Potluck Feast! (photo by Keka Marzagao)

Come to Sustainable Flatbush’s first annual Buy Nothing Day Community Meal on Black Friday (November 25) 2011!

Buy Nothing Day offers an alternative to the consumerist excess of Black Friday: a chance to unshop, unspend, and unwind. Bring a dish to share, or bring ingredients (Thanksgiving leftovers are great) and join the communal cooking fun! Meet your neighbors and join Sustainable Flatbush as we build a local sharing economy.

The idea is to create a space where people can come together to enjoy a healthy free meal, get to know each other, and exchange ideas on how we as a community can become more engaged in the transformation to a society that is more equal and sustainable. To plug out of the mainstream for a day, abandon the tradition of Black Friday that comes with excessive consumerism, and discuss real alternatives.

Hope to see you there!
WHAT:
Sustainable Flatbush first annual Buy Nothing Day Community Meal!

WHEN:
Friday November 25th from 6 until 8pm

WHERE:
All Souls Bethlehem Church
566 East 7th Street (between Cortelyou Road and Ditmas Avenue)
Brooklyn, NY
(map)

Every year since 2007, we’ve  transformed the same parking space on the corner of Cortelyou and Argyle Roads in Brooklyn into a public park (with real grass!) and day-long festival on Park(ing) Day. Park(ing) Day is an annual international event where citizens, artists and activists around the world collaborate to temporarily transform parking spaces into “PARK(ing)” spaces: public places for a day.

This year Sustainable Flatbush will celebrate our success in turning the vision of PARK(ing) Day into a year-round reality! We’ve created a partnership with the newly-formed group Friends of Cortelyou Library and NYC Department of Transportation to install benches and planters in front of the library so it can serve as a permanent public space for relaxation, reflection and friendship. Park(ing) Day 2011 will feature activities for all ages including a puppet show, live music, art projects, a writing workshop, and even a hula hooping class! We’ll present information about our projects in the neighborhood and interactive workshops on how to live more sustainably in the city, with topics such as composting, gardening with native plants, renewable energy with the SunBike (before it heads off to Maker Faire for the weekend!) and more!

Playing cards at Cortelyou Road Park, 2010 (photo by Keka Marzagão)

The mission of PARK(ing) Day is to call attention to the need for more urban open space, to generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat. For four years we’ve brought this discussion to the heart of Brooklyn by creating Cortelyou Road Park in front of the Cortelyou Library. The library’s plaza had no seating or other amenities, but since 2007 our temporary park has spilled into the plaza and transformed it into a vibrant urban oasis on Park(ing) Day.

Park(ing) Day is an opportunity to create a community gathering place, and to make a statement about how we utilize public space. In our neighborhood, despite all the beautiful homes and lawns and gardens, the amount of publicly accessible green space per person is much lower than the city average*. On Park(ing) Day we take 160 square feet of concrete that would normally be occupied by one automobile, and transform it into something magical that is enjoyed by hundreds of people, a place where neighbors can interact and build community.

Stop by on Friday September 16th to celebrate the newly revitalized Cortelyou Library Plaza with us!

• Check here for the day’s events schedule.
• If you’d like to volunteer for this event, please email us or call 718-208-0575.

Puppet show at Park(ing) Day 2010 (photo by Keka Marzagão)

WHAT:

Park(ing) Day 2011

WHEN:

Friday, September 16th, from 8am to 6pm

WHERE:

in front of the Cortelyou Library, corner of Cortelyou and Argyle Roads

If you have questions about this event, please email info@sustainableflatbush.org or call 718-208-0575

* Source: Municipal Arts Society’s Imagine Flatbush 2030 report

Making smoothies with solar power at the Cortelyou Greenmarket

You’ll have another chance this Sunday, August 7, to get to know our SunBike, the mobile solar-electric unit that Sustainable Flatbush built to take clean energy to the streets.  Our Solar Team will be on hand to blend up some sun-powered pesto with ingredients from local farmers.

We think solar power and food vending are a great combination for New York City.  There’s no need for noisy generators blowing fumes on the sidewalk when quiet, clean solar will do just fine.  Come see how it works this Sunday!

