Mark Levy represented Sustainable Flatbush at Sunday’s Lawn Litter Law press conference. Here’s his report from the event:

It isn’t very often that the steps of City Hall look like my Ditmas Park front porch; but covered with mounds of advertising fliers, menus and other “lawn litter”, there were certain similarities. The lawn litter were props, collected by City Council staff to dramatize Saturday’s start of enforcement of the Unwanted Materials (AKA Lawn Litter) Law, and I was there to participate in a press conference.

As press conferences go, it didn’t look like much of a success. Just City Council Member Simcha Felder (D-Bklyn), playing the ambitious politician and me, playing the colorful neighborhood activist, along with a few of Felder’s staff and a Russian language film crew from Radio Free Europe and two reporters, one from a Brooklyn-based Chinese language news service, one from AM New York.

Felder, a candidate for City Comptroller, first got involved with the fight against unwanted menus and advertising materials when his mother was fined by the Department of Sanitation for lawn litter on her property in Borough Park. He sponsored this law and it finally went into effect on August 2nd. He explained the process to file an affidavit against the distributors.

I explained that as a representative of Sustainable Flatbush, reduction of waste materials is one of our primary goals of promoting sustainability (along with community gardening, livable streets and energy efficiency). I noted that this law is “Good for business, Good for the environment and Good for our neighborhoods” and displayed the affidavit I will file against Kohl’s Department Store for the mounds of junk litter their distributor dumps on my property. This will be the very first one filed.

As a Gothamist commenter noted, at least Mark was dressed for the occasion!

photo: City Councilman Simcha Felder (right) with Sustainable Flatbush’s Mark Levy (via Flickr)

Sustainable Flatbush No Litter Sign

Another note: Sustainable Flatbush is now offering download-able “No Litter” signs (similar to the ones created by the Park Slope Civic Council), and will also have laminated versions available at the Flatbush Frolic in September.

Dear Anne,

Your New York State Senator is one of 18 legislators who showed exceptional leadership when it came to protecting the health of the environment this year by supporting all four of the environmental community’s priority Super Bills.

The Super Bills include:

*The Wetlands Protection Act

*The Bigger Better Bottle Bill

*The Global Warming Pollution Cap/Greenhouse Gas Pollution Control Act

*Net Metering Reforms

Please thank your New York State Senators for supporting these critical measures. Without his or her leadership, these bills may never have gotten as far as they did in the Senate. By taking the time to recognize your Senator’s support of the Super Bills, you’re telling our lawmakers that the environment is an important issue to you and to thousands of New Yorkers across the state. Click here to thank your Senator.

I believe I will! It is important to note that only one of these four Super Bills actually became law (the Net Metering Reforms) so we have a long way to go. More details on the bills, including their Assembly supporters, are available here.

If you are onboard with Al Gore’s challenge, let Obama, McCain, and your elected officials know by signing the MoveOn petition here. Let’s do this!!

…our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges — the economic, environmental and national security crises,” Mr. Gore said. “We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that has to change.”

He also points out that the more oil we use the higher the price goes, while the more solar we use the lower the price goes. The goal of our neighborhood solar forums is to inform homeowners interested in solar about the new tax credits and higher net metering limits just passed in New York, and encourage networking so they can share best practices and potentially approach installers as a group to negotiate costs. Stay tuned, we will definitely be doing more of this neighborhood-oriented energy education.

“ ‘Psychological impact’?” Mr. Obama said. “In case you’re wondering, that’s Washington-speak for ‘It polls well.’ ”

The article is full of zingers from Obama; another favorite, referring to McCain’s idea to offer a $300 million prize to any scientist who can develop a longer-lasting car battery (presumably to make electric cars more viable):

“When John F. Kennedy decided that we were going to put a man on the Moon, he didn’t put a bounty out for some rocket scientist to win,” he said. “He put the full resources of the United States government behind the project.”

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Rethinking the Country Life

Higher fuel prices are finally moving some Americans to start reconsidering their choice of sprawling suburban and exurban homes, far from their jobs, and with no public transportation.

“Living closer in, in a smaller space, where you don’t have that commute,” he said. “It’s definitely something we talk about. Before it was ‘we spend too much time driving.’ Now, it’s ‘we spend too much time and money driving.’ ”

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Brazil Seizes Livestock to Protect Rainforest

In global environmental news, Brazil is making moves against cattle ranchers illegally grazing their herds on protected rainforest:

“No more being soft,” [minister of the environment Carlos Minc] told reporters in the capital, Brasilia. “Those that don’t respect environmental legislation, your cattle are going to become barbecue for Fome Zero,” he said, referring to the government’s food program for the poor.

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Solar Energy
This week the State legislature approved new tax incentives to encourage the installation of more solar electric (photovoltaic) panels in New York. This is great news, but the lack of opportunity for net metering (selling excess power back to the grid) remains been one of the biggest impediments to the growth of solar in New York State. Under current laws, home solar systems have limited net metering abilities and commercial installations have NONE. This is a huge lost opportunity to ease strain on our electrical grid and prevent power outages during the summer, since the peak demand for power (particularly in NYC) occurs at the time when solar panels are at their most effective: in the middle of the day. What can you do?
Send a message to Albany to loosen restrictions on net metering!

• UPDATE from Vote Solar: New York is on a roll. The state also just passed legislation to update its net metering standard, from a claustrophobic 10 kW cap for solar installations, limited to residential only, up to a gold-standard 2 MW, open to all customer classes. This significantly opens the market for large scale solar in New York, and is a critical step towards building a major solar market in the Empire State.

