Upper Green Side

Interview with Upper Green Side Founder, Glenn McAnanama

About a month ago, I was interviewed by a few videobloggers, Ryanne and Jay. This short seven minute video shows my responses to a wide variety of questions about neighborhood organizing, running efficient meetings and personal steps I’ve taken to make my lifestyle more environmentally sustainable. Feel free to add your own comments below here about what you’ve done to make your life more sustainable.

Check out this other great interview with local eco-entrepreneur, Eugene Lee, owner of Rolling Press.

The Case for Physically Separated Bike Lanes

As the weather gets nicer and people feel more like getting out on their bikes to get around town, it’s a good time to think about how we could make cycling safer and more convenient in NYC. One of the best ways to encourage more cycling in NYC is to create more physicially separated bike lanes and greenways in our area.

What would physically separated bike lanes look like in NYC? Probably something like this:

If static pictures tell a thousand words, a short video is probably worth a whole book. Streetfilms Clarence Eckerson put together this great video featuring The Open Planning Project’s Mark Gorton, former NYC DOT Commissioner Sam Schwartz, former Mayor of Bogata Columbia Enrique Penalosa, many folks from Transportation Alternatives and other folks to demonstrate how physically separated bike lanes can revolutionize cycling in NYC. Sit back and enjoy this short film

Meet Ms. Green Clean

This week, Upper Green Side caught up with Cori Morenberg, otherwise known as Ms. Green Clean. Cori is one of NYC’s eco-entrepreneurs. She runs a small business that cleans people’s apartments in an eco-friendly manner.

UGS: Can you describe your business? How did you get started?

Cori: Luckily, a cleaning business is relatively easy to start and there’s not much financial investment. Of course, there was a good amount of research involved regarding non-toxic cleaning recipes and products, hepa-filtered vacuum cleaners, business and pricing structures, where to buy printed t-shirts, business cards. I had to learn how to make a bed properly. Things like that.

UGS: What did you do before you started the business? How was the transition to being an eco-entrepreneur?

It was a pretty natural transition for me. I have a B.A. in Botany from Miami University, Ohio. During college I worked at Greenpeace and after school I worked at the New York Botanical Garden and the Wildlife Conservation Society in the Bronx. I wanted a job that I could feel good about at the end of the day and where I could be my own boss and make my own schedule. Starting Ms. Green-Clean was the perfect career answer for me.

UGS: How has it grown since you founded it?

Cori: I actually got my first client call several months back, before I was even ready to begin. I was still working on the website and had done no advertising. But they found the site so the business was launched! My clientele increases every week.

UGS: What types of products do you use? Are these available in local stores?

Cori: All the cleaning products we use are made from simple and naturally-derived ingredients. They contain no VOC’s, or volatile organic compounds. I use a lot of borax, a miracle cleaner as far as I’m concerned. In well-stocked grocery stores it’s sold as “Boraxo” in the cleanser section, or as “20-Mule Team Borax” in the laundry section. I also use “Mrs. Meyers All Purpose Cleaner,” also available in many grocery stores. “Bon Ami,” a mineral-derived non-abrasive cleanser is a mainstay in my supply bag. We also use vinegar, baking soda and simple soaps. And I like to use a diffuser while we work to disperse different mixtures of essential oils into the air for an aromatherapy perk.

Continue reading Meet Ms. Green Clean…

BRINGING BABY UP GREEN

This week, contributing Upper Green Side writer Amber Roniger explores life for an Upper East Side Mom from an environmental perspective.

