JUST BREATHE: A Community Forum on Brooklyn’s Health, Energy and Environment

Saturday, May 17, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm

Currently, New York City stands in violation of federal Clean Air standards.

As a result, asthma rates in some of New York City’s communities of color are four times the national average.

We invite you to come hear first hand from medical, environmental, academic and civil rights experts how to reverse this disturbing trend and to become stakeholders in New York’s environmental and energy future.

An event brought to you by:

SHARE (Safe Healthy Affordable Reliable Energy), Brooklyn Branch NAACP and Medger Evers College

Location:

Medgar Evers College
Presidential Conference Center, Room B1008
1650 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn

RSVP to Craig Wilson at rsvp@shareny.org

Continental Breakfast and Lunch Served

Visit www.shareny.org for more information.

Check out some facts about air quality, energy, and the environment in the NY region.

Join the campaign and get involved!

Also, coming up on May 21st c/o SHARE and the National Minority Business Council:

Taking Your Company GREEN & Improving Your Bottom Line

Her photographs have graced the cover of the pre-eminent journal Science and the halls of MoMA. Her accolades and recognition stretch from a Guggenheim Fellowship to the prestigious Lennart Nilsson Award for medical, technical, and scientific photography. She has appeared in print and in person everywhere from the NYT, to the University of Toronto’s Department of Physics to the National Science Foundation to Apple.com.

She is Felice Frankel; a largely self-taught photographer and scientist, a product of Midwood High School and Brooklyn College, currently a Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University and research scientist at MIT, and — in the interest of full disclosure — my aunt!

Ms. Frankel took an idea that was previously off-limits — namely altering a scientific image — and, using innate creativity, has turned the world of science communication and imaging on its head.

While openly admitting to modifying her images by removing such visual clutter as a petri dish from the background, or by enhancing the color of an image, Ms. Frankel has given new depth to previously mundane imagery. The effect of these modifications is immediately clear and, in most cases, inspiring.

Upon selecting her work as the recipient of the 2007 Lennart Nilsson Award, the board of the Lennart Nilsson Foundation remarked:

“Those viewing Ms. Frankel’s images are initially captivated by their form and colour. No sooner is their curiosity aroused than they want to know what the photograph depicts. She has thus fulfilled a scientific reporter’s paramount task: to awaken people’s interest and desire to learn.”

Ms. Frankel is a realist. Her works are not “art” per se, it is communication of scientific phenomena that just happens to be beautiful. Yes, images are manipulated, but annotation is important as with any scientific research. Again, it is the inspiration that is paramount.

“Visualizations allow scientists to shout from the rooftops how incredibly beautiful science is,” said Frankel. “It is a place where the biologist and the physicist can talk to each other, in the visual representation of their work.” Getting students and teachers to think about how to express ideas visually becomes an incredible learning tool, said Frankel. “My hope is that visually representing science is one way of getting you to look.”

Long-time collaborator, and professor of chemistry at Harvard University, Dr. George M. Whitesides, says this of Ms. Frankel’s contribution to science in a June 2007 article in the NYT:

“She has transformed the visual face of science. […] Her impact on scientific communication has been very large, in the way science talks to science and science talks to the world outside science.”

Beyond that, he added: “She has a wonderful sense of design and color. It is hard to say she is not an artist.”

Make up your own decision what you want to call her work, but the fact remains that her photographs are an inspiring look at the world around us from a new perspective.

In addition to the links in this post — which I highly recommend reading — I suggest that anyone even remotely interested in Ms. Frankel’s work seek out her two books of stunning photographs, On the Surface of Things and the more recent Envisioning Science: The Design and Craft of the Science Image. They make wonderful gifts, especially for the young scientist.

While the MoMA exhibit — Design and the Elastic Mind — wrapped up on May 12th, here are a couple of glimpses into Ms. Frankel’s creative mind: a video interview from the PBS program Wired Science and an interview (mp3) from the online design journal Massive Change.

