It started in 1976 as a neighborly neighborhood buyers’ club of 11 community-minded and natural food loving folks in Midwood, Brooklyn.

31 years and 3,000 members later, the Flatbush Food Co-op is set to swing open the doors to a gorgeous new space that is triple the size of its original retail store across the street on Cortelyou Road.

Sunday, May 18th is set to be a milestone day for sustainable and organic food in Brooklyn, as Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz cuts the ribbon on the new space — which is located at 1415 Cortelyou Road.

The day — which kicks off at noon — will mark the official opening of the store with the ribbon cutting ceremony at 1pm and then a celebration including: music, free samples, product demos, raffles, and children’s activities, as well as the chance to be the among the first to shop the store’s many offerings.

More information about the opening day festivities:

When:
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Noon - 5 p.m.
Ribbon Cutting: 1 p.m.

Confirmed in attendance:
Marty Markowitz, Borough President
Rhoda Jacobs, State Assemblywoman
Jim Brennan, State Assemblyman
Simcha Felder, City Councilman

Where:
1415 Cortelyou Road
Brooklyn, NY 11226
The store will be open for business from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m.

Continue reading for the store’s extensive new products and features, photos of the interior, and much much more…….

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

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.

Wired Science vid:

Read on — by clicking the link below — to explore more of Ms. Frankel’s fascinating and captivating work…

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…