sustainableflatbush.org

At last week’s Sustainable Flatbush Monthly Meeting, some collective decisions were made to change our organizational structure. Here’s how the change was described to everyone who has signed up for our committees’ listserv groups:

Based on discussion at Monday’s general meeting, we’re going to pilot using a single, unified group to coordinate planning for all Sustainable Flatbush events. The goal is to provide more support for each event across the Sustainable Flatbush membership, and to provide greatest awareness and involvement of all the events being planned. I believe this approach is also more reflective of the synergistic nature of sustainability itself, where one objective supports and enhances another. What I’m saying is, It’s All Good!

For example, the Gardening Committee has already begun planning for a whole weekend of activities on Arbor Day Weekend (April 25-27); yes, it’s about trees, but trees and neighborhood “greening” are also Livable Streets issues, they affect energy use, are proven to be good for business, and are healthy for children and other living things. As well, on behalf of the Livable Streets committee, Stacy has applied (and been approved!) for a Block Party grant (event date TBA), which is a great project that everyone can get involved with. In addition to the traffic-calming and community building aspects of closing the street for a party (complete with NYC street games!), we can also have information tables with literature on Recycling and Composting, we can have CFL bulbs available for sale, local businesses can get involved…. many many possibilities.

If YOU would like to get involved with Sustainable Flatbush events and projects, sign up for the Planning Group HERE.

The Sustainable Flatbush Gardening Commitee is spearheading this great free community event:

On Sunday, February 24, residents and other members of the greater Flatbush community can learn what they can do to beautify and improve the environment of their neighborhood.

“Greening Flatbush: Garden Where You Are” is an afternoon of short lectures, demonstrations, and workshops on topics ranging from planting and caring for street trees to composting with worms in your kitchen.

“Garden is a verb,” says Chris Kreussling, co-chair of the Gardening Committee of Sustainable Flatbush, which is sponsoring the event. “It’s not just a place you visit. It’s something you do.”

“Hearing about what others are already doing can inspire people to work with their neighbors to takeaction,” says Kreussling, who also authors a local gardening blog, Flatbush Gardener. “We want to build community through gardening.”

Greening Flatbush is Sunday, February 24, from 1:30 to 4:30pm at the Flatbush Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library at 22 Linden Boulevard.

The event is free, but space is limited. To register, or if you have questions about this event, please email greeningflatbush[at]gmail.com.

For directions, see the Flatbush branch web page on the Brooklyn Public Library Web site.

Have I mentioned that our Gardening Committee is amazing? Check out their mission statement:

We envision a clean, green, and beautiful cityscape for and by the inhabitants of Flatbush.
Our purpose is to empower our community through shared gardening and pro-environment projects.
To achieve this, we will:

• Educate our community to create green, life-promoting spaces indoors and outdoors;
• Support other groups and individuals in their environmentally sound gardening projects;
• Inspire and challenge all members of our community to sustain and respect public gardening and environmental initiatives;
• Green and beautify our neighborhood one flower, one plant, one tree at a time.

Anyone interested in becoming an active member of this committee can request to join their listserv here. Go Gardeners!!

2007 was the first fully operation year for Sustainable Flatbush, and I must say we accomplished a lot. Starting with our Kickoff Meeting on March 16th at Vox Pop Cafe/Bookstore, the goal was to find people in the neighborhood who wanted to work on sustainability issues locally. To my amazement, 25 people braved a blizzard to attend this event, and we had a great discussion where some common interests and goals were defined. (Full disclosure: to boost attendance I scheduled this event one week after my birthday and combined it with a party… but at least half the people there were new faces to me!)

Park(ing) Day on Cortelyou Road (story below!). Photo by Keka

For our second event we celebrated Bike Month with a program of Streetfilms (curated by yours truly) and a guest appearance by their creator Clarence Eckerson. In keeping with our theme of overcoming weather challenges, Clarence’s flight from the West Coast was delayed by severe rains and while waiting for him we conducted a discussion on Congestion Pricing with Livable Streets luminaries Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives and Aaron Naparstek of Streetsblog. Clarence’s honorarium was a vegan cupcake.

