What Better Way to Get Your Hands Dirty than at Gowanus?

Gowanus Canal Conservancy's next Clean & Green volunteer clean up is scheduled for August 22 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Degraw Street.

Find them on facebook for details. To sign up, email Check out Facebook for details. To sign up, please email them.

Our Friends Over at GreenEdge...

The Solar-Powered Film Festival

September 10, 11 & 12 and September 17, 18 & 19

WHERE: Solar One, Stuyvesant Cove Park; East River just south of 23rd Street

COST: FREE

WHAT: For the 2nd year, GreenEdge NYC and Solar One join forces to present this free six-evening program featuring screenings of environmental documentaries. The Solar-Powered Film Series is the first in New York City to use the power of the sun to construct an outdoor “eco-theater” like no other.

Films will include:
A Sea Change, Who Killed the Electric Car?, From Elegance To Earthworms, Addicted To Plastic and the world premiere of Burning In The Sun presented by Rooftop Films and IFP.

Fiji Water

Check out this GREAT article on fiji water from Mother Jones.

Ice Cream

It's summer and so ice cream is a natural choice.  Some suggestions to lower your impact.  Avoid those absurd drip protectors.  It's a sheath for your cone so your hand doesn't have to touch any melting ice cream.  We recommend keeping on top of it so you prevent drippage.  Also, opt for a cone rather than a dish. One less thing to chuck.   

Blue Marble ice cream uses biodegradable stuff, they donate to charities, and use grassfed organic milk and other local ingredients.  The price? about 30 cents more than your favorite uncle ice cream - worth it. 

Then there's that truck, Van Leeuwen, parked in Soho on Green and Prince and also university and 12th and at McCaren Park's free movies.  Artisanal, organic, really good ingredients, and their disposable products are made from renewable resources.

New Vintage Shop

Odd Twin Trading Company at 164 5th Ave in Park Slope has some very cute stuff and not too expensive.

check them out.

New One Month Eco-Challenge!

Summer Special

One Month. Change It Up.

It's the dead of summer. We're tired. We're traveling. So, for the month of august we're launching a "mini" Eco-Challenge. We've all heard a million times to change a lightbulb to a CFL or an LED if you've got the money. Here's your chance superhero. Get on a ladder and actually do it.

Sign-Up 
Strength in numbers. Let us know you're committed by emailing us at brooklyngreen@gmail.com and writing "It takes me to screw in a lightbulb and save energy." (or some abridged version)

The Facts 
We know there's controversy regarding mercury, that's why it's very important to recycle your bulbs. CFLs last longer. A typical incandescent lasts 1,000 hours. Spiral CLFs will go 10,000+. 
Lighting accounts for close to 20 percent of the average home’s electric bill. ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs use up to 75 percent less energy (electricity) than incandescent light bulbs.

Resources 
Here's what Consumer Reports had to say about CFLs. Now read which one Consumer Report'srecommends.

Learn more about LEDs here.

Here's where you can get some LEDs if you can't find them in your neighborhood.

Here's a FAQ on CFLs from ES (we just liked the acronyms) Energy Star

Everybody likes a mechanic. Especially a popular one. Read the findings of their CFL test.

Environmental Working Group has a guide too.

Here's what Treehugger says about why dimmer switches aren't so hot.

CENYC's Office of Recycling Outreach and Education wants you to recycle your used CFL bulbs in NYC. Click here to find out where. Ikea and Home Depot will also take them.

Have friends who might be brave? Pass this email along. Please send us stories, suggestions, inventions and discoveries you have found. We will post them on our blog or in future emails so you others can see the many ways they can contribute to the Challenge.

