sustainableflatbush.org

(Imagine Flatbush logo by Imani Aegedoy)

Last night was the first meeting of Imagine Flatbush 2030, a “community visioning project” sponsored by the Municipal Arts Society and Flatbush Development Corporation. The project’s purpose is to engage neighborhood stakeholders (to my delight, I was asked to be on the Advisory Committee… guess that makes me a stakeholder!) in a sustainability discussion and planning process at the local level:

As part of Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York, MAS will work with the residents, business owners, and civic leaders of Flatbush, Brooklyn, with the partnership of the Flatbush Development Corporation, to assist in creating neighborhood sustainability goals and tools to measure progress toward consensus-based goals. Flatbush is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the city, growing at a rate of eight percent annually, and mirroring the needs and attributes of a growing population within a district that is both architecturally and historically distinct. Yet the lack of affordable housing undermines the ability of the neighborhood to stay diverse, the resident to open space ratio is among the highest in the city, and heavy vehicular traffic compromises the quality of life.

In other words, what do we want our neighborhood to look like in the future, both immediate and distant? How can we accommodate population growth while maintaining the things about our neighborhood’s character that we love? What are the unique assets and challenges we have to work with in this process?

Before breaking into small discussion groups we heard from environmental justice activist and Executive Director of UPROSE (United Puerto Rican Association of Sunset Park) Elizabeth Yeampierre on the need for New York City to urgently address climate change by rethinking ALL of the choices we make in our lives. She is a great speaker who has received many awards and accolades for her leadership in organizing intergenerational groups in disenfranchised communities to unite against social, economic, and environmental injustice. I was really struck by her description of how UPROSE evolved from fighting against things in their community to planning for things, and the sense of empowerment that came with that evolution. Here in Flatbush we are fortunate to not be fighting against highway expansions and power plant sitings and irresponsible brownfield development, and also to have many motivated and talented people to work for the positive changes we want to see. We are rich in social and creative capital, and Imagine Flatbush 2030 is an opportunity to utilize those human resources.

Upon reconvening from the group discussions, we learned that there was mostly consensus on what we love about Flatbush and want to preserve and build on — diversity of population (ethnic, cultural, religious, economic), variety of housing stock, locally-owned businesses, good public transportation, good schools — and what we feel is lacking — affordable housing, public green space, places to gather for social interaction, retail selection (too many pharmacies, not enough grocery stores), opportunities for youth, arts and cultural amenities.

Some issues that were touched upon and that I hope to discuss in more depth include energy efficiency retrofits for apartment buildings and houses (which would help keep housing affordable for current residents and owners); improving and expanding public transportation, especially “crosstown” bus service; better pedestrian and bicycle amenities; and — the big one — promoting a sustainable approach to urban living that prepares us for future environmental challenges. Elizabeth Yeampierre put it out there: “We all love our SUVs, but I might have to think about sitting my bodacious hips down on a bike“. Like she said…

The next meeting of Imagine Flatbush will be on December 12th at Brooklyn College. If you’ve read this far chances are you’re a stakeholder too… and you are invited! I’ll post the details here when they become available.

Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment does great work educating children and adults about the built and natural environments of New York City. Their activities range from walking tours of Brooklyn neighborhoods to canoing the Gowanus Canal to a bicycle tour of Newtown Creek, and they have sponsored the Green Brooklyn Conference, — “Brooklyn’s largest showcase of green and sustainability issues, programs, and products” — at Borough Hall for the past three years. They also work with NYC public schools to educate children about science and ecology, and have partnered in the creation of environmental leadership programs in three Brooklyn high schools located in Bushwick and Williamsburg: the Academy for Urban Planning, the Green School/Academy for Environmental Careers, and the Academy for Environmental Leadership.

So it’s fantastic news that we can support both environmental education in Brooklyn and green businesses by shopping at shopbcue.org, where up to 25% of the purchase price will help fund BCUE’s programs:

Clicking through shopbcue.org allows you to:

• Limit the environmental impact of your purchases
• Demonstrate your support for green businesses and manufacturers
• Inform companies of the issues that are important to you as a consumer
• Donate up to 25% of your purchase to Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment
  

The list of vendors includes companies that demonstrate environmentally or socially conscious principles in their products or practices, including:

3R Living
Alternative Energy Store
Apple iTunes
Aubrey Organics
Audible
Bag, Borrow or Steal
Design Public
eBay
Evogear
GAIAM
Gardens Alive!
Global Exchange
Green Batteries
Green Nest
Greenfeet
Greenloop
Native Remedies
NOVICA
Office Depot
Only Natural Pet Store
Organic Bouquet
Our Green House
ParkSeed
Staples
Taraluna
The Green Office
TreeGivers
VivaTerra
Vivavi
WindowBox

While many of these are businesses I would expect to see in a partnership like this (go 3R Living!), it’s particularly nice to see iTunes and ebay on the list.