The Wired Science vid:

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.

Now for the review:

The meal started with a delicious bruschetta of fresh lightly grilled bread (no electric toasters here).

The first course was a delicious pea soup, that was fresh and refreshing, and certainly not your typical pea soup. We knew we were in for a treat.

The salad was a fairly standard salad with sliced pear, pecans (I think) and a nice vinaigrette. Like all the dishes — as we came to find out — the ingredients were fresh and organic and the presentation was on par with the quality of the food.

Up next was, to me, the true highlight of the meal. Ceviche. Ceviche is a marinated raw fish preparation typical of Peru. Let’s just say that if you have the chance, try it! This ceviche was sliced mahi mahi dressed with mandarin orange and what I believe was called a Japanese salad consisting of seaweed and another green topping. It was splendid. Fresh, delicious, a nice little chili kick, and it looked great even in the dim light. Con saborrr!

My main course was a barbecue pork dish. It was grilled to perfection, and the barbecue sauce was clearly the chef’s own recipe. Delicious. The side was three grilled corn skewers (probably the weakest item I had, could have been cooked a little longer). All in all very satisfying.

My beverage of choice was a great amber organic lager from Peak Brewing Company — a new one to me, and definitely added to my list of organic beers to look for!

I was raving about the ceviche, and the bbq was right on the money, but the desert might have crept up from behind to be the highlight of the entire night. It was a perfectly-prepared grilled pear and grand marnier crepe dish. Even on a full stomache you couldn’t help but eat it all. It’s anybody’s guess how they were able to pull off such a delicate dessert with hot and cold components given the fact that they did not use any electricity in preparing the meal.

Oh, and speaking of sabor! The live, unplugged Afro-Cuban jazz group that was jamming away in the dark throughout the course of the meal was SMOKIN‘!

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”.

Two thumbs up. 5 stars. Highly recommended. Enjoy!

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.

From the people at Idle-Free NYC:

Tired of breathing fumes from vehicles that idle?

Join fellow New Yorkers in raising awareness about idling: negative effects on health and environment, wasted fuel costs, and existing anti-idling laws.

Whoever you are–an individual, school principal, member of a community group, business owner–there is something you can do.

Visit the website to download materials that can help you spread the word. Contact your local Community Board to find a group action you can join.

Check the website for the time and place of the Idle-Free NYC press conference on May 6th.

Add your voice to others who want cleaner air. Help make NYC idle-free.

Here are some more tips for individuals:

* Hold an idle-free “Dear Mike Bloomberg” party. Ask everyone to bring a funny traffic story. Have lots of pens and paper available for writing letters to City Hall. (What better way to recycle those odds ‘n ends stationery?)

* Arm yourself with understanding the facts and the laws related to idling. If you drive, don’t idle. Download idling information cards* to carry in your wallet and talk (nicely!) to drivers who idle. You will find that most simply do not know about idling (health and environmental effects, and existing laws) and will turn off the engine immediately.

* Call 311 to report idling incidents. This is important: 311 operators are just learning to take idling complaints seriously. We need a significant number of callers to complain about idling. So do it! Make your voice heard.

* Order a free bike rack for your block or place of business. Download the application form.* Join Transportation Alternatives if you want to join a team working to make NYC better for bike riders and pedestrians.

* Download a Stop-Idling Petition* that asks Mayor Bloomberg to enforce the 3-minute idling law in NYC. Get signatures from your friends and co-workers; mail or fax the completed forms to City Hall.

* Download an MP3 of the Clean Air tune* by Pierce Woodward. Send it to your friends when you email them about Idle-Free NYC; use it on your answering machine or as hold music on your phone.

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.

CIYC is an Emmy-award-winning television program airing 3 nights a week on NYC TV Channel 25 (see this link for listings). They won for the “Back on the Block” segment — one of six New York Emmy nominations they received for the 2007 season. CIYC also has a local media channel in London, England where they cover the 120+ postcodes through a partnership with TimesOnline.