Solar Team members Joel Acosta and Sam Tesfaye at Seeding the City Skillshare

Last Saturday, July 30th, the Solar Team led a workshop on how to solarize a toy at Seeding the City, a sustainability skillshare held at the beautiful and historic Weeksville Heritage Center in Crown Heights. The event was produced by The Laundromat Project and New York Foundation for the Arts‘ Immigrant Artists Project. It was a perfect day for solar energy, and a wonderful time was had by all!

SunBike Build: Making Connections from Sustainable Flatbush Media on Vimeo.

We built the SunBike to show what renewable energy can do right now, encourage people to adopt renewable energy, and study renewable energy systems in-depth.

This summer, the SunBike will be a visible presence on the streets of Flatbush, at block parties, community gardens, solar-powered film screenings, outdoor dance parties and much more, showing that we don’t have to wait to meet our need for energy with clean, renewable resources.

To find out how to bring the SunBike to your event or learn more about our Solar Team educational opportunities, write to the SF Energy Solutions Initiative.

Until Sunday, check out this video of me and our technical advisor Gregory Rodlico, showing a little bit of how the SunBike works.

Video Credits:
Camera & Editing: Jocelyn Cohen
Sound Mix: Anne Pope
Titles: Keka Marzagão
Music: Free Royalty Free Music by DanoSongs.com
SunBike Builders: Jocelyn Cohen and Gregory Rodlico
Solar Team: Kimberly White and Joel Acosta

The SunBike is made possible with the generous support of ConEd

On Wednesday, June 15th, Prospect Farm and Sustainable Flatbush are proud to present Brooklyn Dirt: Monthly Talks on Urban Farming and Gardening.

Dirt Talk Five: Permaculture

With Speakers Dan Miner and Olga Kuchukov

June 15th, 2011

7 – 9:30 pm

Downstairs @ Sycamore Bar and Flowershop, 21+

1118 Cortelyou RD, BK (Q train to Cortelyou)

$5 suggested donation (proceeds benefit Sustainable Flatbush & Prospect Farm)

——-

Dan Miner has been involved with a variety of urban sustainability projects as a volunteer organizer with Post Carbon Institute and the Peak Oil NYC Meetup, and as past Chair of Sierra Club NYC. He wrote a 2008 report about how NYC can expand support for its climate change initiatives by preparing for higher and more volatile energy prices, and recently promoted the City’s white roof painting project in western Queens, referring 15 buildings to the program. At his day job, he assists Queens businesses as SVP of Long Island City Partnership. Dan completed a Permaculture Design Certificate program at Hancock Permaculture Center. He will discuss how the Transition movement’s organizing model and permaculture can be applied to NYC, and next steps in urban agriculture.
www.beyondoilnyc.org.

Olga Kuchukov has lived 34 plus years in NYC wondering why things are the way they are and how can they be better. As a massage therapist and solo sustainability warrior, she understands that change will come with a deep integration of thoughtful intention and habit, along with a healthy dose of practical new skills. After tuning in to the reality of our oil-dependent life, she traveled to Australia to help her friends who are building a transition town situation on their 6-acre property an hour north of Melbourne. She also visited the 2.5 acre food forest home of the co-originator of permaculture, David Holgrem. She will present her impressions along with viewings from the instructional DVD, Establishing a Food Forest with Geoff Lawton.

Sustainable Flatbush brings neighbors together to mobilize, educate, and advocate for sustainable living in their Brooklyn neighborhood and beyond.
http://sustainableflatbush.org/

Prospect Farm is a community group in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn that is working together to grow food in a formerly vacant lot, with the mission toward creating a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm that can feed and serve our community.
http://prospectfarm.org

Brooklyn Dirt: Monthly Talks on Urban Farming and Gardening.