Science Barge - Powered By Nature!, originally uploaded by Sustainable Flatbush.

Finally visited the Science Barge during GreenHome NYC’s Green Buildings Open House.

The Science Barge is a sustainable urban farm. It demonstrates renewable energy supporting sustainable food production in New York City. The Science Barge grows tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce with zero net carbon emissions, zero chemical pesticides, and zero runoff. Operating from May to October in 2007 and 2008, the Barge tours waterfront parks in Manhattan, hosting thousands of visitors and public school students.

For more photos of this event, check out the Sustainable Flatbush Flickr gallery.

“How I Spent My Summer Vacation” continues, with more photos and anecdotes from the sustainability bicycle tour I went on in August…

Maitreya Eco-village, Eugene, OR

The trip began in Eugene, where we camped for the first few nights at a place called Dharmalaya. This is a privately owned home with land that hosts a yoga and meditation studio and acts as a community center for concerts and educational events. It is also an experiment in sustainable living, with an organic garden, composting toilets, and greywater reuse system. (More on Dharmalaya, including their ups and downs with the Eugene zoning board, here.) We visited a community called Maitreya Eco-Village, where we received some lessons in green building techniques (specifically straw bale and cob construction) from founder and architect Rob Bolman. We dropped by the factory and showroom of Bike Friday, manufacturer of world-famous sublime folding bikes, and got to take a few for a spin around the parking lot. We also checked out Eugene’s Center for Appropriate Transport, which hosts a community bike workshop and educational programs that teach kids how to build and design bikes and bike accessories.

Center for Appropriate Transport, Eugene, OR

Once this show actually got on the road, the distances each day were pretty significant for my wimpy self. (One point of pride was that I did actually RIDE up the hilliest portion of the trip, albeit at approximately 1.5 miles per hour.) I discovered that I like traveling by bike very much, and am looking forward to doing more in the future. It’s a great way to see the countryside, silently self-propelled, while still actually covering some distance in the course of a day. The weather was fantastic and Oregon’s Willamette Valley is a beautiful place.

Willamette River Valley, Oregon

We camped at organic farms and spent some time with the farmers who shared the reality of their work and lives with our group, including some delicious produce! We got our hands a little dirty on these farms too (though I personally can’t claim to have been very useful). Seeing both the beauty and the difficulty of this life made me more determined than ever to support the people whose labor and dedication brings beautiful healthy food to the rest of us.

Cyndi gives her chickens lots of love!

Next: “How What I Did On My Summer Vacation Changed My Life”... for real!

Okay, I can actually say it: by popular demand, the “How-I-Spent-My-Summer-Vacation” thread must go on! A lovely woman named Lisa sent me an email asking about the Oregon bike trip I went on in August, referenced in an earlier post. Thus, I will attempt to describe that experience, from the perspectives of sustainability, bicycling, and travel, in somewhat haphazard order.

I had seen ads for a sustainability-themed bike tour last year, but was unable to go at the time. The idea of travelling by bicycle was intriguing to me in and of itself, and the trip seemed pretty affordable by comparison with other supported bike tours (meaning, you camp but your luggage is transported in a van). The itinerary — visits to organic farms, green buildings and permaculture sites — was very attractive. To top it off, the support vehicle runs on biodiesel! What’s not to like? The tour company promotes their trips as

“Holistic - Vegan - Alcohol-free - Intrinsically Political - Community-Building Experience(s)”

… Um, okay… but I must confess I had a few fears about what I was getting into. Prominent among them was that I would be not only the oldest person there, but also the only person who was (a) not a vegan in “real” life, (b) not super-buff in that quasi-anorexic hipster way, (c) not covered with tattoos and/or piercings, (d) politically slightly to the right of anarchist, (e) blessed/cursed with the sarcastic sense of humor that can be a rarity on the West Coast. It’s not that I feel incapable of hanging with a crowd that fits this description (though perhaps not for an entire week), it’s just that growing up in Berkeley has made me somewhat weary of uber-political-correctness. Ironically, this breeding has also made me completely unfit for any other environment. I took a deep breath and sent in my deposit.

