Greening the Ridge is today! Head on down to 69th Street Veterans Memorial Pier!

From our friends at the SRWA:

GREENING THE RIDGE 2009!
SUNDAY, JUNE 14th, 2009 at Veteran’s Memorial Pier at 69th Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
10am- 6pm

Festival Schedule:
9am-10am: Exhibitor setup
10am: Festival Opening Ceremony
10am-Noon: Xavier High School Jazz Band “Bailout”
11am, 1pm, and 3pm: Dance Performance Installation, “What We Can See From Here,” by Cassie Mey and Jesse Phillips-Fein
Noon: Dance Performance Installation- Kids Workshop!

2:00pm: OLPH Twirlers!
2:30pm: SRWA Green Youth Award Ceremony
Noon to 6pm: Pill Hill Radio and Musical Guests
6pm: Festival end

The Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance is pleased to announce our Second Annual Greening the Ridge Festival in 2009! This annual summer festival will bring vendors, agencies, programs, and individuals to the pier for an educational festival on how to green our community.

Building upon the success of our First Annual GTR Festival in 2008, this year’s event will bring even more people, and more inter-active booths to the Veteran’s Memorial Pier at 69th Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. In addition, we are unveiling our Green Youth Award Program at this year’s festival, click here for more information!

Special music entertainment provided by: Xavier High School Jazz Band, and Pill Hill Radio with Musical Guests!

Special dance performance:
What We Can See From Here
Performance Installation by Cassie Mey & Jesse Phillips-Fein

Meet our current sponsors & exhibitors:

Petri Plumbing
Kettle Black
Alley Cat Exterminating
Green Spa
Ben Bay Realty Co.
Ben Bay Realty Co. of Bay Ridge

Smart Car Manhattan

Gallery 364
Bay Ridge CSA
Bay Ridge Food Co-op
Greenmarket
Center for Urban Greenscaping (CuGreen)
EPA
Narrows Botanical Gardens
Ella Vickers Recycled Sailcloth Collection
Petit Oven

Circles International Natural Foods
Bettencourt Green Building Supplies
WowGreen
Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
Farm Sanctuary
Natural Resources Defense Council
FDNY Smoke House
GreenBrooklyn
CleanAir NY

Garden Direct
Xaverian High School Environmental Club
Scandinavian East Coast Museum
Transportation Alternatives
Life Scout Troop 20, Edward Maddalena
Bay Ridge Historical Society

Plus many more to be added!

This all-day festival is FREE to the public.

More info at SRWAlliance.org.

If you are interested in obtaining more information, please contact Heather McCown: heather@srwalliance.org / (917) 971-0007.

The Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance gratefully acknowledges support from Councilman Vincent Gentile, Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer, Congressman Michael McMahon, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, and State Senator Marty Golden.

Owner Sean Meenan’s green labor of love — Habana Outpost — will be kicking off its 2009 season with an Earth Day Expo taking place this weekend, April 18 and 19.  The eco-eatery boasts a Human Powered Bike Blender, picnic tables made from recycled soda bottles, rainwater harvesting that flushes the toilets and irrigates the plants, and a company car that runs on vegetable oil. 

Keeping with the tradition of all things green, Earth Day weekend seemed like the perfect time for the Outpost to reopen its doors to the public.  Some highlights of the 2-day event include: Council Woman Letitia James speaking in the kick-off ceremony, an eco-fashion show, local area vendors giving out free info and samples, and an exclusive screening of enviro-documentary FLOW: For Love of Water. 

Habana Outpost
757 Fulton Street (Corner of South Portland)
C train to Lafayette / G to Fulton / N,R,4,5 to Atlantic–Pacific
E-mail: info@ecoeatery.com
Phone: 718 858 9500

Full schedule of events as follows:

Saturday, April 18, 2009

12 noon
Owner Sean Meenan and Council Woman Letitia James Opening Ceremony

12-3 pm
Kids Corner crafts and games with Habana Works and The Leadership Learning Lab

1-1:30 pm
Kids Eco Fashion Show with the Scrapkins

3-4 pm
Recycled Craft Jam with the Scrapkins

Going on all day 12-6 pm
Live DJ
Face Painting
Free information and samples from local green vendors and companies

Sunday, April 19, 2009

12-3 pm
Kids Corner Crafts and games with Habana Works and The Leadership Learning Lab

2 pm
Exclusive screening of enviro-documentary FLOW, presented by Engineers Without Borders

2-3 pm
Recycled Craft Jam with the Scrapkins

3-4 pm
Kids Bingo with the Scrapkins

Going on all day 12-6 pm
Live DJ
Face Painting
Free information and samples from local green vendors and companies

Local participants include: Alive Structures, Brooklyn Green Drinks, Brooklyn Public Library, Christie Caiola face painting, Engineers Without Borders, FLOW the movie, Funky Lobes, Green Edge NYC, Green Spaces NY, Greene Grape Provisions, Greene Harvest CSA, Imperial Bag and Paper, Leadership Learning Lab, Letitia James, Masani Designs, Rolling Press, Root for Trees, Scrapkins, Solar Energy Systems, Still Hip Brooklyn, Tri State Bio Diesel, Tribal Alphabet, Via Nativa

More here: ecoeatery.com

Last weekend was the first weekend of cherry blossom season at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden! The season runs from April 4 - May 10.

