Upper Green Side

The Five Borough Farm

Posted by Michael Auerbach January 26, 2010 at 8:14 pm in News | 4 Comments

Share this item:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Its no wonder why Food Inc. is in so many Netflix queues – people realize the social, health, economic, and ecological benefits of eating local, fresh food. And now NYC is getting in on the act by creating new public spaces that can produce food closer to its populace. It wasn’t very long ago (ok maybe it was a couple hundred years) that farms flourished in the City. Much of the island of Manhattan remained pastoral well into the mid 19th Century. A trip north of 14th was an escape to the country. The Design Trust for Public Space will work to bring together key stakeholders to expand urban agriculture throughout New York City. The City hopes to follow in the same footsteps as Detroit in transforming underutlized or abandoned lots in all five borughs into urban farms.

Partnering with Added Value, a working urban farm in Red Hook, Brooklyn, the Five Borough Farm project will inventory existing agricultural activity in the five boroughs and assess underutilized arable land in order to identify opportunities for City agencies to support urban agriculture.

“The project will develop metrics that measure urban agriculture’s broad range of benefits, including youth empowerment, impacts on obesity rates, employment opportunities, access to healthy food, stormwater retention, and many other indicators. The goal of the project is to create a pilot that can demonstrate the vitality of urban agriculture and its importance to New York City’s public realm.”

The Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint Brooklyn

What We’re Reading: 1/25/10

Posted by Michael Auerbach January 25, 2010 at 11:18 pm in Daily Reading List | 1 Comment

Share this item:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• Green Inc. Column: Stop Eating Meat and Save the Planet?
  from NYT > Energy & Environment
• Study Examines Costs and Benefits of Algae
  from Green Inc.
• Sites to Refuel Electric Cars Gain a Big Dose of Funds
  from NYT > Energy & Environment
• Delhi to Ditch Coal for Natural Gas
  from Green Inc.
• Braiding Plastic: A Brazilian Firm Turns Plastic Waste…
  from GOOD
• The Ozone Hole Is Mending. Now for the ‘But.’
  from NYT > Environment
• Turning Trash Piles Into a Bird-Watcher’s Paradise
  from NYT > N.Y. / Region

Get Your Mind in the Gutter, Literally

Posted by Michael Auerbach January 25, 2010 at 6:04 pm in News | No Comments

Share this item:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

When it rains, it pours – waste water and storm runoff into the surrounding waterways that is.

New York City’s century old sewer system combines the rainwater that runs off paved surfaces such as roadways and sidewalks with the same pipes that carry our sewage. When the City’s treatment plants overload (which happens quite often) the excess (about 27 billion gallons per years) spills from 490 overflow pipes throughout the city’s five boroughs into local waterways. This limits how New Yorkers can safely access the waterfront, and impairs our estuary ecosystem.

The New York City Environmental Fund, Storm Water Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M.), and the The North Brooklyn Compost Project are teaming up to ask New Yorkers to get their minds in the gutter to come up with some creative ways to help stop the pollution and protect the local marine habitat. Specifically: How do we utilize the existing 6K miles of roadway and accompanying 12K miles of sidewalk as an opportunity for stormwater management? The majority of roads are crowned, water flows some distance along a gutter adjacent to sidewalks and existing vegetation and escapes into a storm drain. What can we do with what we’ve got? Where is your intervention?

Check out the new website www.mindsinthegutter.org. Entries are due February 15th 2010 so get designing!

Milk & Sugar First: Save 138 Billion Stirrers

Posted by Glenn McAnanama January 24, 2010 at 10:35 pm in News | No Comments

Share this item:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

I’ve always been a “milk in first” kind of guy. You know, someone who thinks 5 seconds into the future and imagines a way to avoid wasting something unnecessarily.

Every year, Americans waste 138 Billion coffee & tea stirrers. They might be small, but they add up and it’s also the principle of it: It’s totally useless. There’s a simple solution: put your milk and sugar in first and then pour the coffee in. It should mix just fine.

Sometimes there’s a simple, low-tech, common sense solution to waste reduction!

The Bottom of the Barrel

Posted by Michael Auerbach January 22, 2010 at 11:20 am in News | No Comments

Share this item:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Man this polluted air thing ain’t going away! And rightly so because it happens to be a huge deal. A huge, unclean, unsafe, global warming causing, and hugely worrisome deal.

A recently released report by the Environmental Defense Fund shows that just 1% of New York City’s buildings, those burning the dirtiest grades of heating oil, are responsible for 87% of the city’s heating oil soot pollution.

Pollution, in the form of soot, produced by burning No. 4 or 6 oil, some 1,000 tons of every year, endangers the health of all New Yorkers. It is also responsible for creating a rain of toxic soot that aggravates asthma, increases the risk of cancer, exacerbates respiratory illnesses and can cause premature death.

9,000 buildings, give or take, many in the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods such as the Upper East Side, use this unrefined sludge. Switching to No. 2 heating oil, sustainable bio-diesel, or natural gas can cut soot pollution by 95% and saves lives.

Check out this interactive map to find out exactly which buildings in NYC are burning dirty fuel.

Take action now: Send an e-mail to Mayor Bloomberg supporting a transition to cleaner burning heating fuels!

