Join me in celebrating the launch of GBK Media by sharing this video slideshow with your friends!

You can find GBK Media on YouTube at this address: youtube.com/gbkmedia. The only all green all Brooklyn video channel on Earth!

Photos and video by yours truly — Ethan Oringel — with the photos taken at Habana Outpost’s awesome — and hopefully annual — Earth Day Expo 2008!

Many thanks to Habana Outpost’s Sean Meehan and Darcy Le Fleming.

And also thanks to Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra for — unbeknownst to them — providing the soundtrack (audio taken from a live show of theirs at Southpaw in Park Slope on April 11, 2008).

You can see, comment on, and share these individual photos at my Brooklyn photo set on flickr.

My friend and I went to Luz Restaurant in Brooklyn for their Earth Day celebration, as I wrote about here and here.

I have finally gotten around to posting the photo I took of the “lights out” dinner on Earth Day, April 22! You can see this photo above and at my greenbk flicker account.

All-in-all, it was probably one of the best meals I’ve had in ages, and that includes a few nights out at excellent restaurants in NYC that were not organic and certainly not “sin luz”.

Read on for the review…

Tuesday May 6th is Idle-Free Day in NYC!

Press Conference:
Tuesday, May 6th
10am
City Hall Steps
Go here to see the flyer for the press conference.

As we know from the post this week, NYC’s air quality is, well, ahem, sub-par. Okay, it’s horrible. 43% of Brooklynites are at risk of health problems each day because of pollution — most of which is from vehicles’ tailpipes.

Find out more truths about idling and how it harms your health, hurts air quality, wastes fuel, and is against the law!

Join a growing chorus of New Yorkers who are tired of breathing exhaust from idling cars and trucks!

Here are some resources on what you can do if you are: an individual, a school, a community group, a business, or a policy-maker.

Stay tuned at the IFNY website or on the Idle-Free NYC blog.

And they thought GBK was cool before the redesign!

Cool In Your Code asked me to do an interview for Earth Day coverage in their Around the Blog section, and I was happy to oblige.

You can read the whole interview here. Also check out posts in the Brooklyn section.

More about the interview and CIYC below the fold…

UPDATE (5/5/2008 5:14 PM): Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn finally make the official announcement!

Go here for the latest including news and information about the new routes from NY Water Taxi, NYT City Room, and coverage in other local NYC media.

As many people who have been following GBK know, we have been advocating for a city-wide ferry system for some time.

News is starting to trickle in that despite losing the congestion pricing battle, Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn are set to announce the first subsidized ferry service from the Rockaways to Lower Manhattan as part of a 5-Borough ferry service initiative of PlaNYC 2030.

The route will include reinstatement of ferry service to the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn that was terminated this past December due to low ridership. Ferry service will be operated by the NY Water Taxi, and will be reinstated as early as Monday, May 12, 2008.

See the press release at Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance (SRWA) for more information.

Read on for the latest updates and more info on the new ferry commuter line…