Archive for April, 2012

4th Annual Green Metropolis Fair Celebrates Earth Month April 14 at Chicago’s New Green Exchange Building!

Apr 12

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Chicago (Feb. 14, 2012) Once again, Chicago’s Green Metropolis Fair will bring the local conscious community together on April 14 to officially celebrate Earth Month. This year, the Fair will be held at the Green Exchange Building, 2545 W. Diversey, Chicago’s premier sustainable business community.

“The vision for Green Exchange has always been about being a place to gather and educate people about incorporating sustainable choices into their lives,” says David Baum, owner and developer of Green Exchange. “Green Metropolis Fair exemplifies this opportunity, and we are thrilled to be hosting at GX!”

With the planting season just around the corner, and Chicago enjoying a warmer USDA zone classification, the Green Metropolis Fair will feature workshops and activities on a wide array of gardening topics, including urban organic gardening, composting, keeping backyard chickens and bees, and growing and preserving fruits and vegetables. Master Gardeners and Master Composters from the University of Illinois Extension Service will be on hand to answer your toughest gardening questions, and bedding plants – herbs, vegetables, and flowers ‐ will be available for purchase.

Many local businesses will be part of the Gren Metropolis Fair’s Retail Marketplace, and their special handcrafted, artisanal products, along with fair trade offerings from around the World, will delight the most discerning shoppers. Wonderful local food and drink from a wide variety of purveyors will be available throughout the day, and local services like CSAs (community supported agriculture), nuritionists and chiropractors, and other sustainable businesses will be featured in the table sponsors area.

Yoga, and other wellness activities, and ways to make your home healthier and more energy efficient year round will be spotlighted. Children will enjoy petting rabbits, goats, and other furry creatures. And everyone will appreciate the beautiful new LEED certified Green Exchange Building, with it’s organic sky garden, cistern for recapturing and recycling rain water, green roof, green tenants, and other outstanding features.

Again this year the Green Metropolis Fair is presented by the Green Parent’s Network. For more information, visit www.greenmetropolisfair.com, or contact Maureen Ewing @ greenmetropolisfair@gmail.com, or Mary Beth Rebedeau @ mbr@greenparentsnetwork.com.

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HandCrafting Justice to Feature Recycled Phonebook Handbag at NYC Green Festival

Apr 11

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Handcrafting Justice to feature recycled phonebook handbags at NYC Green Festival

April 11, 2012 - In recognition of the Earth Day celebration at this year’s New York City Green Festival, HandCrafting Justice will be displaying their one-of-a-kind recycled phonebook handbags crafted by Filipino women artisans from the Alay Kapwa community in Manila.

These bags transform old telephone directories into a practical, everyday accessory. Through innovative thinking, using resources that are normally tossed aside, these women artisans have embraced the idea of thinking outside of the recycled box.

The Alay Kapwa community is an organized co-operative that adheres to fair trade principles. For example, the women determine how much raw materials cost and how much money is needed to feed their family and send their children to school. Based on these expenses, the women determine a reasonable price for their bags that will provide their family with a sustainable income.

Be sure to visit the HCJ booth at #313, or go to our website, for a more comprehensive display of our wide variety of handcrafted products that honor the Earth through recycled and sustainable practices.

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About Handcrafting Justice

Founded in 1997, HandCrafting Justice provides access to Fair Trade markets for unique, handmade goods created by enterprising women in the developing world working to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. By fostering self-reliance, ensuring fair wages, and building support networks, the organization offers far more than Fair Trade: HandCrafting Justice promotes human dignity by empowering women to overcome social and economic injustice.

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The Shorty Award in the #Green category goes to @jerryjamesstone! Green Festival to plant a tree for every vote…

Apr 11

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Green Festival guerrilla sponsored the 2012 Social Media Shorty Awards in the category of green by vowing to plant a tree for every vote the #green winner received. We nominated Jerry James Stone – and he won! At a ceremony in New York City, the Shorty Awards announced @JerryJamesStone is the winner of Twitter’s 2012 Green Award. Jerry received 419 votes in the green category.

Trees will planted by Trees for the Future as part of an agroforestry program in collaboration with the global communities in which they serve.  Planting trees in agroforestry systems protects the environment and helps to preserve traditional livelihoods and cultures for generations.

*** Update: Jerry announced on Facebook tonight that we’ll be planting more than 419 trees! “I say we double it!,” he said, “I am gonna match it so that 1,000 trees are planted.” ***

2012 has already been a big year for Jerry. He has been chosen by Cline Cellars to be their first Cline Cool Chef. The social media public voting and judging panel are complete; and a vegetarian recipe will be printed on the back label of Cline Cellar’s Cool Climate Pinot Noir. People around the nation voted for Jerry’s Magic Mushroom Risotto. The winning recipe will be printed on the 2011 vintage label due in bottle this autumn.

