Sponsored by Sustainable Flatbush, Flatbush Food Coop, and Brooklyn College Student Center

Filmed over nearly three years, Waste Land follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials.

Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives.

Director Lucy Walker (DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, BLINDSIGHT and COUNTDOWN TO ZERO) and co-directors João Jardim and Karen Harley have great access to the entire process and, in the end, offer stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.

WHERE:
Brooklyn College Student Center
Gold Room (6th floor)
Campus Road and East 27th Street, Brooklyn
Subway: 2 or 5 train to Brooklyn College/Flatbush Avenue
Free refreshments and popcorn
provided by Flatbush Food Co-op

New project: Support our composting efforts on ioby!

Compost Kids (photo by Elisabeth Deogracias)

We recently launched a project on ioby – an online microphilanthropy initiative for NYC environmental projects – to raise funds to build a 3-bin compost system at our new communal garden on Church Avenue. The compost bins will provide nutrient-rich fertilizer for the garden while engaging residents in discussions on waste reduction as part of the garden’s community activities. We are actively seeking supporters for this project as compost is a key component of a zero waste initiative, especially in a community garden–so help us realize this goal and pledge a donation right now, right HERE!

No Impact Man Film Poster

April 15th 2010: Earth Day Film screening of No Impact Man

In order to educate and promote a less wasteful lifestyle, Sustainable Flatbush co-sponsored, with Flatbush Food Co-op, and Ditmas Park West Neighborhood Association, a screening of Colin Beavan’s self-assigned challenge to live for a year creating as little impact on the environment as possible. Addressing issues of consumption, transportation, and electricity, Beavan documents his struggles and successes to live as efficiently as possible.

April 11 2010: National Grid Earth Day Celebration

We kicked off Earth Week celebrations by partnering with Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts and Brooklyn College Community Partnership to produce the 2010 National Grid Earth Day Celebration, bringing together the following organizations, artists, and performers: Brooklyn Botanic Garden; Garbage of Eden Designs; the ArtLab of the Brooklyn College Community Partnership; Seeds, Soil & Sunshine (seed starting workshop); Plant Secrets (children’s gardening); New York City Fire Department; New York City Department of Parks & Recreation; Nydia “Liberty” Mata; Tova Ackerman’s Puppetry In Practice; Campus Road Garden at Brooklyn College; Puppeteer Ronny Wasserstrom; Teaching Artist Susan Marinoff; and the Bar Mitzvah Project (selling reusable bags to benefit the Rainforest Alliance).

Our main demonstration, aligned with the Zero Waste initiative, was creating colorful flowers out of used plastic bottles with children. This project encouraged kids and parents to think more creatively about how to divert waste from the landfills and more generally about rethinking the potential of disposable items.

National Grid Earth Day (photo by Rick Berube)

Support Our Work!

If you like what our Zero Waste Initiative is doing, help us continue showing Brooklynites how to reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost! You can make a secure, tax-deductible donation to Sustainable Flatbush HERE!

Sunset Park, Brooklyn (photo by Barry Yanowitz)

The name “Solid Waste Advisory Board” might evoke images of a room full of important-looking people, conversing in abstract and political language that would be lost on, or irrelevant to, the average New Yorker. At least, that’s what I was half-expecting. What greeted me instead was a room full of interesting and diverse people ranging from a retired science teacher to a graduate student to members of various community groups, talking candidly about issues that affect all Brooklynites. I quickly learned that, although it was a small meeting, the Brooklyn SWAB is a group of and for the people of Brooklyn, open to any and all interested residents. They make recommendations directly to the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management, chaired by councilwoman Letitia James, so I really encourage anyone interested in the fate of solid waste in Brooklyn to come to next month’s meeting. I learned a lot and every attendee has the opportunity to voice their opinion and ask questions.

Last Monday, the main subject was the plan to build a new glass/metal/plastic recycling facility at Brooklyn Pier in Sunset Park, a site which is currently an empty paved lot. Tom Outerbridge, the General Manager of Sims municipal recycling entity, came to the meeting to give an informal presentation on the plans of the company, as well as answer the many questions and concerns posed by members of the Board. Sims is working with the Economic Development Corporation, and has a long-term contract with New York City, which also includes existing facilities in Long Island City, the Bronx and Jersey City. He really enlightened me on many aspects of recycling in New York that I had never thought about (and some that I had).  Focusing on efficiency, he stressed that building this facility would reduce the number of miles that recycling trucks would drive by 240,000 per year because currently, most of Brooklyn’s recycling is being driven to Queens for processing.

