Tuesday, June 30, 2009
New Farmers Market in Bushwick
The Bushwick Farmers' Market will be opening tomorrow (Wednesday, July 1st) from 10am-6pm on the corner of Linden and Broadway in Brooklyn! Come enjoy some pedal-powered music, henna tattoos, mural painting, food demos, bike-blended drinks, and more! Bring your friends, enemies, re-usable bags, and appetites. Please spread the word and join us every Wednesday for your farm-fresh food fix. Vendor space is available.
Recycling...as American as Apple Pie
Every time you reduce, reuse and recycle you’re celebrating your love for your country. During World War II citizens were urged to recycle (or “salvage”) metal, rubber, paper and even kitchen fat to help in the war effort. Today’s soldiers don’t need recycled steel for guns, salvaged kitchen fat for explosives or scrap paper for packaging, but recycling is still patriotic.
By recycling, we show our love for our country by protecting our nation’s resources, reducing our dependence on the resources of other countries and boosting our economy.
Here’s how:
-Recycling plastic reduces the need for virgin plastic. Of course, virgin plastic isn’t a natural resource, but the petroleum used to make it is. In fact, approximately 4% of our annual oil consumption is used to make plastics. By recycling more plastic we reduce the need for the production of virgin plastic and that reduces our dependence on foreign oil.
-Manufacturing products using recycled materials instead of virgin materials requires a lot less energy. Making an aluminum can from recycled aluminum requires 95% less energy than making an aluminum can from virgin aluminum. In 2003, we reduced our oil usage by more than 15 million barrels by recycling 54 billion aluminum cans.
-Of course, oil isn’t our only source of energy. Recycling materials also reduces our need for coal—and that protects those purple mountains majesty.
-Using less energy also saves money. Saving money improves the national economy, but the recycling industry has given the national economy a real boost by creating over a million jobs.
-Recycling reduces the amount of solid waste we need to dump in landfills, which in turn, reduces the need for landfills. By protecting our land from being “filled” with garbage, we’re helping to keep America beautiful.
-Recycling paper protects our forests by reducing the need for trees to produce paper. Recycling cars and other objects made of steel and iron reduces the amount of iron ore we must mine and recycling aluminum reduces the amount of aluminum we have to pull out of the ground.
This July 4, use reusable or at least recycled products for your picnic.
From our friends at Recycle Bank.
By recycling, we show our love for our country by protecting our nation’s resources, reducing our dependence on the resources of other countries and boosting our economy.
Here’s how:
-Recycling plastic reduces the need for virgin plastic. Of course, virgin plastic isn’t a natural resource, but the petroleum used to make it is. In fact, approximately 4% of our annual oil consumption is used to make plastics. By recycling more plastic we reduce the need for the production of virgin plastic and that reduces our dependence on foreign oil.
-Manufacturing products using recycled materials instead of virgin materials requires a lot less energy. Making an aluminum can from recycled aluminum requires 95% less energy than making an aluminum can from virgin aluminum. In 2003, we reduced our oil usage by more than 15 million barrels by recycling 54 billion aluminum cans.
-Of course, oil isn’t our only source of energy. Recycling materials also reduces our need for coal—and that protects those purple mountains majesty.
-Using less energy also saves money. Saving money improves the national economy, but the recycling industry has given the national economy a real boost by creating over a million jobs.
-Recycling reduces the amount of solid waste we need to dump in landfills, which in turn, reduces the need for landfills. By protecting our land from being “filled” with garbage, we’re helping to keep America beautiful.
-Recycling paper protects our forests by reducing the need for trees to produce paper. Recycling cars and other objects made of steel and iron reduces the amount of iron ore we must mine and recycling aluminum reduces the amount of aluminum we have to pull out of the ground.
This July 4, use reusable or at least recycled products for your picnic.
From our friends at Recycle Bank.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Jacob Riis Park
Just a leisurely trip on the A train and a quick bus-ride lets you off at the gateway to Jacob Riis Park - where the beach awaits. Dubbed "the people's beach," it's much cheaper than Long Island Rail to Long Beach. A great way to spend a weekend.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Green Power
President Clinton Announces Program for 2009 Clinton Global Initiative
“As the Clinton Global Initiative approaches its Fifth Annual Meeting, I am looking forward to working together with some of the world’s most forward-looking CEOs, leaders from government and innovative non-profits to make progress on the great global challenges,” President Clinton said. “Through our Annual Meeting, CGI members have made upwards of 1,400 commitments that have already impacted more than 200 million people in 150 countries. I am excited to see what this year’s Annual Meeting will bring.”
Since 2005, more than 80 current and former heads of state; hundreds of leading CEOs, philanthropists, and NGO leaders; and 10 of the last 16 Nobel Peace Prize laureates have attended CGI. This year, President Clinton will again be joined by leading voices from every sector to take action on four major global challenges: education, energy & climate change, global health, and poverty alleviation.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Mulberry Harvest
Rumor has it you can pick mulberries at the Queens County Farm Museum on Friday because they have so many. Then they're going to sell them. what a fun and eco-friendly Saturday that sounds like. Learn More.
Also, it's the 25th Anniversary of the Brooklyn Borough Hall Greenmarket and there's a big celebration. Learn More.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Cut Your Cards
And just stick to one. MTA's EasyPay Xpress helps you manage just one metrocard rather than swiping your 7 through the card reader only to find .65 on each. Better for the environment.
