Posts Tagged NYC

HandCrafting Justice to Feature Recycled Phonebook Handbag at NYC Green Festival

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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NYC Green Festival After Party to be at GreenHouse in SoHo

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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April Forum: The Hit List – The Top Tips to Green NYC Buildings

NYS P2IAre you a homeowner, commercial property owner or property manager concerned with increasing energy costs?

Are you a contractor, architect, interior designer or real estate broker whose clients have asked about green buildings?

Do you plan to renovate, buy or develop a building?

Come hear The Top 10 Tips to make NYC Buildings Greener!  Learn ways you could improve your building investments, prevent the loss of energy and money, and be environmentally conscious by constructing, renovating and maintaining green buildings!

Join GreenHomeNYC for a “Green Building 101.”  Our panel will discuss their top 10 tips to:

  • reduce energy and water use;
  • improve occupant health, safety and comfort with non-toxic, reusable and recycled building materials;
  • prevent waste and pollution.

Attendees will also receive a coupon with Build It Green!NYC, the only non-profit retail warehouse of salvaged and surplus building materials in New York City.

Where: Trespa Design Center, 62 Greene Street, NYC

When: April 18th, 6:30-8pm.  Doors open at 6pm, please arrive early as we will start promptly at 6pm!

Please RSVP, seating is limited.

Our speakers include:

Energy Efficiency: Dan Rieber, Weatherization Director, Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation

Green Materials: Charlotte Matthews, Vice President – Sustainability, Related Companies

Waste Prevention: Dave Hirschler, Deputy Director of Waste Prevention NYC Department of Sanitation Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse, and Recycling

Who should attend: Building owners, developers, property managers, homeowners, contractors, architects, interior designers, building materials distributors/retailers, real estate brokers. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, there’s something here for everyone!

It doesn’t end there: If you have further questions about the green building tips, you can email us. This forum will also be recorded, and will be available in full on our website.  For those in a hurry, we will also be posting short YouTube versions of the speakers’ top ten green building tips on our website and at events throughout the city.  Please check back and share them with friends and colleagues, and Like us on Facebook!

Funding provided by the NYS Pollution Prevention Institute through a grant from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.  Any opinions, finding, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Environmental Conservation

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Event: Gadgets & Gizmos Get You Drinks, Wednesday February 29, 2012 at Brother Jimmy's in Union Square, NYC

Gadgets & Gizmos Get You Drinks

E-Cycling Happy Hour at Brother Jimmy’s

What: Don’t throwaway your throwback electronics! New York based electronics recycling program, Guzu, is encouraging you to go green with your gadgets by giving you an opportunity to let your old Blackberry, T-9 calculator or laptop buy you a drink! Bring in any old working or non-working electronic to recycle as your ticket in for an exclusive happy hour at Brother Jimmy’s in Union Square on Wednesday, February 29th. Dig through your old junk drawer and join us as we toast to the old junk in your trunk and properly recycle abandoned electronics.

The guest who recycles the oldest, throwback electronic (i.e. Zack Morris cell phone, or beeper) will be awarded Brother Jimmy’s signature fishbowl, Swamp Water. Happy hour specials include:

  • $3.00: PBR, Bud/Bud Light Drafts, Nattys, Well Drinks, Frozen Margaritas
  • $5.00: Heinekens, Frickles appetizer

Who: Guzu, launched by three New York eco-preneurs, pays consumers cash for their old electronics and then recycles them to the highest extent possible; helping to keep electronics out of landfills. On top of putting green in consumers’ wallets, Guzu also plants a tree for every transaction completed through their partner American Forests, a nonprofit organization that seeks to protect the natural capital of trees and forests.

Why Guzu: Often times retired or broken electronics are tossed into landfills as they are not disposed of or recycled properly, adding to the millions of tons of “e-waste” produced every year. There are presently over 3 billion consumer electronics in homes all across America and over 500 million consumer electronics sold annually. Currently, only 25% of e-waste is properly recycled, with the vast majority ending up in landfills or consumers’ “junk drawers.”

When: Wednesday February 29, 2012; 5:00pm – 8:00pm

Where: Brother Jimmy’s; Union Square; 116 East 16th Street (between Park Ave South & Irving Place) New York, NY 10003; www.brotherjimmys.com; (212) 673-6465; Closets subways top to location is Union Sq (N,Q,R,L,4,5,6)

Tickets: Bring any old working or non-working gadget (cell phone, calculator, gaming unit, etc) and drop it into the Guzu e-cycling bin in exchange for your happy hour ticket.

About Guzu, Inc. At Guzu, “eco-friendly” comes in many shades of green – green for your wallet, green for industry, and green for the environment. Our unique value proposition allows consumers to sell their used electronics for cash, while supplying the Consumer Electronics Industry with recycled parts, which help to sustain the secondary market.  Through our partnership with American Forests, we also reduce the industry’s carbon footprint by planting one tree for every order completed.  For complete instructions on how to recycle, please visit www.guzu.com

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Stalled NYC construction sites repurposed with gardens, temporary stores

“A remnant of the Great Recession is hiding behind a paint-splattered wall in Chinatown, in an empty lot where a building was supposed to rise into the sky.