Talk Four: Native Plants

with Speakers Mariellé Anzelone (Executive Director, Founder, NYC Wildflower Week) and Chris Kreussling (aka Flatbush Gardener)

May 18th, 2011 from 7 – 9:30 pm Downstairs @ Sycamore Bar and Flowershop, 21+

1118 Cortelyou RD, BK (Q train to Cortelyou)

$5 suggested donation (proceeds benefit Sustainable Flatbush & Prospect Farm)

——-

Mariellé Anzelone, Executive Director, Founder of NYC Wildflower Week

Marielle Anzelone is a botanist, urban conservation biologist and native plant landscape designer. The idea for NYC Wildflower Week was born of her desire to share her love of flora and create an posse of passionate plant people. Prior to this, she was the Plant Ecologist for NYC Department of Parks’ Natural Resources Group for nearly 7 years. Her op-ed on the extinct flora of New York City was recently featured in The New York Times.
http://nycwildflowerweek.org/about.html

Chris Kreussling (aka Flatbush Gardner)

Chris Kreussling is a garden coach with more than 30 years gardening experience in NYC. Chris is also the Director of the Urban Gardens and Farms initiative of Sustainable Flatbush and a community member of the Healthy Soils, Healthy Communities advisory board, a project of the Cornell Waste Management Institute.

Over the past 6 years, Chris has transformed a dusty, weedy backyard into a garden oasis of over 60 species of native trees, shrubs, ferns, grasses and wildflowers. He’s documented the process on his gardening blog, Flatbush Gardener.
http://flatbushgardener.blogspot.com/

Sustainable Flatbush brings neighbors together to mobilize, educate, and advocate for sustainable living in their Brooklyn neighborhood and beyond.
http://sustainableflatbush.org/

Prospect Farm is a community group in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn working together to grow food in a formerly vacant lot, with the mission toward creating a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm that can serve the commmunity.
http://prospectfarm.org

Street Tree Walking Tour of April 2009 (photo by Keka Marzagão)

The 4th Annual Sustainable Flatbush Street Tree Walking Tour will be Sunday, April 17, the day after the Plant Swap. (It’s a busy weekend for us!) We’re following the same route as past tours, so if you’ve only been able to enjoy our fall foliage in the past, come enjoy the spring blooms!

Once again tours leave from Sacred Vibes Apothecary at 11am and 12noon. Your tour guides will be Sam Bishop of Trees NY, neighbor and gardener Tracey Hohman, and Sustainable Flatbush’s own Chris Kreussling (aka Flatbush Gardener). On the tour, you can see:

• Acer platanoides, Norway Maple
• Aesculus hippocastanum, Horsechestnut
• Amelanchier, Serviceberry
• Betula nigra, River Birch
• Cercis canadensis, Redbud
• Cornus florida, Flowering Dogwood
• Cryptomeria japonica, Japanese Red Cedar
• Ginkgo biloba, Ginkgo
• Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust
• Liquidambar styraciflua, Sweetgum
• Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Dawn Redwood
• Pinus strobus, White Pine
• Platanus x acerifolia, London Plane
• Pyrus calleryana, Flowering Pear, Callery Pear
• Quercus palustris, Pin Oak
• Quercus robur ‘Fastigiata’, Columnar English Oak
• Sophora japonica, Japanese Pagoda Tree, Scholar Tree
• Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock
• Ulmus americana, American Elm

… and many more.

When: Sunday, April 17. Tours set out at 11am and 12noon. The tour lasts 90 minutes to 2 hours.
Where: Tours leave from Sacred Vibes Apothecary, 376 Argyle Road, just down the corner from Cortelyou Road, across the street from the Tot Lot, catty-corner from the Greenmarket. The route is about a mile in length, looping back to where we started.
Suggested Donation: 5$

Brooklyn Dirt: Monthly Talks on Urban Farming and Gardening.

Talk Three: Composting Inside and Outdoors

With Speakers Jenny Blackwell (NYC Compost Project) and Pieranna Pieroni (Brooklyn College)

April 20th, 2011 from 7 – 9:30 pm Downstairs @ Sycamore Bar and Flowershop, 21+

1118 Cortelyou RD, BK (Q train to Cortelyou)

$5 suggested donation (proceeds benefit Sustainable Flatbush & Prospect Farm)

——-

Jenny Blackwell is project manager for the NYC Compost Project in Brooklyn. She is a graduate of Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Horticulture Certificate Program. A composting fanatic, she has worked with composting systems at Added Value, the Hollenback Community Garden, BBG, and the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, as well as the myriad systems that Brooklyn’s backyards and community gardens have to offer.