Jerry recently launched his new vegan/vegetarian cooking channel on YouTube. Subscribe to Jerry’s channel to find out how to make easy recipes for delicious comfort food that is good for you and the planet.

Jerry James Stone is a writer for Discovery Channel, and the producer and main recipe developer for TreeHugger’s Green Wine Guide, which features sustainable wineries and vegetarian wine pairings. He wrote the nightlife section for Fodor’s 2013 San Francisco guide book. His writings can be found in MAKE magazine, The Atlantic and Digg.com. Read all about Jerry’s green accomplishments and why we chose to back him for the 2012 Green Shorty Award. Thank you for voting and planting trees for the future!

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New York City Proposing Adding Greenhouses to Rooftops

Apr 11

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nyc rooftop farmingIt might be hard to think of a place like New York City as farmland, but rooftops all across one of the most populated metropolitan areas in the world could soon become fields of green, if an environmental proposal gets a  thumbs up.

The proposed zoning changes would allow more greenhouses to be built on commercial buildings, and permit open air farms on both commercial and residential spaces, all to promote the development of local urban food production and to help grow jobs.

“This proposal is part of a larger proposal called ‘Zone Green’, which is a package of zoning changes that would make it easier for people to make existing and new buildings greener,” Howard Slatkin, director of Sustainability and Deputy Director for Strategic Planning for the Department of City Planning in New York says.

“The proposal would remove obstacles that exist in zoning to doing certain things that we know people want to do today, and rooftop farming is one of those.”

Slatkin says that there are buildings in and around New York City that have large flat roofs, particularly in industrial neighborhoods where a rooftop greenhouse would not interfere with any of the other building systems. “There are people who are already doing this today, but they run into a zoning height limits or a zoning floor area limit,” he says.

One example of rooftop farming success is Gotham Greens in Brooklyn, which yields over 100 tons of produce year-round, selling to local grocers and restaurants.  Owners say they are in support of the zoning changes so that they can expand, and build more rooftop gardens, as well as see other businesses thrive.

Read more at Green Deals.

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Swap, Don’t Shop: Making Green in the Sharing Economy

Apr 11

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The Sustainable Business Committee of the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York invites you to…

MAKING GREEN FROM GREEN
Swap, Don’t Shop: Making Green in the Sharing Economy

From Stephen Colbert’s Toasterster to Peer-to-Peer banking, collaborative consumption is changing the way we think about ownership and opportunity. Join us as a new generation of entrepreneurs reveals how they capitalize on helping consumers share, sell, barter and swap their way to better lives in a world where access trumps ownership.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012, 6:00PM

REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW:  http://www.cbsacny.org/article.html?aid=1166

MODERATOR

  • Cameron Tonkinwise, Ph.D., Chair, Design Thinking and Sustainability, School of Design Strategies, Parsons

PANELISTS

Exclusive Extras
REGIFT SWAP.  Bring a regift. Take a regift.  What is gathering dust at home may be just what someone else needs!  Bring an unwrapped new, or gently used, regift (value $25 or under) to swap with others during the networking event.  Unclaimed gifts will be donated to Housing Works.

EXCLUSIVE RECEPTION EXTRAS

  • Sustainable Local Food provided by biochef Ula Robertson and At Your Service Catering , Food Sponsor for Season 3 of Making Green from Green.
  • Valuable ideas and advice from Green Entrepreneur and Career Coach, Stefan Doering
  • Innovative shapers of the Sharing Economy: KeyWifi.com, Carpooling.com, Green Spaces and more

Agenda, Tuesday, April 24, 2012

  • 6:00 – 6:30pm Doors Open and Early Networking
  • 6:30 – 8:00pm Program
  • 8:00 – 9:30pm Reception and Networking

PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP
300 Madison Avenue, PwC Auditorium (SW Corner of 42nd Street)

$25 for CBSACNY, MCC Members & Students; $40 for non-members; $60 at the door

MAKING GREEN FROM GREEN
Season 3 Certificate Program on Sustainable Business
Attend four out of six MAKING GREEN FROM GREEN events through June 2012 and earn a Certificate.  Future topics: Transportation (May 17) and Green and the 2012 Election (June 12).

For more information: www.cbsacny.org or sustainablebusiness@cbsacny.org. Follow us and the MAKING GREEN FROM GREEN series on Twitter @CBSACNY_SBC, #MGFG and the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York (CBSACNY) on Facebook.