While the interview doesn’t get too deep into my thoughts about ways to green Brooklyn, it is an interesting window into my life and how GBK came to be. Some interesting stories and revelations, like the story about how I moved next-door to my great-grandfather’s first apartment in NYC almost exactly 100 years later, or my insider tips on how to find cool hidden gems in NYC (*hint* walk!).

CIYC introduces the interview thusly:

Even the internet’s becoming eco friendly. Environmentalist do-gooders take to the blogs in a grass roots initiative known as greenbrooklyn.com. But before you get on them for the large amounts of energy they’re using to sustain their daily posts of reduce, reuse, recycle - hold your cynical tongues: they use 100% wind powered website and email servers. You may know which bin to put your plastic bottles in, and hopefully wait until the next garbage can to toss out your gum. But with congestion rates on the rise, and city waste at an all time high, Ethan Oringel, Co Creater and Founder of the environmentally conscious url says there’s much more to learn.

For the record, I think we all have a lot to learn about sustainability and how to make it work!

As everyone knows, there is a LOT going on in NYC that is cool, so go check out the site. You can find some good local news organized by Codegory or by area — as seen by the CIYC map to the right.

GBK is all about local local local. So we love local media like this. If anyone has any tips on other cool sites like this, leave them in the comments or get in touch!

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.

Green Brooklyn is among several organizations advocating for increased ferry service as a means of mass transit for NYC — increased ferry service takes cars off of our congested streets while offering a fast, viable method of commuting into Manhattan, especially for outer-borough New Yorkers.

In addition to SRWA, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance and the Riverdale Ferry Coalition have been strong advocates for increased ferry service.

While GBK loves to inspire the community to let our elected officials know when they do something we feel is wrong, we equally love to commend our politicians when they do the right thing. So please take a second to email Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn thanking them for doing all they can to improve our mass transit system and for starting down the path to a city-wide, 5-borough ferry system.

• Write to Mayor Bloomberg
• Write to Speaker Quinn

Many thanks to all those involved, and congratulations to those who have worked hard to see ferry service restored!

See you on the water!

UPDATE (5/5/2008 5:14 PM):

The Mayor’s office:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn joined other elected officials today to announce that key parts of the plan developed by the Bloomberg Administration and the Speaker to bring ferry service to all five boroughs will begin May 12, when a new City Council-subsidized route from Far Rockaway to Lower Manhattan starts service.

[…]

“Ferries are fast, affordable, and environmentally-friendly. As our waterfront becomes even more dynamic - with new housing and open space in communities like Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and Hunters Point - ferries are going to become an even bigger part of our city’s transportation network,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “That vision of a revitalized waterfront is an important element of PlaNYC, and over the past year we’ve worked closely with Speaker Quinn and the Council to make it a reality.”

“I was proud in February to announce an ambitious initiative to make five borough ferry service a reality in New York City,” said Speaker Christine C. Quinn. “I am even prouder today that less than three months later, the first pieces of this plan are in place.

[…]

In addition, the City Council will provide approximately $500,000 to fund an in-depth study to be conducted by City agencies and outside consultants of potential sites in all five boroughs capable of supporting new ferry service, including Riverdale, Orchard Beach, Ferry Point, Soundview and Hunts Point in the Bronx; LaGuardia Airport and Astoria in Queens; Bay Ridge, and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn; and 125th Street, East 20th Street, East 75th Street and East 90th Street in Manhattan.

Go here for the full press release from the Mayor’s office.

The new commuters’ ferry route is announced at NY Water Taxi:

New York Water Taxi has been selected to operate a commuter service between Riis Landing at Breezy Point in Rockaway, Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT) in Bay Ridge Brooklyn to Pier 11/Wall Street in Lower Manhattan beginning on Monday May 12, 2008.

