sustainableflatbush.org

The good folks at Neighborhood Energy Network are co-sponsoring a screening of “Contested Streets” this Thursday night, with a post-film discussion moderated by Dani Simons of Transportation Alternatives.

Through interviews with leading historians, urban planners, and government officials, this 57-minute film explores the history and culture of New York City streets from pre-automobile times to the present. CONTESTED STREETS shows how the city with the best mass transit in the United States has slowly relinquished a richly used public space to cars and trucks. New York is compared to London, Paris and Copenhagen, where curtailing automobile use in recent years has improved air quality, mitigated noise pollution and enriched commercial, recreational and community interaction. Congestion pricing, bus rapid transit (BRT) and pedestrian and bike infrastructure schemes are examined in depth.

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The U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of environmental non-profits and corporations, has doubled its numbers and now includes General Motors (!). “The addition of these new companies adds horsepower to the push for Congress to act quickly on a real solution to climate change,” said Krupp [President of Environmental Defense, an original USCAP partner].

…The group’s mission is to urge the federal government to:

• cut greenhouse gas emissions 60-80 percent,
• create business incentives and,
• act swiftly and thoughtfully.

Read the whole story here.

I went on this tour (sponsored by Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment) in 2004, and the experience was somewhat life-changing. It was the first time I learned about rainwater harvesting (at the Hollenback Community Garden on Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill), and the first time I saw a green roof (at Bushwick Gardens, a senior citizens housing development built on a former brownfield site).
This year’s tour has two segments, with the morning ride starting at the Stillwell Ave/Coney Island subway station, and the afternoon one at Added Value Farm in Red Hook. The festivities end (begin?) at Brooklyn Brewery. Can’t wait!

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Sponsored by the lovely folks at Green Apple Maps

Happy Bike Month!

Green Apple Bike Tour starts at 11 am at the Temperance Monument in Tompkins Square Park, near Avenue A and East 9th Street. Co-sponsored by Time’s Up!

Bring your bike and explore sustainability sites, gardens, greenways and riversides, composting, solar power, green buildings and more - in the Garden District and Lower East Side, along with Green Map System and special guest speakers. Honor Mother Nature this Mother’s Day!

Permaculture-based systems offer a broad range of solutions to making NYC more sustainable, and the alliance of folks presenting this event reflects that range. Whether you are interested in growing your own food, making efficient use of land and energy, or just keeping it together when the oil pipelines go dry… this gathering should be of interest.

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This year’s schedule is filled with great rides and events for the whole family.

Tour de Brooklyn 2007 should be the best yet!
Check out the fun from last year’s ride, courtesy of Streetfilms.

from the PlaNYC Transportation Technical report, via Streetsblog:

If New Yorkers owned cars at the same rate as the rest of the nation, it would take 11,000 acres, or all of Manhattan below 136^th Street, just to park them end to end.

In keeping with the theme of last weeks’ Sustainable Flatbush Event #2 | Livable Cities, today’s Earth Policy News landed in my email box with urban transportation issues squarely in the forefront. Check out the complete article here:

http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/Seg/PB2ch11_ss7.htm

Favorite quotes:

“One of the most remarkable modern urban transformations has occurred in Bogotá, Colombia, where Enrique Peñalosa served as Mayor for three years, beginning in 1998. When he took office he did not ask how life could be improved for the 30 percent who owned cars; he wanted to know what could be done for the 70 percent—the majority—who did not own cars… Peñalosa realized that a city that is a pleasant environment for children and the elderly would work for everyone.”

“Cars promise mobility, and they provide it in a largely rural setting. But in an urbanizing world there is an inherent conflict between the automobile and the city. After a point, as their numbers multiply, automobiles provide not mobility but immobility.”