The plywood barely conceals the mess behind it: a pile of cement blocks and tangled metal and empty bottles of beer. It is, in short, exactly the sort of place that draws the ire of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

“There’s a lot of bad things that happen in stalled construction sites,” says Stringer, whose office issued a report earlier this year cataloguing the more than 600 stalled sites that are scattered throughout New York City. “Especially if everybody sort of ignores the site and lets it grow in a very unpleasing way.”

Instead of allowing these lots to become eyesores, some developers are coming up with creative ways to use them temporarily until construction can begin. Grow vegetables in milk crates? Sure. Sell doughnuts out of a shipping container? In New York City, where open space is a precious commodity, just about anything goes.”

Stalled NYC construction sites repurposed with gardens, temporary stores via NY Daily News Best Places

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Queens Botanical Garden Welcomes Fall With Harvest Fest and Pumpkin Patch Sunday, October 16, 2011, Flushing, NY

Flushing, NY – Queens Botanical Garden will usher in the autumn months with the Harvest Fest & Pumpkin Patch celebration on Sunday, October 16, 2011. The family-friendly event will celebrate the season with food, live bluegrass music, storytelling, poetry readings, garden workshops and tours, children’s activities, as well as craft vendors.

Event schedule:

12 noon – 1pm: Garden Tour with Bird Walk, led by Susan Lacerte, Executive Director, and Shari Romar

12:30 – 1:15pm: Poetry Readings by the Fresh Meadows Poets

1:15-2:30pm: Bluegrass music – The Birdhive Boys (www.birdhiveboys.com)

2:45-3:15pm: Storyteller Bobby Gonzalez, highlighting tales from Native American and Latino cultures

3:15-4:30pm: Bluegrass music – Lonesome Moonlight String Band (www.lonesomemoonlight.com)

QBG’s popular Pumpkin Patch will offer children the opportunity to select and decorate a pumpkin while also participating in other activities including seed plantings, paper folding, face painting and a burlap maze.  The National Children’s Study (www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov) will also offer activities like vegetable printmaking and hula-hoop contests.

Queens Botanical Garden is located at 43-50 Main Street in Flushing, Queens. Activities (except Pumpkin Patch) are free with admission ($4 adults, $3 seniors, $2 children).  On-site parking is available for $5 per car.  QBG is accessible from the Q44 and Q22 buses and the 7 train (Main Street/Flushing stop).

For more information about Queens Botanical Garden’s Harvest Fest & Pumpkin Patch visit http://queensbotanical.org/programs/harvestfest or call (718)886-3800, extension 330.

Queens Botanical Garden is an urban oasis where people, plants and cultures are celebrated through inspiring gardens, innovative educational programs and demonstrations of environmental stewardship. Located at 43-50 Main Street in Flushing, Queens Botanical Garden is easily accessible by car, train, or bus.  Parking is available in the Garden’s lot on Crommelin Street.  For travel directions and more information visit www.queensbotanical.org or call (718) 886-3800. Queens Botanical Garden is located on property owned by the City of New York, and its operation is made possible in part by public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

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Grow Local and Eat Local, City Council Says

“In an effort to ramp up support for the consumption and production of local food, the City Council passed a package of bills on Thursday to facilitate the building of rooftop greenhouses and free up land for urban gardens.

Under the legislation, a building’s rooftop greenhouse would not be considered an additional story by the Department of Buildings, and would be exempt from height limits, if it occupies less than one-third of the rooftop. The city would also begin compiling a database of property that it owns or leases so that it can better identify unused spaces to be turned into urban gardens.”

Grow Local and Eat Local, City Council Says via Sydney Ember – New York Times

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The Permaculture Movement Grows From Underground

“As a way to save the world, digging a ditch next to a hillock of sheep dung would seem to be a modest start. Granted, the ditch was not just a ditch. It was meant to be a “swale,” an earthwork for slowing the flow of water down a slope on a hobby farm in western Wisconsin.

And the trenchers, far from being day laborers, had paid $1,300 to $1,500 for the privilege of working their spades on a cement-skied Tuesday morning in late June.

Fourteen of us had assembled to learn permaculture, a simple system for designing sustainable human settlements, restoring soil, planting year-round food landscapes, conserving water, redirecting the waste stream, forming more companionable communities and, if everything went according to plan, turning the earth’s looming resource crisis into a new age of happiness.”

The Permaculture Movement Grows From Underground via Michael Tortorello – NY Times

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BLOOMBERG SPENDS BIG AGAINST COAL

“These days, there isn’t much good news to report about the effort to combat climate change, so when some comes along, it’s worth taking note. Today’s is that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is donating $50 million to the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign. The campaign’s aim is to stop the construction of new coal-burning power plants and to shut down—or to use the more polite term “phase out”—up to a third of the coal plants now in operation. Coal produces more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than any other fuel, so any reduction in coal use means a reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions. Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement is significant for several reasons, some of them obvious, some of them less so.”

BLOOMBERG SPENDS BIG AGAINST COAL via Elizabeth Kolbert – The New Yorker

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New Rules Would Allow Fracking Within 1,000 Ft of NYC's Main Water Supply Tunnels

“If the proposal goes through, Propublica reports that “the state would allow drilling near aqueducts but would require a site-specific environmental review for any application to drill within 1,000 feet of the water supply infrastructure.” In other words, all that would stand between legal drilling within hundreds of feet of crucial water supply tunnels would be a state environmental review.”

New Rules Would Allow Fracking Within 1,000 Ft of NYC’s Main Water Supply Tunnels via Brian Merchant – Treehugger

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