Thanks for your hard work You are superheroes one and all. 
BROOKLYN GREEN TEAM

End of the Line ...second chance to see it

Saturday, August 22
Rooftop Films & the Fledgling Fund present
THE END OF THE LINE
(Rupert Murray | United Kingdom | 90 min.)
Imagine an ocean without fish. Imagine your meals without seafood. Imagine
the global consequences.
Venue: The Beach at Governor’s Island
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM: Live music presented by Sound Fix Records
9:00PM: Film
Tickets: $12 online at www.rooftopfilms.com
Ticketing Link:
http://newyork.going.com/event-624772;Rooftop_FilmsThe_End_of_the_Line_on_Gov_Isle

Take-Out Tip

Even though the challenge is over, here's what one reader had to say:

I don't know if it is against code in the city, but I'm down in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I always bring my own containers and reusable bag when I order take out.  Since I tend to order from the same places, they already know me and are very supportive.  I know this is not a genius revelation, but I just wanted to share my "take-out story" with you!
 
Thanks, 
 Joe 
Charlotte, NC

No, thank you joe.

Green News Round-Up

Contributed by Rebeccah Welch

E-Wasted and Green Jobs Bills withdrawn in NY Senate [Crain's]
City Council More Environmentally Friendly [AM New York]
Between Two Beaches, Debate Crests Over a Park [City Limits]
New Yorkers Pay Highest Power Bills in Nation [Daily News]
East River Science Complex Gains Anchor Tenant [NY 1]
Bloomberg Caught Idling SUV [Crain's]
NYC Uncapped [Urban Omnibus]
Air Pollution May Lower IQ [Research - [Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health]Environmental Scorecard [Report - New York League of Conservation Voters]
What New York Can Learn from Other Cities [Report - Drum Major Institute]

The Enviro Hits Keep Coming

Aside from the drama of today's rescue by former pres Bill Clinton, here's something else to enrapture you...

EARTH DAYS opens @ The Quad Cinema on Friday, August 14^th

After playing to great acclaim at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, Robert Stone’s stunning documentary is coming to the Quad Cinema. It’s all the rage now in the Age of Al Gore and Obama, but once upon a time, everyone in America was not “going Green.” Using personal testimony and rare archival media, EARTH DAYS looks back to the dawn of the modern environmental movement, from its post-war rustlings in the 1950s, to the first wildly successful 1970 Earth Day celebration, President Nixon’s unlikely creation of the EPA, and beyond. The extraordinary stories of the era's pioneers -- including Population Bomb author Paul Ehrlich, Whole Earth Catalogfounder Stewart Brand, Apollo Nine astronaut Rusty Schweickart and renewable energy pioneer Hunter Lovins -- illuminate the fact that positive changes in social attitudes, technological possibilities and political determination can take place very rapidly if the will exists.

Director Robert Stone will be in-person opening night for a Q&A. The Quad Cinema is located at 34 W. 13^th Street. Screening times and advance tickets will be available soon @ www.Movietickets.com.

Learn More.

From Christine Quinn

Last week the New York City Council took steps toward creating a more sustainable transportation infrastructure in our city by passing two important pieces of legislation:

Intro. 0780-A (Koppell) - bicycle parking in garages and parking lots.

Intro. 0871-A (Yassky) - bicycle access in commercial buildings.

One of the main obstacles to bicycle commuting is the inability to park your bicycle in a secure location once you have arrived at work. These bills address this problem by improving bicycle access in commercial buildings and creating thousands of bicycle parking spaces in city garages and parking lots. The legislation also encourages cycling by creating a bicycle commuting task force that will explore partnerships with private entities to build sheltered bicycle parking in public and/or private spaces. The task force will issue its report by December 31, 2010. Together, these proposals will improve public health, reduce carbon emissions, and provide a more affordable option for New Yorker's daily commute.

If you would like additional information or have any questions about this new legislation, please contact Nick Rolf of the community outreach staff at (212) 442-5765. You may also e-mail him directly at nrolf@council.nyc.gov.

Learn More.

More Film Stuff

We can't help it. They're here.  One Green Team member checked out "The Cove" on Friday. It was great. It's a little Ocean 11 meets environmental documentary A-Z.  It's got some pep in its step. Plus they want to get the word out.  Lastly, it has the trainer from Flipper in it.  It's raining today. Get to Angelika and see it. 

Learn More.