It ‘aint easy being green (as Kermit can attest to). We all know this from personal experience. It requires a huge amount of awareness, diligence and dedication to be environmentally conscious in the NYC. I don’t go in much for Jewish guilt (contrary to my upbringing), but I do feel a certain twinge at times when I simply don’t feel like washing out the General Tsao’s Tofu tin, or sorting through the recycling. And yet, I persist. Truly, consistency is key if we are all to contribute meaningfully toward getting our city green. I’ll take a boost wherever I can find it and I definitely draw inspiration from those around me. Most particularly from citizen-mom extraordinaire, Jen Levin, who is my own personal mom-icon. Jen is green from head to toe… well, as much as is humanly possible. Especially when juggling two small children (with the aid of her fantab husband, but still, it ‘aint easy). I’ve long admired Jen’s top-drawer mama’ing skills and her green-leaning lifestyle. She was generous to share some excellent tips and tidbits for green mothering on the Upper East Side.
Continue reading BRINGING BABY UP GREEN…

Greenmarket Renewal Victory

Last night Upper Green Side turned out over 30 people on a cold night to attend the community board meeting to discuss the renewal of the Greenmarkets at St. Stephen’s Church on 82nd Street (between First and York) and the Isaacs/Holmes Towers on First Avenue (between 92nd and 93rd Streets). We had also lined up letters of support from Borough President Scott Stringer and both Councilmembers Lappin and Garodnick and collected over 300 signatures. CM Garodnick even came in person to report what a success the greenmarkets had been and advocate for the renewal of the Greenmarkets. Micah Kellner, who is running for an Assembly seat in the area, attended to support the renewal of the Greenmarkets.

The discussion began with Father Angelo of St. Stephen’s church talking about how the Greenmarket had added to the life of the community and been a boon to the neighborhood. He added that the operators of the Greenmarkets, Council on the Environment of NYC, was a “class act” in that they were quiet in the morning, the farmers brought great produce and how they thoroughly cleaned up afterward.

Many others lent their voices to the Greenmarkets and there was no real opposition to these two greenmarkets so the Community Board Street Fairs Committee voted unanimously to renew the two markets. The next step for formal approval is for the Full Community Board to approve them on March 21st.

Upper Green Side thanks everyone who lent their voices to support the renewal of the markets. We’ll see you in July

Support the Renewal of Greenmarkets for 2007

Last year, Upper Green Side was at the forefront of bringing local food, outdoor greenmarkets back to the Upper East Side after many years of not having any in the area. We worked with local elected officials like Councilmembers Lappin and Garodnick to win community board approval for two sites that were welcomed by the respective local communities.

CM Lappin, Scott Stringer and Father Angelo at the St. Stephen’s Greenmarket Ribbon Cutting.

It was clear from the start that these new Greenmarkets created a greater sense of local community, by providing an outdoor market for local folks to meet each other, talk about recipes and talk to the farmers that grew food locally.

Shoppers at the 92nd Street Greenmarket enjoying freshly picked, locally grown produce

Now it is time to renew this community’s commitment to the Greenmarkets by coming out to the next Community Board meeting on Tuesday March 6th at the NY Blood Center - 67th street between First and Second at 7pm. There are still some narrow commercial interests that see Greenmarkets as competition and would like to see the Greenmarkets disappear. We need to stand up to support these markets to ensure their continued success at creating a better community, a better environment and a better chance for our local farmers to save their land against development.

Big Crowds at the 82nd Street Greenmarket early in the morning

Send a note of support to the community board office at info@cb8m.com and please attend the meeting so that we can have another great season of greenmarkets this year.

Regarding Carbon Emissions and Offsets.

Here at Upper Green Side, we are very concerned about taking personal responsibility for our carbon emissions that contribute to Global Warming. Changing your light bulbs to compact fluorescents or driving less is a way to reduce your carbon output, but even the most conscientious environmentalist will be personally responsible for some carbon emissions. You can do things to offset those carbon emissions, but first it’s good to take stock of what is driving your emissions.

There are many good carbon calculators available on the web to help you figure out your carbon footprint. Some are more precise and require specific amounts of kilowatts, miles in automobiles or planes and/or heating oil/natural gas you use in a given year while others ask general information about your lifestyle to create an estimate of your footprint. Use these to figure out where you can make the biggest carbon savings in your own life. Try out a few of them and see if you get similar answers. Depending on the calculator, you may come out with somewhat different answers, but the general findings of what is driving your personal contribution should be similar.

