmer, the land, and the environment, then we can all make a huge difference, one meal at a time.

Speaker: Paula Lukats, CSA NYC Program Manager for Just Food
Paula has 15 years of experience working in community and program development in New York City and has helped groups start CSA sites for the last 6 years.

Just Food has been the leader in connecting local farms to NYC neighborhoods and communities since 1995. Our mission is to unite local farms and city residents of all economic backgrounds with fresh, seasonal, sustainably grown food.

120 years and one symposium later, solar powered hot water heating systems may finally be getting the attention they deserve in New York City. Since their invention in 1891 by American businessman Clarence Kemp, Americans on the whole  have been very slow and reluctant in adopting renewable energy water heating systems. However, that has not stopped solar hot water systems from becoming extremely popular in China and Europe; Germany, according to EarthKind Solar’s Ron Kamen, installs as many as 200,000 systems a year.

Fortunately, New York City may be just the city to put solar hot water systems back on the map for Americans. Executives from Quixotic Systems Inc., EarthKind Solar, and Sunnovations reported that the existing technology functions excellently in New York City’s temperate climate –especially atop buildings that have flat roofs and are 13 stories or lower (the majority of buildings in the city). In addition, building owners and managers such as Peter Bourbeau, of PWB Management Corporation, described how installing solar hot water systems in two of his rental buildings have lowered fuel oil expenses as much as 30 percent.

So should New Yorkers expect to see their neighbors tossing out their rusty old hot water heaters in exchange for shiny, green, solar powered systems? Perhaps not immediately, but progress is definitely underway: CEC is assembling a task force to follow through on the issues that the symposium raised.

WATER (or the secret life of objects) seeks to explore human relationships to the environment through the science fiction tale of a world-altering flood of biblical proportions. Taking place in three parts, in locations and languages from all over the world, WATER introduces us to characters before, during, and after cataclysmic environmental change–from an oblivious Norwegian couple aboard a yacht, to a young girl in Malaysia burying her father at sea, to a scientist who must sell her technology to purify the remaining potable water to the highest bidder. At turns haunting, hilarious, and provocative, WATER explores how we as a global community overcome environmental and personal tragedy, surrender to it, or exist in the spaces between.

Initiated and led by director Daniella Topol and playwright Sheila Callaghan, WATER is being devised by a creative team comprised of Katie Down (sound), Leah Gelpe (video and projections), Mimi Lien (set), and Tyler Micoleau (lights).

Featured Workshop in Epic Theatre Ensemble’s Sunshine Series 2011, Produced by Vicious Bear Productions in association with Epic, Solar One, and the 14^th Street Y.

WATER (or the secret life of objects)
July 7, 8, 9 at 7:30pm
The Theater at the 14th Street Y
344 East 14th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues

Admission is FREE.

Seating is extremely limited. Reservations are required. For reservations and information, visit EpicTheatreEnsemble.org

As a result, we are extending the deadline for completed applications to be submitted to June 10th at 5:00pm.  All applications will need to be e-mailed or faxed to us by that time.  You can learn more and download the application and instructions at our Green Design Lab site here. Any questions should be directed to gdl@solar1.org and we will do our best to respond within 24 hours. We look forward to working with another great batch of schools starting this fall.

What is our relationship to water as NYC residents? How often do New Yorkers think about water or even remember that four of our five boroughs are located on islands? In the mind’s eye of the average resident, New York is more likely to be a city of concrete canyons, not bays, rivers, and wetlands that are home to other species besides people. Perhaps that is because today we are used to seeing waterways as dividers that lie between our useful spaces, stormwater as a nuisance for the municipality, and potable water as a problem for engineers. The average New Yorker neither has an active relationship with the water bodies that surround the city nor gives much thought to how we know that the quality of our tap water is safe and secure. But when we start thinking more about water, we find that it has seeped into many seemingly unrelated aspects of our urban lives a long time ago.

On a large scale, it is no exaggeration to single out water as humanity’s most precious resource.  After all,  it is the foundation of life itself. Water is much a part of our bodies as it is an unseen but essential component in the production of food, clothing, energy, and in the operation of industry, buildings, and transportation. In nature, it is a renewable resource thanks to the brilliant simplicity of the hydrologic cycle. In places of dense human activity, however, its lifecycle is often linear: from fresh water to wastewater, which, even when treated, never regains the purity that makes it again suitable for human use. Considering that only 1% of the Earth’s water is suitable for human use, we must reconsider our relationship to water to make it more sustainable for the sake of ecological stability as well as our own security.

The City of New York has an intimate relationship with water. Water defined our city’s physical boundaries and laid the foundation for its financial prosperity. New York, like many cities before and after it, was founded on water for reasons of transportation and, therefore, trade. The City became the financial powerhouse we know today largely due to the Hudson River and the Eerie Canal. And yet today NYC’s port has shrunk dramatically, prompting industry and advocates to re-envision the function of the waterfront in an innovative and sustainable way.

New York’s waterways still retain the polluting footprint of recent heavy industry. While water quality in the Hudson and East Rivers have improved, other waterways, like the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek have recently earned federal Superfund designations due to heavy post-industrial contamination. Government-led efforts are on the way to clean them up, and community groups are teaming up with landscape designers, ecologists, and engineers to devise strategies to keep those waterways clean after the remediation is complete. Some strategies focus on limiting the volume of water that washes over our streets, into sewers, and then into water bodies when it rains while others explore how we can use water in our buildings more smartly and reuse it when possible.