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
Under the RGGI, New York will make dirty power plants clean up their act by requiring them to cut carbon dioxide emissions and pay a price for any remaining pollution. Polluter Pays… what a concept!
Tell the Department of Environmental Conservation that you support the RGGI

Bigger Better Bottle Bill
A favorite at Sustainable Flatbush (see here and here), this bill passed the State Assembly on June 11th, and must now pass the Republican-controlled Senate. The bill would add 5-cent deposits to non-carbonated beverages such as bottled water, iced tea, and sports drinks, whose market share was nonexistent when our current bottle bill was enacted in 1982. According to NYPIRG, “nearly 3 billion non-carbonated beverage bottles and cans end up in the trash or polluting our state’s rivers, beaches, and neighborhoods each year because they don’t have a deposit”… so the bill’s potential to reduce litter and increase recycling is huge. I don’t have a link to email your Senator, but will update the post if I find one.

Okay, this one is federal, but also very important:
Green Jobs Act and “Green Block Grant” Program
Activist Van Jones (if you don’t know him yet, check him out!) has this to say about the legislation:

A fully funded Green Jobs Act will distribute $125 million per year to identify needed skills, develop training programs, and train workers for jobs in a range of green industries. That’s enough money to train 30,000 people in green trades – every year. It targets a broad range of populations for eligibility, but it has a special focus on creating “green pathways out of poverty.” In other words, this Act can connect the people who MOST need work – to the work that MOST needs to get done.

A fully funded Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program will distribute $2 billion per year to cities and local governments for energy conservation, energy audits, fuel conservation programs, and the use of renewable energy. These “Green” block grants could create tens of thousands of green-collar jobs – accessible to low-income city residents who most need opportunities and careers.

Urge your Congressperson and Senators to support these programs!

Now go have a beer!

When I attended last year’s Brooklyn Blogfest at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, Sustainable Flatbush had been online for only a few weeks. Most of the names and people and language of the blogging world were very new to me, everyone at the event seemed to be from Fort Greene or Prospect Heights, and covering Atlantic Yards was the primary reason for many of the blogs’ existence.

This year’s Blogfest (held at the Brooklyn Lyceum) was much larger and more diverse, and the one topic we could all agree on was that the word “blog” has become inadequate to describe the many different forms an online journal can take. Brooklyn blogs range from highly trafficked sites that specialize in real estate trends to painfully personal virtual diaries, and everything in between. Text, drawings, photos, and video are all part of the expressive palette, and Brooklyn bloggers wield these tools with great expertise, creativity, and humor. It’s a pretty impressive bunch. Did I mention that I had a great time?

Like a true sustainability geek, I was thrilled to meet the Chair of Brooklyn’s Solid Waste Advisory Board and chat briefly about anaerobic digestion. But mostly it was great to get introduced to new people/blogs such as Brooklyn Ron, CyclechicNY, and Gardenfork; to see the faces behind recent favorites like Clinton Hill Chill Blog, BedStuy Banana, and Flatbush Pigeon; and to hang out with the folks from Reclaimed Home, Fading Ad Blog, and those perky youngsters from Supervegan. A lovely evening, and an inspiration to continue with this adventure of blogging.

Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of separated bike lanes. I was signature #21.

If you think this is something we need here in Brooklyn, you can add your name to the petition here. And do it quick — rumor has it that if there are enough signatures by Monday this plan will get extra support from one of the elected officials below.

Physically Separated Bike Lanes, courtesy of Streetfilms

[Full text of petition]
To: Councilmember Letitia James, Assemblymember Hakeem Jeffries, State Senator Eric Adams, Community Board 8 Chairperson Robert Matthew, Councilmember David Yassky, Councilmember Bill deBlasio, Councilmember John Liu, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz & Rohit Aggarwala:

The Undersigned

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Sign the petition here!

Congestion Pricing Ad, originally uploaded by wka.

As a supporter of Congestion Pricing, I felt that this week was the time to do whatever I can to help get this legislation passed. So last Saturday I spent some time in Crown Heights (Brooklyn) asking people to take the time to compose a personal letter in their own handwriting to their local representatives (in that case State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and State Senator Eric Adams). I was quite amazed at how many people were willing to do this (it’s not an easy thing to ask for!). On Monday morning I went to City Hall for the Council hearings (wearing the green t-shirt pictured below) and heard testimonies from Speaker Quinn and DOT Commissioner Sadik Khan. Yesterday morning I was part of a small group that met with an aide to City Council member Kendall Stewart, who represents the 45th District (Flatbush, East Flatbush, Flatlands), and I also spoke briefly with Stewart himself afterwards.

What I can attest to from talking to ordinary citizens (meaning, NOT politicians) is that even those who weren’t sure where they stood on Congestion Pricing (or knew nothing at all about it) were in favor when told that the revenue would be dedicated to improving subway and bus service. A few expressed understandable skepticism that the money would actually be used for transit improvements, but were somewhat reassured when told that it would go to a dedicated lockbox.

As for our elected officials, many of them seem to be earnestly asking for the data and information that will enable them to answer their constituents’ doubts. Questions about neighborhood parking permits and whether New Jersey and Long Island commuters should pay more than those from the five boroughs seem to be sticking points for some people. But for those of us who don’t drive – a solid majority in all five boroughs – the need for better bus and subway service is not in question.

More posts on Congestion Pricing and Transit Equity in New York City:

• Obama Supports Congestion Pricing!
• Enrique Peñalosa on Transit Equity for NYC
• A Brooklyn Youth’s View on Congestion Pricing
• More Supporters for Congestion Pricing
• Brooklyn and Congestion Pricing: The Numbers