Even after you have pared your carbon footprint down to the lowest level you are comfortable with, there are ways to help offset the remaining amount to zero or even beyond. The first and best next step you can do is talk about what you did with your friends, family, coworkers and neighbors about how you reduced your carbon footprint. You may even want to help spur them into action by making it even easier for them by buying them Compact Fluorescent bulbs to install in their homes. Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool because the message is usually practical and from trustworthy sources. Focus on the positive aspects of what you have done and how it makes you feel. In addition to talking to people you see on a regular basis, consider sending out custom emails to several people you know well detailing what you personally have done and what web resources that you found helpful and would recommend to others looking to make better decisions to reduce their carbon emissions. Ask local businesses what they are doing to lower the amount of carbon they are responsible for as well. If enough people ask, they might see a marketing opportunity to attract customers like yourself.

There are many new organizations that are working on projects to reduce carbon emissions that allow individuals to buy offsets of their individual emissions, like TerraPass (for profit) and the Carbon Fund (non-profit). Grist magazine did a review of all the major carbon offset programs and the basics of how they structure their programs and how they spend the money donated. Consider all the information you read on their websites and decide what program you like the best. All of this is to help people consider carbon emissions in all the major decisions about where to live, how to to get around, what food to eat, what appliances to buy and use.

So in general, do what you can individually, discuss with others what they can do and give money to organizations and support businesses that are working to reduce their carbon emissions.

Drink Tap Water for a Cleaner Environment

Ok, I drink bottled water every so often, like when it’s the only thing around. And I’ll re-use bottles several times before I put it into the recycling bin. Mostly I carry around a reusable Nalgene bottle and fill it with tap water. But there are many people in New York City who consume most, if not all of their water from bottles instead of the tap. All of that water is delivered by trucks from hundreds or thousands of miles away. For instance, Fiji water comes from nearly half a world away.

One way that NYC could become a role model to the rest of the nation is by going back to the tap. This was recently highlighted in Brooklyn Papers about one woman’s effort in Park Slope to steer people away from bottled water.

Continue reading Drink Tap Water for a Cleaner Environment…

Where Can I Find Non-Toxic Cleaning Products?

There have been huge advances in the development of non-toxic household cleaners that can do the same job as old hard chemical cleaners. Green cleaning products are good for the environment by preventing toxic agents from entering our sewage system which can be dumped into our waterways. They are also good for the health of you and your family. To learn more about the potential harmful effects of toxic cleaners see Seventh Generation’s webpage on household hazards.
There is also a non-profit group called “Wellness in the Schools” of concerned parents piloting the use of non-toxic cleaners in the city’s schools. They state that “children are uniquely vulnerable to toxins” because;

• pound for pound children take in more contaminants than adults,
• they have certain behaviors like lying on the floor or hand-to-mouth behaviors which expose them to more toxins,
• schools are cleaned every day with industrial strength cleaners which leave behind residues,
• researchers have found that early exposure to environmental toxins appear more likely to produce chronic disease than simliar exposures encountered later in life,
• many conventional cleaners contain asthmagens (asthma triggers)
• asthma is the number one cause of absenteeism in the NYC public schools.

And to ask the question at the top of the page, here’s a short list of stores that sell at least a few non-toxic cleaner, including Seventh Generation products:

Give them a shot and you’ll be surprised and impressed. And send us emails about other good non-toxic cleaning products that you would recommend to your neighbors.

Support Your Local Thrift Shops

The Upper East Side has many thrift shops that support good causes and serve as a great way for used items to find a new home. They are a great way to get rid of unwanted clutter in your apartment - like clothing, books, kitchen goods, working electronics, etc. In return you get to write off the fair market value for those items. It’s also a place to find great deals if you’re in the market for the same items.

Housing Works, which has a thrift shop located on 77th between Second and Third Avenue, raises money to provide services and advocate for the 30,000 New Yorkers living with HIV that live in homeless shelters, on the street or in otherwise inadequate housing conditions. Below is a list of other thift shops in our area. Call ahead to find out what they accept and what their hours are.