He also highlighted some unique aspects of the project which include easy pedestrian access to the site, a recycling education center to be used by elementary school classes, and the attempts to hire employees locally within Sunset Park. He also stressed a more general problem, which is contamination and sorting; even deciding what is “recyclable” is tricky, Outerbridge explained to us, because certain types of plastic,  in small enough quantities, have no market and the facility has no place to ship those materials to. He said that if they could collect and sort more substantial amounts of those plastics, then they would be able to sell them to companies who re-process them into usable material. If you’re confused, take comfort in knowing that I am too, and I think it’s fair to say that many of us at the meeting were slightly unsure about what the bottom line is. This highlights one of the most important aspects about recycling, which is the need for more outreach and education on the community level, so that every New Yorker has a clear idea of how to sort their trash and recyclables. And, the more that we all know about the ins and outs of recycling, the more we can make informed opinions and put pressure on the city to improve our recycling infrastructure.

This brings me to the other part of the meeting, which was to discuss a set of eleven new bills which will amend LL 19, the city’s comprehensive residential recycling law. These bills span from expanding the types of plastic to be recycled, to increasing the responsibility of the Office of Recycling Outreach and Education, to changing the enforcement and fines associated with improper recycling. Members of SWAB will be attending and testifying at upcoming hearings on the legislation, and the bills are expected to pass at some point this summer. These are meant to make recycling easier for residents, but more action may be necessary. For example, one attendee at the meeting pointed out that the Department of Sanitation has exactly one employee in charge of managing recycling in apartment buildings throughout the city, a tremendous job. Many people at the meeting seemed in agreement that there should be many more people with the same job, since apartment buildings may represent one of the biggest challenges in recycling outreach and education. Apparently, more money will be directed towards outreach in the near future.

Going to this meeting heartened me because it showed me that there are people in all corners of Brooklyn who are interested in informing themselves about solid waste in their city and in doing what they can to advance the cause of reducing our waste stream. It’s up to organizations like ours to educate our community and to come up with creative new ways to complement the actions the Department of Sanitation is already taking.

**If you’re interested in attending future meetings of the Brooklyn Solid Waste Advisory Board, contact Ken Diamondstone at (718) 522-5437 or Nancy Walby at (718) 258 2701.

While we were getting ready for our second annual Greening Flatbush: Garden Where You Are Event, we had to decide what would make our space look like Sustainable Flatbush was coming through without creating a lot of waste.

Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. (Clean Air Council)  We wanted to reduce that amount of waste, not add to it by buying brand new decorations! New York City already throws away enough garbage every day to fill the Empire State Building! (Clean Air Council)  How could we add to that in good conscience with our Zero Waste Initiative begging people to divert usable resources from the waste stream?

Flowers from Recycled Bottles (photo by Keka)

Keka had a great idea! We would use materials that people would have sent to landfills or recycling centers and instead, we would turn them into art.  During our arts & crafts party at Vox Pop, we cut water bottles into flowers, cut used paper into flowers, and even learned how to fold origami! One person’s garbage is another person’s reusable decorations!

After we had a bunch of flowers cut, we got to paint, sew paper flowers together, and talk about how great we hoped the event would be.  Our flowers were made with love and they filled the room with an air of DIY as all of the attendees and talented tablers discussed the upcoming gardening season.

Making Decorations at Brooklyn College (photo by Keka)

Thanks so much to everyone who helped and attended the event!!

Governor Paterson and the New York State Legislature did a very green thing earlier this month.

State leaders updated the state’s most successful recycling program, our bottle deposit law, to include bottled waters.

Expanding New York’s bottle deposit law will remove billions of bottles from the waste stream, as well as our natural areas and parks, roadways and waters. It will also return most unclaimed deposits to New York State rather than bottlers and beverage giants.

Visit www.eany.org to learn more about Environmental Advocates of New York.

Environmental Advocates of New York’s email list and website are great resources for staying informed on environmental issues specific to New York State, and to participate in their online campaigns. You can sign up here to receive email updates from them.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile know that New York State’s Bigger Better Bottle Bill is a piece of long-unpassed legislation that we’ve been rooting for. (See here and here and here…) Although the article quoted below refers to a “watered-down” version of the bill, this would still be a vast improvement over our current situation.