More information including schedules and fare info to and from the 3 stops — Riis Landing (Far Rockaway), Brooklyn Army Terminal (Sunset Park), Pier 11/Wall St (Manhattan) — at NY Water Taxi.

Also gets attention at NYT City Room:

The new route, which begins next Monday, will run from Riis Landing in Far Rockaway to the Brooklyn Army Terminal at 58th Street to Pier 11 on South Street. It will run twice a day in each direction: 5:45 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. from the Rockaways, and 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. from Lower Manhattan. The trip will take about one hour each way.

[…]

Separately, New York Water Taxi will restart East River ferry service from Pier 11 and 34th Street to Long Island City and South Williamsburg, which it had suspended over the winter because of the lack of the more profitable tourist traffic.

Then, over the next two years, new ferry landings will be constructed at North Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn, with federal financing paying for them. In 2005, Congress had allocated $4.4 million in federal money for new docks, which had sat largely untouched until now.

“This is the first step in a long journey,” Mr. Fox said.

Also see coverage in some other local media:

• City to start new ferry service routes (ABC - Channel 7 Eyewitness News)
• New Rockaways Ferry to Stop in Sunset Park (Gowanus Lounge)
• New ferry service set to begin May 12 (am New York)

This past April, the DOT presented their designs to Community Board 8 for a re-designed Vanderbilt Avenue. While the idea of safe bike lanes and greenstreets in their plan was well-meaning, the designs’ plans for on-street bike lanes have struck a chord with residents in the area and bike enthusiasts.

A petition has just started circulating where constituents and NYC residents can make their voice known on the re-development of the bike paths. Here is your chance to help make the streets of Brooklyn safer.

From the petition:

We are gracious that bike lanes were included in the design. However, these are on-street, unprotected bike lanes. In other words, these are dangerous and thus NOT the gold standard.

We, the undersigned, therefore demand a redesign to include protected bike lanes (either on opposite sides of the Avenue, or immediately adjacent to each other, on one side of the street.)

This project is at the point where your voice is needed.

Please sign the petition here: Safer Streets on Vanderbilt Avenue

Read the DOT’s presentation to Community Board 8 (pdf).

A little back-story at Streetsblog:

In May 2006, DOT put Vanderbilt Avenue on a “road diet”, reducing it from four through lanes to two through lanes with left turn bays and a striped center median. The project successfully calmed traffic and made the corridor safer and more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. Now, DOT is returning to construct the greenstreets medians made possible by the project and at the same time modifying the street design to add bicycle lanes. The medians will make this important corridor in this pedestrian oriented area friendly and more appealing to walk along and safer to walk accross. The bicycle lanes will fill a key gap in the bicycle network by connecting Prospect Park with the popular east-west Bergen and Dean Street bike lane pair. The project may begin implementation this spring with completion of the greenstreets elements scheduled by this fall.

The 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:

On Monday April 28th, NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan officially launched the City’s Sustainable Streets plan. It kicked off with Safety, and as the plan articulates: “Safety is the first priority for any transportation system.” In her presentation, she also discussed Manhattan’s Ninth Avenue Class I protected bike lane, and called it “the gold standard.” That protected bike lane is safer for bicyclists, motorists, and pedestrians alike.

Simultaneously, Brooklyn’s Vanderbilt Avenue is undergoing a complete renovation from Atlantic Avenue to Grand Army Plaza. The design has been approved by the City and by CB8 and the renovations are underway. We are gracious that bike lanes were included in the design. However, these are on-street, unprotected bike lanes. In other words, these are dangerous and thus NOT the gold standard.

We, the undersigned, therefore demand a redesign to include protected bike lanes (either on opposite sides of the Avenue, or immediately adjacent to each other, on one side of the street.)

We realize that a redesign to include protected bike lanes would delay the project. However, considering the painfully slow rate for infrastructure repair and upgrade, we believe it is worth the wait.

We respectfully ask you to do all that you can to ensure that Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn has the safest bicycle lanes possible. We deserve no less.