A few shots from my cell phone cam:

Hanami is the Japanese cultural tradition of viewing and cherishing each moment of the cherry blossom season. At Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Hanami is a New York City “rite of spring.”

Go here for more, or follow the bloomin’ progress on the BBG blossom map:

The 2008 Environmental Justice Community Impact Grants are in. Some of the projects funded by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation include: community gardens and green roofs, air- and water-quality monitoring, lead poisoning prevention, urban forestry, subsistence fishing education, environmental education for urban youth, inventories of local pollution sources, and an international climate justice conference.

The 12 Brooklyn organizations — including some of our favorite friends — won a combined total of $357,669 in grants. Congrats to all!

Here is the list of winning Brooklyn orgs and the projects funded:

• Added Value – Brooklyn - $25,000 – for construction of a rain water capture system for a community garden to reduce the garden’s ecological footprint, along with community education to promote rainwater capture and use.
• Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation – Brooklyn - $25,000 – for partnership with Pratt Center for Community Development to reduce energy consumption by providing: (1) free energy audits and energy conservation education to low-income residents; and (2) job training and apprenticeship opportunities in energy retrofits.
• Brooklyn Art Incubator, Inc. – Brooklyn - $24,800 – for community residents to develop ways to improve local air quality, followed by construction of a community garden and other green infrastructure at the Magnolia Tree Earth Center.
• Going Coastal, Inc. – Brooklyn - $22,400 – for a survey of subsistence anglers’ knowledge and attitudes about fish health advisories, research into health advisories and fish contamination, and education of anglers.
• The Newtown Creek Alliance – Brooklyn and Queens - $46,041 - for health-based interviews of community residents, with results presented in a unique internet GIS interactive map.
• OUTRAGE - Brooklyn - $47,000 – for a community-based study of environmental and public health hazards from local solid waste facilities and attendant truck traffic, with community education and development of mitigation proposals based on the results.
• Phoenix Community Garden – Brooklyn - $22,000 – to expand operations of a 19,000-square-foot community garden and outdoor environmental education center.
• Prospect Park Alliance – Brooklyn - $25,000 – for a summer ecological research camp for inner-city Brooklyn youth at the Rheinstrom Hill Audubon Center and Wildlife Sanctuary in Hillsdale, Columbia County.
• Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation – Brooklyn - $25,000 – for renovation of an abandoned building into a green community arts and cultural center with environmental education programs.
• United Community Centers, Inc. – Brooklyn - $24,415 – for development of sustainable systems and community education programs for two urban farms and a farmers’ market.
• UPROSE, Inc. – Brooklyn - $46,013 – for a study of local air pollution and related health effects and other environmental burdens, followed by environmental education tours of Sunset Park.
• Wildlife Conservation Society – Brooklyn - $25,000 – for a partnership with the New York City Aquarium to provide training and job opportunities for inner-city teens as aquarium docents and interns and to engage the participants in hands-on stream conservation projects.

For the complete list of winners throughout the state, go here (pdf)

Go here for the grant announcement at NYS DEC.

Go here to read more about the grant program and how to apply for next year’s grant.

What is Environmental Justice?

Environmental justice is defined as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Environmental justice efforts focus on improving the environment in communities, specifically minority and low-income communities, and addressing disproportionate adverse environmental impacts that may exist in those communities.

Click here to read more and for resources on this important topic.

I would like to introduce a group I am involved in, Brooklyn Cohousing (www.brooklyncohousing.org), that may be especially attractive to members of this group. Cohousing is a type of housing that gracefully blends privacy and community. People live in private units of varying sizes, from studios to large 3 and 4 bedrooms, but also benefit from access to extensive, well-designed common spaces. They are able to eat meals together and be involved in each other’s lives to the extent they choose.

To construct Cohousing in Brooklyn, we have gotten together over a dozen families who have raised over a million dollars to purchase a site on a landmarked historic block in Fort Greene, to construct a beautiful set of buildings designed for this purpose. These buildings include a renovated church and historic townhouses clustered around a large landscaped courtyard, with gardens, green spaces, and children’s play areas.

We are accepting new members, and expect our membership to fill up quickly. We expect to have approximately 40 households in our Community. We welcome diverse people of all ages, races, cultures, religions and family types to consider joining us. If you’re interested, you can come to one of our orientations or social events, which are held at least once a week (see below for up-coming dates).

Find out more by looking at our website www.brooklyncohousing.org, emailing outreach@brooklyncohousing.org or calling (718) 374-5177.

Orientations are a time for project overview, questions and answers. All are welcome. After attending an orientation prospective members can come to observe a general meeting.

• Monday, December 8th, 6pm
  at the Belarusan Church
  401 Atlantic Avenue (at Bond Street)
  children welcome
• Wednesday, December 10th, 6:30pm
  Neighborhood Preservation Center
  232 E 11th Street
  children welcome
• Sunday, December 21st, noon
  at the Park Slope Food Coop
  children welcome

THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION OR OFFER TO PURCHASE REAL ESTATE