If you are unfamiliar with the BBBB, the idea is to offer cash deposits on containers of non-carbonated beverages such as bottled water, iced tea, and sports drinks (unknown entities when the Returnable Container Act was last revised in the early ’80s). This would improve recycling compliance, keep millions of plastic bottles out of the waste stream, and raise money for NY State environmental projects. Beverage industry lobbyists have successfully fought the BBBB’s passage for years, but it looks like we may be on the verge of a breakthrough:

Al Stirpe: NY’s Bigger Better Bottle Bill poised to pass
by Delen Goldberg / The Post-Standard
Friday March 27, 2009, 4:29 PM

Budget news is looking good for the environment and its advocates.

Assemblyman Al Stirpe, D-North Syracuse, said today that the
Legislature appears poised to include a Bigger Better Bottle Bill in
next year’s budget and restore funding to the state’s Environmental
Protection Fund, a permanent pot dedicated to paying for Earth-
friendly initiatives.

“That’s good news,” Stirpe said.

The Bigger Better Bottle Bill being discussed is a watered-down
version of previous proposals. If approved, it is likely to impose a
nickel deposit only on water bottles, rather than on all noncarbonated
beverage containers.
Unredeemed deposits would be split, with 80 percent going to state
cleanup programs and 20 percent going to distributors, Stirpe said.
The bill also would require big box stores and drug stores to install
reverse vending machines to collect bottle redemptions.

Lawmakers also appear to have come to an agreement about restoring
funding to the EPF.

Gov. David Paterson suggested cutting the fund from $255 million to
$205 million. But Stirpe said lawmakers have bumped the fund back up
to $222 million.

They also eliminated several new line items the governor had attached
to the EPF, so funding actually increased by about $35 million, Stirpe
said.

As Coquille of Educating Tomorrow points out, this could mean more money for green school initiatives, amongst other good things.

REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE
at the FLATBUSH FREEMEET!

sponsored by
Sustainable Flatbush
and Freecycle™ New York City

Saturday, November 22, 2008
12 noon – 3pm
P.S. 217 Playground
(1100 Newkirk Avenue at Coney Island Avenue)
Flatbush, Brooklyn

Directions: Q train to Newkirk Ave or F to 18th Ave, or B68 bus to Coney Island Avenue and Newkirk.  You will find the FreeMeet underneath the scaffolding next to the playground.

WHY:
New Yorkers discard some 12,000 tons of waste each day that is exported to landfills and incinerators in other states! Here’s your chance to help NYC reduce waste and keep our environment clean by finding new homes for your old stuff, and getting some things you can use in the process. Leftovers will be donated or recycled to every extent possible.

WHAT TO BRING:
Bring unwanted clothing, housewares and other reusable items to share* or simply bring a tote bag to fill. Bring friends and family too!

Electronics Recycling!
Bring electronics to be reused, recycled and redistributed through Rattech, who will accept old computers, electronic equipment, printers, monitors, CD’s, toner / ink cartridges, etc.

Got wire hangers?
Bring ‘em to the FreeMeet so we can hang clothes and recycle the hangers afterwards.

Bring used BRITA FILTERS to donate to the Take Back the Filter campaign

MORE INFO:
www.RecycleThisNYC.org/freemeet

*please bring portable items only and log on to www.Freecycle.org to give away furniture and other heavy stuff.

Micki Josi is a New York City public school teacher and the co-founder, with fellow teacher Coquille Houshour, of Educating Tomorrow, a group committed to “greening” NYC schools. Micki generously offered her home for the first-ever Flatbush Supper Club potluck and discussion, and here is her report on the event:

Thanks to everyone for coming to my place for the first ever Flatbush Supper Club on November 1st.  We had a great turnout and some delicious foods, drinks, and especially desserts, including several seasonal veggie dishes (braised cabbage, roasted root veggies, cauliflower, roasted squash, and blue fish soup), lovely sangria, wine, and sparkling cider, and lots of pies: apple & pumpkin, plus pineapple upside down cake and vegan oatmeal cookies.  I love the variety of potlucks!  Delicious and so filling!

We began the night socializing and then started our Zero Waste discussion, inspired by Elizabeth Royte’s book Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash.  Talking trash is a heavy conversation, but I hope people left thinking about issues, learned things, and thought about how they can reduce their own waste.  I’m looking forward to continuing the exchange at our next event.  The challenging question is: given all we know and are learning, WHAT CAN WE DO?!  I think this is the ultimate question that we have to search ourselves and each other to answer in a meaningful way, and it can’t happen in one evening.