Gotta love Earth Day. It doesn’t matter if you are 9 or 99 years old. Or 999 for that matter, but that might be pushing it.

Tomorrow (Friday, May 2nd) the Brooklyn New School (PS 146) / Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies (BNS/BCS) is having an Earth Day event with all kinds of green activities, sustainable food, a biodiesel car, you name it.

Friday, May 2
6 - 8 pm
Brooklyn New School Cafeteria
610 Henry Street (between 3rd and 4th Place)

Attendees include:

• CENYC Office of Recycling Outreach and Education
• Green Parents Alliance
• Get Fresh NY
• Added Value Farm
• a Master Composter
• Green Builders
• And more!

Here is some more info for those planning to attend:

Please bring a healthy potluck dish to share.

We’ll have activities, crafts, games, books, videos, speakers, demonstrations, a raffle, and more!

Info on composting, solar energy, recycling, green building, and even a biodiesel car parked in front of the school!

Kids can calculate their carbon footprint, decorate their own reusable bag, and learn how to make energy with string!

Oh - and help us MAKE MONSTERS! Bring large pieces of fabric, rags, yarn, felt, buttons, and other cool notions when you come. Old clothes or sheets cut into strips and small plastic bags are perfect for stuffing. Bring those too!

In other green news at BNS:

BNS has their own CSA menu care of Dines Farm

The second graders are hard at work mapping, model building, experimenting, building, and drawing up a storm.

Cool.

I think Lena said it best in the comments of one of the blog posts:

dear class,

ME and my mom were just looking through the pictures and drawings. They were all very beautiful. I loved the way that you described your pictures. I was impressed. I hope you enjoy reading this comment.

YOU ARE ALL THE BEST. I AM SOOOOO PROUD of you.

THE END

LENA

So our air got WORSE last year? How did that happen? Not good.

According to State of the Air: 2008 — the American Lung Association’s annual report on air quality country-wide — NYC is now the 8th most polluted city in the country in regards to ozone, aka smog.

We are now the 13th most polluted city in the country for short-term particulates, aka soot. Soot!

We used to be the 10th-worst and 17th-worst polluted in those categories respectively, but we seem to have actually gotten worse and not better in the course of 2007.

As for Brooklyn, we did improve slightly from F’s to D’s for short-term particle pollution. But on a county-by-county map, the whole metro area doesn’t look so hot.

am New York has more:

“In New York City, where the asthma rates are some of the highest in the nation, it is simply unacceptable that residents are being forced to breathe this toxic air,” said Louise Vetter, president and CEO of the American Lung Association in New York City.

[…]

New York’s pollution largely comes from coal-burning power plants in the Midwest and vehicle emissions locally.

Vehicle emissions. Congestion pricing. Asthma.

People at risk from poor air quality in King’s County alone:

Pediatric Asthma: 60,806
Adult Asthma: 156,821
Chronic Bronchitis: 78,575
Emphysema: 33,462
Cardiovascular Disease: 615,491
Diabetes: 141,024

That is over 1 million people who are at risk of poor health every single day due to pollution in King’s County. That is a whopping 43% of the population that is at risk. It deserves the “D” grade that it gets.

Read the report’s key findings to read some pretty shocking stats about the state of the air in this country, but also some positive plans for action on how we can improve our air quality.

Things must get better. Let’s make sure our politicians know that this is unacceptable.

Here are some actions you can take right now:

• American Lung Association: FIGHT FOR HEALTHY AIR! (online form, emails your Congressperson, your Senators)
• Write a note to Mayor Michael Bloomberg
• Use NYPRIG’s ‘Who Represents Me?‘ tool to easily find how to contact your elected officials (enter your street address and zip code and click submit)
• Get in touch with the local American Lung Association NYC chapter, get geared up (and sponsored) for BREATHE NYC: Asthma Walk 2008 taking place on May 31, and contribute if you can to the fight for cleaner air!