sustainableflatbush.org

Bed-Stuy Blog reports that an Urban Farm Tour of community gardens in Brooklyn will be on the itinerary of visitors from the United Nations:

For two weeks in May, delegates from across the world will be visiting NYC as part of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. This is the first year of a two-year cycle in which the United Nations sets its policies on sustainable development. Agriculture is one of the major themes before the Commission.

New York City is a model for innovative urban food systems and agriculture projects, and the City Farms Tour will highlight several sites in Brooklyn, including sites in [Bed-Stuy]. We invite you to come out and be part of this exciting moment, when community-based food projects in your district are receiving international attention.

Hattie Carthan Community Garden (photo from BedStuy Blog)

The Tour will be held on May 10th (tomorrow!) and is open to the public. The announcement above is from the folks at Hattie Carthan Community Garden, which is part of the Magnolia Tree Earth Center, a cultural and environmental institution founded in 1972 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Other gardens featured on the tour are the Hollenback Community Garden in Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy Farm/Brooklyn Rescue Mission, and East New York Farms. Cooking, vermicomposting, and urban beekeeping workshops will be held along with tours of the sites.

Rebecca’s container gardening demonstration

Last Sunday’s event, “Greening Flatbush: Garden Where You Are” was a huge success! The Sustainable Flatbush Gardening Committee assembled a stellar program of speakers and demonstrations on topics including Container Gardening, Urban Composting, Street Trees, Permaculture and more.

Mela and Sandra talk trees

Karla advocates for worm composting

We can’t wait for spring to get our hands dirty and start planting up the neighborhood!

Sustainable Flatbush has just endorsed a new report on NYC energy policy and climate change response from Sierra Club NYC Group. The report praises PlaNYC while declaring that we need to go much further in order to address the increasing pace of climate change along with energy volatility:

Government sustainability initiatives may have greater success when framed as responses to energy volatility than to climate change. In the short term, expanding capacity margins through energy conservation will make the City more resilient to volatility, while expediting PlaNYC initiatives. In the long term, we need to push discussion far past PlaNYC’s current goals, and start building a post-petroleum economy now.

The good news is that a national project to make clean energy cheap can restore domestic manufacturing, create millions of jobs that can’t be outsourced, and stimulate the economy, while improving our quality of life and mitigating climate change. New York City’s leadership can help make such policy actions a reality, while ensuring a better future for our citizens. What’s the next step for New York City?

Here’s a link to the summary version (the whole report is 50 pages long!).

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!!

Our friends at Green Map System are involved in a fundraising challenge:

America’s Giving Challenge will award $50,000 prizes to the eight non-profits that receive the greatest number of unique $10 donations this month. Each donation must come from a different person and a different credit card to count. Anyone in the world can contribute, and all donations must be made at Green Map’s specific Challenge webpage. It’s tax-deductible, too! All donations of $10 (by 3PM, EST on January 31) or more will be used toward the great Green Maps, mapmaking resources, multi-lingual websites, tours and events that Green Map System creates to engage communities worldwide to chart a sustainable future.

Support locally-led Green Mapmaking projects that connect, engage and empower communities across the US and worldwide as they promote green living, nature, social and cultural resources and eco-education for all. Think Global, Map Local!

Over 300 GreenMaps have been published to date, promoting sustainable communities by connecting both residents and tourists to environmental resources all over the world (including Energy, Composting and Youth-oriented editions of New York City’s Green Apple Map series). Green Map Project is currently active in 400 cities, villages and neighborhoods in 50 countries! If you have ten bucks to spare, these are good people to support.

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!

Last night’s Sustainable Flatbush Town Hall Meeting was a rousing success. We had 25 people in attendance, maxing out our host’s supply of chairs. In addition to a great crew of motivated neighborhood residents, we also had the Director of Brooklyn College’s Center for the Study of Brooklyn, the Pedestrian Advocate from Transportation Alternatives, several representatives from Flatbush Development Corporation, and the Coordinator for NYSERDA’s EMPOWER program (providing energy efficiency consultations for low-income New Yorkers). Also on hand were local bloggers from Brooklyn Junction, Flatbush Gardener and Ditmas Park Blog.

Six committees were established:

- R3 (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)
- Gardening
- Livable Streets
- Energy Efficiency
- Business Outreach
- Schools Outreach

Stay tuned as these groups develop their projects for the neighborhood!

Just a reminder:
Sustainable Flatbush Town Hall Meeting is TONIGHT!!

Please join us:

WHAT: Sustainable Flatbush Town Hall Meeting
WHEN: Monday, November 12th at 7pm
WHERE: 462 Marlborough Road (between Ditmas and Dorchester)

Tonight’s meeting will focus primarily on the formation of committees to carry out service projects and set long-term sustainability goals for our neighborhood. Proposed committees include:

• R3 (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)
• Sustainable Gardening
• Energy: Efficiency, Alternatives
• Transportation/Livable Streets
• Local Business Outreach
• Schools Outreach

We will also discuss upcoming actions (including our participation in Flatbush Development Corporation’s holiday event at Newkirk Plaza on December 8th) and formation of partnerships with like-minded local and citywide organizations, and hear a report on the highly-anticipated Flatbush Community Garden.

Hope to see you there!

Sustainable Flatbush is about to enter an exciting new phase of our activities in the neighborhood, and we’d love for YOU to be involved! Please join us:

WHAT: Sustainable Flatbush Town Hall Meeting
WHEN: Monday, November 12th at 7pm
WHERE: 462 Marlborough Road (between Ditmas and Dorchester)

Longtime Flatbush resident Mark Levy has come onboard, bringing his history of commitment to the neighborhood and experience as a community organizer and environmental educator. He has also kindly offered to host this meeting at his home. Thanks Mark!

We will form committees geared toward specific activities and service projects, establish leadership roles, and set some new goals for 2008. To give you an idea of what’s in store, here are some of the proposed committees:

• RECYCLING/WASTE REDUCTION
Focusing on recycling education and promotion, as well as other methods of reducing waste in our homes and businesses, from composting to blocking unwanted fliers.

• SUSTAINABLE GARDENING
Sharing knowledge and resources on sustainable approaches to all forms of urban gardening, from yard landscaping to street tree pits to organic farming. We will also be actively involved in the new neighborhood community garden.

• TRANSPORTATION/LIVABLE STREETS
Working with Transportation Alternatives and other Livable Streets advocates, we will bring a local perspective to the citywide discussion of such issues as traffic calming, congestion pricing, public transportation improvements, and infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists.

• ENERGY EFFICIENCY/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY AND FUELS
Let’s talk about how to save money by using less energy in our homes and businesses, and how to incorporate alternative energy sources such as biofuels and solar power into the landscape.

• LOCAL BUSINESS OUTREACH
Helping neighborhood businesses to adopt sustainability practices that improve their “Triple Bottom Line”: People, Planet, and Profit.

• LOCAL SCHOOLS OUTREACH
Implementing environmental education and practices in our local schools.

Hope to see you there!