Ultimately, for ourselves, children, and the future of the planet, we must all work towards Zero Waste.  San Francisco has a goal of reaching Zero Waste by 2020.  New York City’s goal is 70% waste diversion by 2020, but in 2007 we only reached 16.5%, far from our goal of 25% for that year.  In terms of trying to answer the question, WHAT DO WE DO?!?!,  I mentioned the work Coquille and I have embarked on this past year out of our own frustration at the lack of school recycling.

Last year we wrote letters, op-eds, and petitions, and saw results by organizing meetings, bringing people together, creating a website and blog (www.educatingtomorrow.org), and working with City Councilman Bill DeBlasio and his staff.  Because of our efforts there was a hearing in June 2008 at City Hall in which the New York City Departments of Education (DOE) and Sanitation were raked over the coals about the school recycling issue.  Since the hearing the DOE re-wrote Recycling Regulations, hired additional staff, and has mandated principals to appoint recycling coordinators. This year we are continuing to push for strict recycling compliance in schools by organizing the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Green Schools Committee.  We’ve also worked on creating our own school recycling programs and written lessons on waste issues for our students.

I mentioned some of the videos I’ve shown my students and offered to bring them to the next Flatbush Supper Club event so we can watch them together: Garbage Warrior, Gone Tomorrow, The Works: Garbage, and Our Synthetic Sea.  We ended the night by feeding the worms (who live under my kitchen sink) fruit scraps from the sangria.

Zero Waste… it’s the way of the future… how do we get there as individuals and as a society?  Let’s continue the conversation and learn from each other!  I look forward to seeing you at the next Supper Club for great food, company, and compelling discussions!

To learn more about Micki and Coquille’s work, check out their website, Educating Tomorrow. This site also has great resources for teachers who want to learn about or share environmental education tips and support each other’s efforts and ideas. The next UFT Green Schools Committee monthly meeting will be held on November 20th at 4pm (these meetings are posted on the Sustainable Flatbush calendar).

Join the Flatbush Supper Club network, a partnership between Sustainable Flatbush and GreenEdge Collaborative, to receive updates on future events!

Educating Tomorrow’s Be Cool Recycle At School Campaign, in partnership with the NYC School Recycling Action Committee, is forming a new United Federation of Teachers Green Schools Committee to continue to organize for recycling and waste reduction in NYC public schools.

Our first monthly meeting will be held at the UFT Headquarters and we will share information on Environmental Lesson Plans & Curriculum.

Who:        Anyone interested in encouraging schools to go green.
What:       Environmental Lesson Plans & Curriculum Discussion
When:      Tuesday, October 21 at 4:30pm
Where:     United Federation of Teachers Headquarters
52 Broadway, 12th Floor, Professional Committees Conference Room
New York, New York

RSVP:   info@educatingtomorrow.org

Snacks will be provided by the UFT.

Speakers who will be joining us include:

• Rachel Chaput, Environmental Scientist with Environmental Protection Agency will be presenting their FREE waste reduction curriculum and resources
• Mike Zamm, Environmental Director with Council on the Environment NYC, will be speaking about their Recycling and Go Green Club which brings NYC High School students into schools to speak about recycling and environmental issues.
• Christopher Rodriguez, Special Assistant with the Department of Education, will talk about the school’s city-wide recycling initiative.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle at the
Freecycle™ New York City Back-to-School FreeMeet!
{it’s not just for students!}

Saturday, September 13, 2008
11am – 4pm
Behind the Old Stone House
(5th Ave btw. Third and Fourth Streets)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Bring unwanted clothing, housewares and other reusable items to share*
or simply bring a tote bag to fill. Leftovers will be donated or recycled to every extent possible.
As the name suggests, the Freecycle NYC FreeMeet is FREE!

Directions: F/R train to Fourth Ave, R to Union St. or B63 bus to Third St. & Fifth Ave. You will find the FreeMeet between the Old Stone House and the basketball court.

MORE INFO: www.RecycleThisNYC.org/freemeet

*please bring portable items only and log on to www.Freecycle.org to give away furniture and other heavy stuff.

Got wire hangers? Bring ‘em to the FreeMeet so we can hang clothes and recycle the hangers afterwards.

Bring used BRITA FILTERS to donate to the Take Back the Filter campaign
(www.takebackthefilter.org).

Don’t want to miss the next FreeMeet? Sign up for FreeMeet Alerts here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreeMeetAlert

photo: Cambridge Community Television