sustainableflatbush.org

Tonight’s Sustainable Flatbush Event #3 | Urban Permaculture is ON…
with an added BoNuS:

Vocalist/dancer/songwriter/percussionist

*** Ileana Santamaria ***

will treat us to some of her favorite classic Brazilian tunes!!

“Cuban-born Ileana Santamaria grew up in a musical household with a
dream to carry on the legacy of her father, Cuban percussionist and
Latin Jazz pioneer Ramon “Mongo” Santamaria.”
(http://www.myspace.com/ileanasantamaria)

Don’t miss it!

Don’t be fooled by the “tax on working people” rhetoric from politicians who speak for a small but vocal minority of their constituents; the vast majority of working people in New York City commute by public transportation. Those of us who do not drive in Manhattan during business hours are already paying a “tax” in the form of gridlocked streets, polluted air, and a potential subway fare hike, while automobiles and trucks use the streets for free.

What the city desperately needs is dramatically improved bus service (Bus Rapid Transit!), a real bicycle infrastructure (one you would feel comfortable sending your children or grandparents out on), expanded commuter rail service, and subway improvements to handle increasing ridership (with no fare hike). Congestion pricing is the only proposal on the table to fund these improvements; it has also been proven (most recently in London) to reduce motor vehicle congestion and air pollution while increasing transit and bicycle use.

This film was produced by Streetfilms with The Campaign for New York’s Future, “a coalition of over 80 civic, business, environmental, labor, religious, public health and community organizations partnering to make every neighborhood in NYC a great place to live and work.”

(text version follows) (more…)

Last week’s post on the unsustainability of bottled water prompted a comment that someone should do PSAs promoting the quality of New York City tap water… and today I stumbled upon one!

While advertising buffs might debate how “compelling” this campaign is, it will hopefully raise questions about the assumption that bottled water is automatically cleaner and healthier (it isn’t).

Foster Avenue, Flatbush, Brooklyn

According to a new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, New York State comes in at number 5. No surprise to see Cali and Vermont on top, ditto Massachusetts, Washington and Oregon. But Connecticut… who knew?  Anyway, NY will not take a back seat so easily; check back with us in mid-2008 after a year with a new Governor, energy-saving programs for buildings underway, and (cross your fingers!) congestion pricing in place.

The top 10 most energy efficient states in 2006:

• California, Connecticut and Vermont (tie)
• Massachusetts
• Oregon
• Washington
• New York
• New Jersey
• Rhode Island, Minnesota (tie)

(Go Minnesota, keeping it real out in the Midwest!)

The 10 least energy efficient states:

• North Dakota
• Wyoming
• Mississippi
• South Dakota
• Alabama
• Missouri
• Arkansas
• Oklahoma
• Tennessee
• Alaska

Flatbush’s First-Ever e-Waste Recycling Event!

sponsored by Sustainable Flatbush and the Lower East Side Ecology Center

co-sponsored by Flatbush Development Corporation

When:
Saturday June 30, 10am - 4pm
Sunday July 1, 10am - 4pm
Monday July 2, 4pm - 7pm

Where:
Cortelyou Road between Rugby and Argyle

Why:
Discarded computers and electronics are toxic hazardous waste! Keep your unwanted electronics out of the landfill by bringing them to this neighborhood e-waste recycling event.

Public Recycling Receptacles outside of Union Square Park in Manhattan

How do I know it’s working? Like a true Recycling Geek, I looked inside the cans and observed that they contained the proper items.

This flies in the face of predictions from some Department of Sanitation skeptics (including one who spoke at the Building Recycling Initiative workshop I attended last year) that public recycling would be a failure in New York City because of noncompliance.

A request came in this morning from Solar One, the wonderful sustainability education center located on the East River in Manhattan. Their Green Renter lecture series is a fantastic resource for learning about all sorts of environmental topics, and their outdoor festivals in the summer, which feature films, music, dance, and “green” vendors, are lots of fun.

This looks like a cool and creative way to keep plastic bottles out of the landfill (at least until the Bigger Better Bottle Bill is passed):

CALL FOR PLASTIC BOTTLES!
For Solar One’s Citysol festival this summer to take place July 12-15, artist Jasmine Zimmerman will be constructing habit-able castles of recycled plastic bottles. We’ve estimated needing up to 8,000 used plastic bottles for this project and are hoping to collect them from the homes and offices of New Yorkers. We will deconstruct the structures after the festival is over and recycle them properly. We will be collecting bottles at Solar 1 (located at 23rd Street & the East River) we are generally here Monday-Friday, 9-5pm. We can also arrange for pickup if you’re unable to come to our site. 16-20oz. bottles will be easiest to use, but anything you have would be great!

Please e-mail jenn@solar1.org for more information.

Additionally, this will be a community building project, so please stay tuned on how you can participate — we’ll be adding to the structures throughout the festival so they will be constantly changing in form and scale with the voice of visitors.

Take a look at http://www.citysol.org for a brief overview of this year’s events and check back as information is updated in the coming weeks.

Sustainable Flatbush Event #3
Friday, June 15th, 8pm until midnight
at Vox Pop Cafe/Bookstore
1022 Cortelyou Road, Flatbush, Brooklyn
Q train to Cortelyou Road, walk 5 blocks west to Stratford

Our regular (ish) monthly (or so) event will be on Friday June 15th from 8pm to midnight. The subject will be “Permaculture and its Applications in an Urban Environment” (or something along those lines). Featured speakers Joan Ewing and Wilton Duckworth are former Flatbush residents now living upstate on a functioning permaculture site. They will give a presentation on Geoff Lawton’s “Greening the Desert” project and talk about their own experience with sustainable environmental design as the focus of their lives. Before and after the talk we will enjoy music from resident DJ Drummerman, visuals by Keka, Vox Pop’s lovely assortment of food and drinks, and scintillating conversation with smart, charming people. Don’t miss it!

For those of you who missed the last Sustainable Flatbush event at Vox Pop featuring a curated program of StreetFilms classics – and for those who would like to see them again! – I thought it would be fun to provide the appropriate links:

• Enrique Peñalosa interview
Peñalosa is the inspiring and visionary politician who transformed Bogota, Colombia into a model for sustainable urban transportation.

• Physically Separated Bike Lanes
This video, which has been viewed online over 25,000 times, shows examples from around the world of safe urban cycling lanes. Imagine how perfect this would be for NYC!!

• Parking Spot Squat
In June 2006, Transportation Alternatives volunteers staged a “Parking Spot Squat” in Brooklyn’s busy Park Slope neighborhood. The volunteers “liberated” two parking spots, providing a temporary public space that allowed residents to sit and relax.

• Portland Bike Move
Features members of Portland’s warm and innovative bike community, where dozens of folks regularly donate a few weekend hours with their bike trailers to help fellow cyclists move their belongings to a new abode.

These short films were all produced, shot and edited by Clarence Eckerson, official videographer of the New York City Streets Renaissance. They provided fertile ground for discussion at our event, and for dreams of what our city could look like if it were planned around people instead of cars. With all the changes happening here around the Mayor’s Sustainability Initiative and the new Transportation Commissioner (see Tour de Brooklyn post!), dreams of a truly bike-friendly New York City are feeling more attainable than ever before.