The remaining piers that bristle out of the water all around Manhattan appear to most New Yorkers as the most visible vestige of a more active waterfront. Some have been reclaimed by enterprising individuals and organizations to be transformed into destinations; the Frying Pan on Pier 66 comes to mind. Nevertheless, such destinations are endpoints, often of a lengthy journey from the nearest subway. Rethinking transportation, some urban planners and designers are re-imagining these endpoints as hubs and positing that waterborne transportation can relieve NYC’s roads and subways that chocking with traffic. In that case, water can once again become a connecting medium instead of a divider, much like it had been in the days before Fulton’s Ferry was made obsolete by the Brooklyn Bridge.

Our waterfront must innovate not only in the interest of health, commerce, and connectivity, but also to engage people by offering them access to water and opportunities for recreation. Destinations like the Brooklyn Bridge Park and Hudson River Park, water sports like kayaking and small boating, all serve to grant access and allow New Yorkers opportunities to learn from and relax on the water.

Water, however, is both our friend and foe. As a coastal city bounded by water, New York is especially vulnerable to sea level rise. Last year’s exhibition “Rising Currents” at the Museum of Modern Art asked several groups of architects and landscape designers to imagine how the city’s landscape might cope with the disastrous invasion of water. If one were to take this scenario a step further, one could imagine the world transformed by an excess of water, both of the macro level of society and the micro level of individual human lives. This feat of imagination is being undertaken by artists and actors to help us glimpse one possible dystopian future, a future that, unwittingly, we might have helped to bring about.

We at Solar One think a lot about New York’s relationship water. After all, we are an organization located on the East River next to a combined sewer overflow discharge point; we manage a park of water-saving native plants; and we look forward to building a water-smart building, Solar 2. As part of our ongoing series, NYC the Future Metropolis, we invited some of our friends to share their thoughts about the importance of water to New York City on Sunday, May 8. We hope you can join us as well.

Please see the event page for more details: solar1.org/nycfm

Back by popular demand!

Solar One Energy Connections, NYSERDA Energy $mart Communities and the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condos (CNYC) have just announced the next Intro To Green for Co-ops and Condos course for April 6, 7-9pm, at The New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West 64th Street at Central Park West. Doors open at 6:30pm.

This two-hour workshop will:

• Present easy ways to reduce energy costs and have a healthier, greener building
• Provide details on the new NYSERDA Multifamily Performance Program for comprehensive energy efficiency retrofits
• Give an overview of new green laws and code changes
• Offer guidance on complying with the May 1st Bench marking requirements for buildings of 50,000 square feet or larger
• Share strategies for engaging owners in the greening process

There is no cost for CNYC members to attend this workshop, but advanced registration is required. Reserve your place by calling CNYC at (212) 496-7400 or by emailing workshops@CNYC.coop.

Non-CNYC members are welcome! Please preregister and pay the $30 course fee by clicking here (or visiting http://co.clickandpledge.com/advanced/default.aspx?wid=40722).

For more information about this and other Intro To Green courses, please visit solar1.org/i2g.

Last Thursday, Solar One partnered with Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Green Screens program to show Carbon Nation, Peter Byck’s climate change solutions documentary. The screening on Thursday was a phenomenal success, with a full house, a great discussion with director Peter Byck, Solar One Executive Director Chris Collins, Solar One Green Workforce Development Director Diallo Shabazz and “green hawk” Dan Nolan. Thanks to everyone who was able to come!

However, if you weren’t able to be there, you can still see Carbon Nation this week at the Cinema Village at 3:30pm and 7pm from now through Thursday February 17. You can get tickets HERE!

After Thursday, Carbon Nation is going on the road, and if you happen to live in one of the following cities, you’re in luck:

Los Angeles, CA- February 18
Austin, TX- February 25
Portland, OR- March 4
Seattle, WA- March 4
San Francisco, CA- March 11

Group tickets are available for the above screenings- please contact Jackie Papier, jackiepapier[at]hotmail[dot]com.

The City Council has been taking steps to correct that situation though, and starting in April 2011, electronics manufacturers will be required to take back their products for recycling, and by 2015, it will no longer be legal to leave consumer electronics for residential trash collection. The city is also trying to find ways to expand the municipal composting program- as Lucy Siegle, environmental journalist for The Observer newspaper, explains in the introduction to Recycle The Essential Guide, organic material in the landfill is actually worse than inorganic material , because it leaches toxins into the ground, and also releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Currently, the nearest commercial composting center to NYC is in Delaware- no wonder it’s so difficult to get rid of our compostable plastic cups every summer!

All of which is to say, if you are interested in sustainability, creative reuse and waste management, you are probably already quite busy recycling everything you possibly can- and you will definitely enjoy this book.

Published in a new edition by Black Dog Publishing, this well-designed and information-packed guide makes a clear argument for increased recycling. Organized into sections by material, the book covers paper, plastic, glass, e-waste, textiles and metals with eye-catching graphics, bold colors and case studies from around the world.

While much of the information and resources focus on the UK, there’s still plenty to interest an American reader, including detailed explanations of the recycling processes and a fair evaluation of the resources expended in the various recycling schemes explored in the book. I also enjoyed the pull quotes that featured prominently throughout- well-known thinkers and activists in the climate crisis field providing clear, inspiring soundbites that articulate the need for more extensive recycling, especially here in the US.

As the stories in Recycle The Essential Guide show, recycling is not only a vital part of a total sustainability plan in any community, taking on waste issues head-on is a great relationship builder in communities around the world. Recycling means cleaner environments, increased job opportunities and fewer landfills. Recycling FTW!

Available from Black Dog Publishing. Click here!