What We’re Reading: 1/21/10

Posted by Michael Auerbach January 21, 2010 at 6:56 pm in Daily Reading List | No Comments

Share this item:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

the local UES power plant on 75th Street

• Edible Schoolyard Coming to Brooklyn
  from Gothamist
• Is Decentralized Urban Farming the Future of food?
  from GOOD
• Let There Be Light With The Gaon Trash Powered Street…
  from greenopolis.com
• Cracking Down on Idling in New York City | Simple…
  from NRDC Simple Steps
• Meet “The Urban Umbrella” — NYC’s New Sidewalk Shed
  from Gothamist
• The Top 10 Environmental Plays of Obama’s Rookie Season
  from GOOD
• A Drawback to Urban Green Spaces
  from Dot Earth

The Take Back Attack

Posted by Michael Auerbach January 21, 2010 at 4:39 pm in News | No Comments

Share this item:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

A New York City regulation that puts responsibility on producers and manufacturers to recycle their products is currently under attack by the electronics industry.

In 2008, the New York City council passed legislation creating an e-waste recycling program, which would require electronics manufacturers such as Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony to come up with safe, convenient methods to collect and recycle their items, such as televisions, computers and printers.

Last July, electronics manufacturing trade groups, the Consumer Electronics Association and the Information Technology Industry Council, sued, with the city agreeing to postpone implementation until after the case is decided. (Check out the Electronics TakeBack Coalition website for all the recent court filings, along with other helpful background information on the suit). The NRDC recently made the decision to become a formal party, intervening as a co-defendant with the City.

The suit basically turns on the interpretation of a direct collection requirement, where manufacturers would have to enter into collaborative agreements with third parties to provide a pick-up service to consumers for items weighing more than 15 pounds to avoid fines; the “convenient collection” as it is known in the law. The industry has chosen to interpret this as meaning that expensive home pick-up services are required under the law, which they say would be unfairly burdensome and onerous. If the plaintiffs win, the result would not only weaken NYC’s e-waste law, but could also significantly diminish e-waste regulations in other states.

The case is set for oral argument early February.

In the meantime, NYC continues to lack a comprehensive citywide e-waste recycling program. Until the outcome of the lawsuit is determined, Upper Green Side will continue to bridge the gap by offering free, local e-waste recycling and collection events together with our local partners to keep dangerous e-waste out of our landfills.

Green From the Inside Out Recap

Posted by Michael Auerbach January 21, 2010 at 2:20 pm in News | No Comments

Share this item:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

The Central Park Arsenal, NYC Parks HQ

Last night Solar One presented their Green From the Inside Out education series in front of a packed house at the Central Park Arsenal. Upper Green Side was there as a neighborhood partner and participated in the Winter Networking Mixer.

Green from the Inside Out is a traveling presentation series for multifamily buildings that focuses on energy efficiency, recycling, and rooftop possibilities. The series is geared towards decision makers, including coop/condo owners and building managers. It is intended as an educational and motivational piece to have the decision makers implement the green measures suggested in the presentations.

Roof Applications
Chris Neidl of Solar One presented about the economic and quality-of-life implications of rooftop applications that can easily be implemented in NYC such as solar thermal technology, photovoltaics, green roofs, and white roofs.

Energy Efficiency
Max Joel of Solar One talked about how to lower your utility bills by improving your building’s energy efficiency in lighting, appliances, and heating systems.

Recycling
Christina Salvi of the City’s Office of Recycling Outreach and Education tested the crowd’s recycling knowledge by showing examples of the types of things than can and can’t be recycled in NYC. Christina also discussed the new recycling laws and helped clear up some old misconceptions that are still prevalent in the field of recycling.

There was time in between each presentation for the crowd to walk around and interact with the various green vendors situated around the room. And did I mention wine? And cookies? Yes that’s right, cookies. Delicious cookies. From our (prime) corner spot we were able to hand out dozens of UES Eco-Maps and educate people about UGS and our upcoming programs for 2010.

Though last night’s event filled up quickly Solar One will be holding the same presentation next week at the Sol Goldman YM-YWHA on 14th Street. Make sure to RSVP!

Community Board 8 Approves Zoning Text Amendment

Posted by Michael Auerbach January 19, 2010 at 3:27 pm in News | No Comments

Share this item:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Last week the Land Use committee of Community Board 8 Manhattan overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the zoning text that will help preserve the street-scape and neighborhood character the Upper East Side. The Residential Streetscape Preservation Text Amendment (as the Department of City Planning has officially dubbed it) closes loopholes in current front yard planting requirements and clarifies parking requirements for new dwelling units created in existing homes, and for older residential buildings developed before there were parking requirements. The amendment is a direct response to past concerns from Community Boards and elected officials around the City related to inappropriate curb cuts and front yard parking pads.

By limiting the amount of new curbed cuts, new and existing buildings will have difficulty adding garages. The net effect of such a measure would limit the number of cars in the City, thus reducing traffic and congestion and making it safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and mass-transit users who also happen to be the majority of New Yorkers.

The amendment will also protect street trees from destruction, ensure uninterrupted pedestrian flow on sidewalks, and maintain the character of the many historic landmark districts on the UES.

For some local color on the issue check out Curbed’s past coverage.

A Happier, Greener Workweek

Posted by Glenn McAnanama January 17, 2010 at 7:58 am in News | No Comments

Share this item:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Image from Time magazine

Reading Grist this week, I came across a link to a Johann Hari’s piece in the UK’s Independent about how Utah’s 4 day government employee work week is spreading like wildfire in Europe and some large companies. Utah’s experiment with the 4 day work week was started to help close a budget gap in the state’s finances, but had unexpected benefits:

The people of one of the most conservative states in the US have stumbled across a simple policy that slashes greenhouse gas emissions by 13 percent, saves huge sums of money, improves public services, cuts traffic congestion, and makes 82 per cent of workers happier.

While many may think that the environmental movement is just a bunch of spoil sports asking people to only sacrifice their high carbon lifestyle, it’s important to remember this as an example where less pollution equals more happiness.