Fortunately all of the fears cited above were unfounded. The age range of our tour group was 12 years old to 70! In fact the folks older than me were among the strongest cyclists, usually found sipping cappuccinos at the 30-mile rest stop by the time I straggled in (great role models!). All the participants were really friendly and nice, with interesting lives and stories, some hailing from as far away as Canada and New Zealand. There were even a few fellow New Yorkers, one of whom provided a daily opportunity to make fun of the vegan fare by referring fondly to pastrami sandwiches at Katz’s Deli.

Lunch stop (biodiesel support van in the background)

GreenHome NYC’s annual tour of green buildings has several options this year, offering bus, bike and walking tours in three boroughs, plus an afterparty beginning at 2 pm at Habana Outpost in Brooklyn. (See the list of tours here.)

The Brooklyn bike tour features the Nassau Brewery Icehouse Apartments in Crown Heights, 93 Nevins — “the first buildings in New York City to be certified by the American Lung Association’s (ALA) Health House program”, an eco-friendly rehabbed brownstone in Bed Stuy, and Habana Outpost in Fort Greene.

I will be checking out the East Village walking tour, which begins with a project designed by energy-efficient building guru Chris Benedict and ends at the Science Barge, “a sustainable urban farm powered by solar, wind, and biofuels, and irrigated by rainwater and purified river water”.

Proceeds from the tour support GreenHome NYC’s programs which include great monthly seminars and Ask An Expert, an online resource for all your questions related to green building.

The Great Change: The World Beyond Petroleum
An evening with Albert Bates

Where:
Friends Meeting House
15 Rutherford Place, Manhattan
(15th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)

Sponsors:
Sierra Club NYC Group
Beyond Oil NYC
Neighborhood Energy Network
Tri-State Food Not Lawns
Friends in Unity with Nature

Cost:
free, but donations to support Albert’s travel costs welcome

With a style both humorous and deadly serious, Albert Bates walks us through the challenges that lie ahead for the United States and the world: climate change, peak oil, and global economic meltdown creating conditions for civil unrest, recession and hardship. Picking his way through the minefield of unrealistic expectations, Bates pulls together a picture of a very different future, consciously created and far better than anything we might have imagined before. (more…)

More photos from Portland here:

• Views from bridges and mountains
• Bicycle-loving graffiti and architecture
• Stormwater management strategies
• Gorgeous produce at the Farmers’ Market
• Did I mention the bikes?

Have a look!

Next up, a report and photos from the Sustainable Energy in Motion Bike Tour…

While in Portland, I was eager to check out some of the projects spearheaded by a local organization called City Repair (”an organized group action that educates and inspires communities and individuals to creatively transform the places where they live”). One of their traffic calming “intersection repairs” turned out to be a few blocks from where I was staying, so I encountered it by accident on the way to breakfast:

These two women are also not locals, and when they asked me about the origins of this traffic circle I was proud to be able to speak with some knowledge about it (thanks to all the Portland promotion on Streetfilms).

This sheltered bench, located outside the Hawthorne Hostel, is an example of a centuries-old natural building technique called “cob” construction. It is one often used by City Repair because cob is an easy material to work with for those with little or no experience — requiring no forms, bricks, or wooden framework — and is well-suited to sculptural structures like this one. As I would soon learn on my upcoming sustainability-themed bicycle tour, cob is not made from corn cobs! It is made from clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, and formed by hand into bricks or blobs or whatever. After the structure is established the material can be shaped by hand like modeling clay. Portland is filled with cool hangout spots like this, thanks to City Repair’s annual Village Building Convergence (”a 10-day event in which neighborhoods activate to build shared public places that they have envisioned, designed, funded, and will maintain for themselves”).

What can I say? I’m impressed. And trying to envision a what Brooklyn version would look like. And planning a visit to next year’s Convergence.

I attended this seminar two years ago, and it completely changed my thinking about water use. Hint: if you think you know how much water a leaky toilet wastes, think again!

Water Conservation: Quench Your Thirst for Information
What better way to jumpstart a sustainable summer than to learn about water conservation! Join us in our upcoming forum where we will discuss how to use water efficiently and focus on water conservation technology readily available for both residential and commercial use. Our speaker will provide a combination of practical points for homeowners and specification information for design professionals from a regional and global perspective.

When: Wednesday, July 18, 2007, 6:30-8:00 pm

Where: Church Street School for Music & Art
74 Warren Street, Manhattan
1,2,3,A,C trains to Chambers Street; R,W trains to City Hall

Speaker: Warren C. Liebold, Director, Technical Services/Conservation, Bureau of Customer Services, New York City Department of Environmental Protection