Great American Backyard Campout
This Saturday celebrate Great American Backyard Campout if you have a backyard. If you don't, spend some time on your roof or in your park, just not inside with the TV on.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Facebook Prevents Consumption?!
The growth of social networks indicates a fundamental shift in patterns of human behavior. The unsustainable practice of ever-increasing consumption of physical goods, and expressing oneself through what one purchases and displays, is being replaced by increasing consumption of virtual goods through virtual channels. This is good news for the sustainability of our economy.
Thorstein Veblen, in his groundbreaking work The Theory of the Leisure Class, published in 1899, posited that humans use displays of wealth to broadcast status to society. . .
Throughout the last century conspicuous consumption meant buying cars, boats, larger houses, jewelry, art, and meals in restaurants. Keeping up with the Joneses required a lot of energy—and produced a lot of carbon and waste. More and bigger became our mantras. The average size of the American home leapt from 983 square feet in 1950 to 2,080 in 1990, increasing roughly 20 percent per decade. The number of cars per U.S. family saw a similar 14 percent growth rate per decade over the same period. . .
This shift from material goods to self-expression and social capital is heartening, but the real story is not in the coffee shops in California, but in villages in India and small towns in China that are just beginning to get online. Jared Diamond notes that Easter Island’s fatal fad for giant stone effigies—one well-known example of conspicuous materialism—didn’t travel well at all. But the newest form of conspicuousness is instantly transferable across geographies and cultures, and is spreading much faster than consumerism did. . .
Read on at Good.is
Thorstein Veblen, in his groundbreaking work The Theory of the Leisure Class, published in 1899, posited that humans use displays of wealth to broadcast status to society. . .
Throughout the last century conspicuous consumption meant buying cars, boats, larger houses, jewelry, art, and meals in restaurants. Keeping up with the Joneses required a lot of energy—and produced a lot of carbon and waste. More and bigger became our mantras. The average size of the American home leapt from 983 square feet in 1950 to 2,080 in 1990, increasing roughly 20 percent per decade. The number of cars per U.S. family saw a similar 14 percent growth rate per decade over the same period. . .
This shift from material goods to self-expression and social capital is heartening, but the real story is not in the coffee shops in California, but in villages in India and small towns in China that are just beginning to get online. Jared Diamond notes that Easter Island’s fatal fad for giant stone effigies—one well-known example of conspicuous materialism—didn’t travel well at all. But the newest form of conspicuousness is instantly transferable across geographies and cultures, and is spreading much faster than consumerism did. . .
Read on at Good.is
Friday, June 19, 2009
Rating Your Take-Out
This great article in Chow breaks down from bad to best in terms of take-out. Before reading, try to figure out the best and worst. We hope you'll find it inspiring. . . perhaps inspiring enough to join our No Take-Out Challenge.
Find out about your take-out.
Find out about your take-out.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Eco Film Fest
Rain getting you down? go to a movie. . .
Sustainable Planet is THE international film festival that promotes sustainable development. Eco-activist and environmental economist Pamela Peeters founded the festival in 2005 to celebrate UNESCO's strides in creating awareness around the issues of sustainability.
This year's program features Tad Fettig, award-winning director of the film "Green Apple," which was narrated by Brad Pitt, and GustOrganics founder and CEO, Alberto Gonzalez.
What: Sustainable Planet Film Festival
Where: Bohemian Hall 321 E. 73rd St. (between 1st & 2nd ave), New York, NY 10021 Nearest Subway: 6 to 68th St - Hunter College or 77th St stations
Date: Saturday, June 20, 2009Time: Noon-6pm
Tickets: http://sustainableplanet-emailinvite.eventbrite.com/Price: $60 per person
Sustainable Planet is THE international film festival that promotes sustainable development. Eco-activist and environmental economist Pamela Peeters founded the festival in 2005 to celebrate UNESCO's strides in creating awareness around the issues of sustainability.
This year's program features Tad Fettig, award-winning director of the film "Green Apple," which was narrated by Brad Pitt, and GustOrganics founder and CEO, Alberto Gonzalez.
What: Sustainable Planet Film Festival
Where: Bohemian Hall 321 E. 73rd St. (between 1st & 2nd ave), New York, NY 10021 Nearest Subway: 6 to 68th St - Hunter College or 77th St stations
Date: Saturday, June 20, 2009Time: Noon-6pm
Tickets: http://sustainableplanet-emailinvite.eventbrite.com/Price: $60 per person
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Breath It In
Did you know this week is Commit to Cleaner Air Week? Now you do.
NYSDOT in partnership with the American Lung Association declared this week the week. NYSDOT's Clean Air NY initiative motivates us, nyc residents, to make simple changes to everyday travel to improve our air quality.
Click here to pledge your support for a healthier New York and see how fellow New Yorkers are making a difference.
To understand why this campaign is so important and to learn about some of the exciting things Clean Air NY has planned, read our press release.
Learn More.
NYSDOT in partnership with the American Lung Association declared this week the week. NYSDOT's Clean Air NY initiative motivates us, nyc residents, to make simple changes to everyday travel to improve our air quality.
Click here to pledge your support for a healthier New York and see how fellow New Yorkers are making a difference.
To understand why this campaign is so important and to learn about some of the exciting things Clean Air NY has planned, read our press release.
Learn More.
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