Pieranna Pieroni is a Brooklyn Botanic Garden-trained Master Composter and educator (with a worm bin in her office at Brooklyn College) who works with New York City public school students around school-community gardening and ecoliteracy.

Where: All Souls Bethlehem Church, 566 East 7th Street, Brooklyn (Map)
(between Cortelyou Road and Ditmas Avenue)
Directions: Take the Q train to Cortelyou Road, the F train to Ditmas Ave.,
or the B68 to Cortelyou Road.

When I founded Sustainable Flatbush in 2007, I knew that I wanted to make a difference in my Brooklyn neighborhood. Thanks to the time and talents so generously shared by friends and neighbors, three years later that seed of an idea has evolved into something powerful: a community-based incubator for urban sustainability that truly belongs to the people it serves. With a committed Advisory Board and volunteer staff, and supported by our fiscal sponsor Open Space Institute, we’ve grown Sustainable Flatbush into a catalyst that inspires neighbors to create a new way of living while simultaneously building community and fostering local self-sufficiency.

Today I’m writing to ask for your help, to insure we will be able to expand and sustain our community programming that reaches hundreds of Brooklynites every year. With your support, Sustainable Flatbush will continue bringing neighbors of all ages and backgrounds together to mobilize, educate, and advocate for sustainable living in our Brooklyn neighborhood and beyond. Our models are both adaptable and replicable, as evidenced by groups throughout the city who have sought our advice on how to begin their own initiatives.

Sustainable Flatbush works on the neighborhood level to address society’s greatest challenge: how to live more sustainably, and meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This requires rethinking almost everything we do: how we heat and cool our homes, how we get around, where our food comes from, how our public space is allocated, how we dispose of the waste we generate, and much more. Over the past three years, Sustainable Flatbush has formed more than 20 partnerships and engaged over 1000 Brooklyn residents in activities stemming from our four key program areas: Energy Solutions, Livable Streets, Urban Gardens and Farms, and Zero Waste.
Here are just a few examples of our accomplishments in the past year alone:

Neighborhood Energy Forum:

This in-depth seminar and vendor fair connected 80 participants with education and resources to make their homes and buildings more energy efficient.

Church Avenue Communal Garden:

Our second community garden project, located at the historic Flatbush Reformed Church, launched with democratic discussions of garden designs and mobilized plenty of volunteers ready to get their hands dirty.

Greening Flatbush:

Celebrating the local urban gardening movement, this annual event presented more than 50 participants of all ages with how-to lessons in composting with worms, growing sprouts in your kitchen, cooking healthy at home, starting seedlings, and more.

Park(ing) Day:

For the fourth year in a row, we transformed a parking space into a grassy park with art activities and live music. This vibrant temporary green space was enjoyed by hundreds of neighbors, and sparked dialogue about how our public space is allocated.

Project LeafDrop:

In response to the city’s decision to stop picking up fall leaves, Sustainable Flatbush volunteers joined forces to divert over 1,700 pounds of leaves from the landfill to instead be reused by local gardens as the compost for their next planting efforts.

These projects are just a few of the reasons why the Sierra Club New York City says they:

“…would encourage neighborhood groups everywhere in the City to seek inspiration for their own green efforts from Sustainable Flatbush”

Marlo Thomas – who featured our work in her “Hero Next Door” series on AOL – states that Sustainable Flatbush is

“…galvanizing [the] community to help the environment”

and Streetfilms declares:

“We need a better planet and Sustainable Flatbush is a vital part of that equation”.

Be part of the equation today. Please make a donation to Sustainable Flatbush and support our local urban sustainability efforts. A monthly or one-time donation will have a huge effect as Sustainable Flatbush grows in its reach and impact. Click here now to make a tax-deductible donation.

To learn more please explore our website, friend us on our Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter.

We thank you for your support and hope to meet you at one of our upcoming events.

Best Regards,

Anne Pope

Founder/Executive Director