The Vote is In on Your Xmas Tree

Real Trees are better for the environment (even when you cut them down and prop them up in your living room) than the fake stuff. We figured, but hear it from the Times.

Read all about it.

Think Outside of the Gift Box this Holiday Season

This particular poster is for Mercy Corps (and came from GOOD), but you get the idea. Support a cause of your loved one. Do so much with your holiday generosity.

Belize Bans Trawling

It's not Brooklyn-centric, but the state of our oceans is one of particular concern to us Green Team members and we all play a part. Every time we order shrimp at a restaurant or at the counter at our overpriced market, we are supporting (usually) the destruction of our oceans. It sounds dramatic, but it's true. Here's some good news though from our friends at Oceana:

All forms of trawling in Belize have been banned in the country’s waters including its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) when Fisheries Minister Rene Montero signed the Statutory Instrument effecting this legislative change today.

The ban, effective December 31, 2010, is a historic decision by Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s administration, which has been making these environmentally friendly decisions on the heel of the threat from UNESCO that it would strip the Belize Barrier Reef System of its World Heritage Site status.

Trawling can be compared to deforestation. It’s a destructive fishing practice where weighted nets are drug across the seafloor, destroying everything in their path - turning vibrant seafloor ecosystems to rubble in an instant and leaving baby fish with nowhere to call home. The reef system which lies in Belizian waters is the largest in the Western Hemisphere (second largest in the world) and is one of the U.N.’s World Heritage Sites.

Here's what you can do: not eat seafood, only eat seafood you get at the farmers market, ask how it was caught, and stop eating things that are trawled (that's the worst).

Whole Foods

Well, Whole Foods is set to open in Gowanus at the end of 2012. Based on urging from passionate Brooklynites, they've made several changes to make the store more friendly and green.

Read all about it.

Local Shopping Ideas from Brad Lander

Here are a few ideas for shopping local this holiday season: Start locally: Before you head online or to a mall, think about how much you can get from neighborhood stores. Think especially about the people in your life who love Brooklyn, and how much they'll appreciate a gift that helps make it stronger.

From Brooklyn Green Team: plus, when you support small family owned businesses, it's easier to make suggestions to them on how to green thier operations rather than submit to a "contact form" on a corporation's website -- right...AND by keeping those businesses thriving you prevent 50 nail salons from descending in your hood.

IShopBrooklyn.com: Check out Borough President Marty Markowitz' "I Shop Brooklyn" website for neighborhood shopping ideas.

Small Business Saturday, tomorrow, November 27th: Tomorrow is the first national "small business Saturday." http://www.facebook.com/SmallBusinessSaturday.

Join the 3/50 project: Pick three local businesses you'd most like to support, and commit to spend $50 per month at them. http://www.the350project.net/.

Share your favorite local shopping stories and ideas with us: Email me at lander@council.nyc.gov with your favorite stores and stories -- especially of those local businesses who are great employers & neighbors -- and we'll share some of them with others on our blog. You can also check out the web sites of our local BIDs and merchants associations:

-- Park Slope 5th Avenue BID, http://www.parkslopefifthavenuebid.com/
-- Kensington Area Merchant & Residents Association, http://karmabrooklyn.blogspot.com/

-- Court Street Merchants Association, http://www.courtstreetmerchants.org/

-- Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, http://www.atlanticavenuebkny.com/

-- Park Slope Chamber of Commerce, www.shopseventh.com

-- Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, http://www.ibrooklyn.com/

Thanks Brad!