Event #3, an Urban Permaculture Lecture with former Flatbush residents Wilton Duckworth and Joan Ewing of Green Phoenix, packed Vox Pop with permaculture enthusiasts who exchanged ideas on how to apply this sustainable design practice to city living.

Then we worked with Lower East Side Ecology Center to create the first e-waste recycling event south of Prospect Park: Cortelyou Road Electronics Recycling diverted a truck full of discarded technology (and its accompanying toxins) from the landfill. Many thanks to Christina Datz-Romero for her pioneering work to make New York City more sustainable through LESEC’s recycling and composting programs, and for helping me stake out the perfect spot to park the big red dumpster.

In July we teamed up with the Green Edge Collective for Event #4, Eating Sustainably: a meetup and discussion on Sustainable Food. The Green Edge ladies, known for their Eco-Eatery tours and Supper Club community potlucks, kept the discussion lively as topics ranged from healthy food shopping to plastic bags to the environmental implications of consumption. Lots of food for thought (ouch).

I spent most of August on the West Coast, playing music, visiting family, and touring Oregon’s Willamette Valley by bicycle with a group of sustainability-minded vegans. Who knew quinoa was such a useful grain?

We started Autumn off right by participating in the neighborhood’s biggest street festival, the Flatbush Frolic, with a table full of materials promoting recycling. Eve Martinez from the Department of Sanitation’s NYC WasteLess program brought her full compliment of recycling stickers, brochures, posters, and fridge magnets. (What’s a street fair without fridge magnets?) We got to know our neighbors and I scored my new favorite T-shirt.

On September 21st Park(ing) Day was celebrated all over New York City, the U.S., and Planet Earth… including right here in Flatbush. We occupied a parking space and created a park for the day, complete with real grass, trees, a bench, art supplies, live music… and lots of people, especially kids! (See photo above.) Naturally Streetfilms covered this event, and Cortelyou Road Park is featured in their piece… check it out! This event’s special thanks go to Lindsey Lusher of Transportation Alternatives, who coordinated resources and information for almost two dozen sites all over NYC, and especially to Keka Marzagão, without whom Cortelyou Road Park simply would not have been possible! In addition to providing every possible form of support (moral, creative, physical), Keka insisted that we have real grass, which provided endless wonderment and joy to everyone who visited our park.

Okay, so in October we recuperated. By November we were ready to kick off a whole new level of activities with our Town Hall Meeting. 25 people attended (our magic number, perhaps!), and six committees were established, each with specific goals and projects. We are now holding monthly meetings where newcomers can get involved and committees report on their plans. 2008 already looks exciting, with the R3 Committee’s Post-Holiday Electronics Recycling Event coming up this weekend, the Gardening Committee planning a Spring event in conjunction with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Livable Streets Committee working on a Transportation Conference with Center for the Study of Brooklyn and Transportation Alternatives.

That’s the news for 2007. Much much more to come…

Special Thanks (in order of appearance):
Keka Marzagão (website/logo design, photos, VJ, chief co-instigator)
Jeff Duneman (DJ Drummerman, groove provider for Events #1-3)
Sander Hicks and the staff of Vox Pop
Cacao Arcoverde and Ileana Santamaria (musical magic for Event #3)
Susan Siegel and everyone at Flatbush Development Corporation
Clarence Eckerson and all at Streetfilms
Christina Datz-Romero (Lower East Side Ecology Center)
Carolyn Gilles and the Green Edge Collaborative
Lindsey Lusher (Transportation Alternatives)
Eve Martinez (NYC Department of Sanitation)
Mark Levy (host of Sustainable Flatbush Mothership)
Chris Kreussling (Flatbush Gardener)
Eli Kramer (Brooklyn Junction blog)
Gretchen Maneval (Center for the Study of Brooklyn)
Cycleliciousness blog (inspiration for a bike-friendly NYC)
The Flatbush community for supporting our green future
Brooklyn bloggers for setting high standards of journalism, neighborhood pride, and humor
YOU… for reading

Next Sustainable Flatbush monthly meeting:
Monday January 7th, 7pm
462 Marlborough Road (between Ditmas and Dorchester)

Our regular meetings on the first Monday of every month are for newcomers and committee members alike. We will report on projects in progress and plan for future activities. Everyone is welcome!