NON-MEMBERS and WALK-INS WELCOME (photo ID required)
Special thanks to GreenSpaces, Green Resources Forum, and Industrial Designers Society of America/NYC Chapter, media sponsors for this event.  Many thanks to PwC, our MAKING GREEN FROM GREEN Season 3 sponsor, for hosting the event series. Many thanks to McLaren Engineering Group for hosting Sustainable Business Committee meetings and to Manhattan Chamber of Commerce for their support.

This event was organized by Jacquie Ottman, Jeff Dubin, Brent Peich, Nicole Rousseau and the Sustainable Business Committee.
                                                                 

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DotGreen and EarthShare Partner to Advance Global Green Initiatives

Apr 11

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.green domain name sales to help fund the green movement.

GREENBRAE, California (PRWEB) April 11, 2012

EarthShare, a non-profit federation that raises and distributes funds to environmental initiatives, and The DotGreen Community, Inc., the registry applicant for the .green top-level domain (TLD), will collaborate to distribute grants from sales of registrations in the .green TLD to organizations and programs globally that focus on sustainability.

The DotGreen Community, Inc. has applied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the domain name industry’s governing authority. ICANN will review this and applications for other TLDs over the coming months, with the first of the newly granted extensions projected for availability early 2013.

The .green TLD, conceived in 2007, was the first environmental new TLD initiative proposed to international environmental groups and the Internet community. DotGreen’s founders have made philanthropy an essential component of the organization’s mission.

“We developed the .green Top-Level Domain to advance the green movement,” said Annalisa Roger, Founder and CEO of The DotGreen Community. “EarthShare is a respected leader in environmental giving, and with its 23 years of experience, is the perfect partner to help us give to important green initiatives and organizations globally, effectively and efficiently.”

EarthShare is a longstanding supporter of DotGreen’s project and has communicated to ICANN its support for the organization’s application. EarthShare has raised more than $260 million for environmental causes, and applauds the potential contributions of the new TLD.

“We’re thrilled to be working with DotGreen,” said EarthShare CEO Kal Stein. “Our members and partners are always looking for ways to expand their reach in environmental and social programs. A TLD that focuses on sustainability and environmentalism will be an outstanding opportunity to do so.”

DotGreen seeks to foster common ground for the green movement, allowing the .green namespace to become the unifying online space for sustainability efforts. DotGreen also embeds routine green philanthropy into the existing domain name and other industries relying on the Internet, allowing a portion of proceeds from every .green web address to contribute to environmental good via the Non-profit Public Benefit Charity organization, The DotGreen Foundation. EarthShare will manage the distribution of these grants to environmental charities.

“The already flourishing green movement will benefit by having a dedicated namespace where information can be easily found and identified,” Roger said. “We intend to use registration revenue to fund efforts to establish sustainable action in everyday life. Our organizations share an approach that focuses on accessibility and inclusivity. We recognize the necessity and importance of collaboration between all global citizens.”

Roger projects registrations in .green—and the resulting funding of environmental projects—will be available in 2013.

Read more on PRWeb.

NYC Green Festival After Party to be at GreenHouse in SoHo

Apr 11

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Green Festival After PartyOn Saturday night April 21 7-11pm everyone’s invited to Green Festivals’ Official After Party at GREENHOUSE New York City’s first eco-friendly nightlife destination. Co-produced by NYC artist Squala Orphan and Asheville’s twingravity.com & lush life productions - The GREENHOUSE celebrates Green Festivals’s first foray into NYC as an official Partner of the oldest and most reputable party with a purpose. The party features socially conscious hip-hop band Brown Rice Family, mc Sa-Rac, Squala Orphan and dj Butta L as well as special Green House dj TBA. Show starts at 7pm and ends at 11pm and is located at 150 VARICK STREET in SoHo between Vendam & Spring Streets (Directions)  50% of the proceeds benefit Green Festivals.

GREENHOUSE is the ultimate playground for upscale party-goers, this 6,000 square foot bi-level lounge features two unique rooms constructed completely from recycled and recyclable materials.

Greenhouse was the first nightclub to obtain L.E.E.D. registration-the industry standard awarded to environmentally friendly or “green” buildings. Home to the city’s top tastemakers, this SoHo hotspot offers delicious cocktails, luxurious VIP bottle service, and live sets by world-renowned deejays. State of the art sound and cutting edge, high-efficiency LED lighting create the ultimate environmentally conscious nightlife experience at www.GREENHOUSEUSA.com.

Visit our ticket sales booth at the front or Booth #438 or purchase tickets here. This years’ New York City Green Festivals is located at Javits Center 655 W 34th Street, New York, NY 10001. Make your directions using the map below or click here. Javits Center North is an extension to the original Javits Center, located on 11th Avenue, between 39th and 40th Streets. Javits Center North is also accessible from the main Javits Center.

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

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