As we mentioned last week, today New York City celebrated the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and the 3rd anniversary of PlaNYC 2030 with a slew of speakers and musical performances in Times Square. The event drew only a small crowd, mainly school children, tourists, and corporate sponsors, but the speakers were enthusiastic in promoting greener habits and congratulating Mayor Bloomberg for being a leader in green cities.
Dennis Hayes, the national coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970, kicked off the event. “New York has become one of the greenest cities in the planet and is continuing to march forward really aggressively under a pretty green mayor,” he said. Ironically, the New York Times quoted Hayes in a story Wednesday about how Earth Day celebrations have become a commercialized marketing platform for many companies. “This ridiculous perverted marketing has cheapened the concept of what is really green. It is tragic,” Hayes told the Times. Continue Reading
*Rohit Aggarwala, the lead author of PlaNYC 2030 and director of the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability is leaving city hall for greener pastures—California’s, that is, Streetsblog reported.
*Aggarwala made the announcement just two days after Deputy Mayor Edward Skylar, a key supporter of PlaNYC and Bloomberg’s point man agencies like the NYPD and the FDNY, announced he was taking a job at CitiGroup. Skylar was, media reports say, one of the most influential deputy mayors in addition to the youngest. Looks like City Hall has some shoes to fill… What does these migrations mean for PlaNYC? We’ll keep you posted.
*Well, here’s what the folks at Streetsblog would have it mean, if their April Fools Post came true—cheaper housing, more walkable streets, and a day when “bean counters designing this city are over.” A little April 1 snark for those who are so inclined.
*Electric cars are back in the news—will they help pave the road to lower carbon emissions for New York City?
*European bank BNP Paribas announced has become the lead sponsor for MillionTressNYC initiative, the public-private partnership with New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and non-profit New York Restoration Project to bring a million new trees to New York by 2030. The PlaNYC initiative has thus far planted over 300,000 trees, according to the mini-slot machine counter on the initiative’s website.
We will be live-blogging from the Green from the Inside Out presentation in Harlem today. It is hosted by GreenHomeNYC. Follow us on Twitter @ExplainThePlan or join us here at 6 p.m. to learn about recycling, reducing energy costs and rooftop solar applications.
Be sure to tweet your questions with the hashtag #GreenHomeNYC
Cyclist making his way through west Brooklyn via Sunset Park's busy Third Avenue.
I’ll be covering the tonight’s forum on the new Brooklyn Greenway planned to run from Greenpoint to Sunset Park. It takes place at UPROSE tonight, Wednesday, March 31 at 6:30pm at 166A 22nd Street in Brooklyn. Come out to participate in the forum, or tweet a question to @explaintheplan or marked with the hashtag #spgreenway and I’ll try to pass it along.
A decision was made this week that released the ban on beekeeping in the city. This allows beekeepers to start their community and rooftop hives without fear of receiving harsh fines.
A part of the mayor’s initiative deals with “greening” up the city. In addition to trying to reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent, the plan encourages New Yorkers to eat organic and buy local produce. Bees contribute by helping to pollinate plants and produce honey. And with an increase in urban farming, crops will need the pollination to continue to grow.
“Given the troubling trend of pollinator decline, it is important to legalize beekeeping and encourage people to learn about the critical role that bees play in our ecosystem,” said Vivian Wang, a litigation fellow with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told OnEarth.
Check out this PBS video describing just how important these buzzing insects are.
Bloomberg intends to monitor climate change as part of PlaNYC. He launched the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) and Climate Change Adaptation Task Force in August 2008. Comprised of scientists and academics, NPCC gives the Task Force predictions on how the climate will change in the city over the next century.
Among NPCC’s February 2009 findings are higher temperatures – an anticipated increase of 1.5 – 3 degrees Fahrenheit by the 2020′s, and 4 – 7.5 degrees by the 2080′s. The average sea level may rise by 12-23 inches by the 2080′s, possibly reaching 41 to 55 inches. These changes can lead to higher heat waves, droughts, heavy rains, extreme flooding, lower water quality, and resulting structural damage to city infrastructure. The numbers are vary due to local factors such as greenhouse gas emissions. Click here for the full report.
The Climate Change Adaptation Task Force is made up of city, state and federal officials, public authorities and city companies that handle much of the city’s infrastructure. According to PlaNYC, “the Task Force will create an inventory of existing at-risk infrastructure, analyze and prioritize the components of each system, develop adaptation strategies, and design guidelines for new infrastructure.”
Many New York City Greenmarkets are certified organic. However, all the city’s Greenmarkets are interested in keeping water, soil and air free of pollutants. The city’s water supply is derived from reservoirs northwest of the city, where farms aid in protecting our water. Over a dozen Greenmarket farms are in NYC’s Watershed. It is also more energy efficient to buy from a Greenmarket. According to GrowNYC transporting food long distances uses a great amount of energy. It takes 435 fossil-fuel calories to fly a 5 calorie strawberry from California to New York. Fossil fuels wreak havoc on the environment by contributing to global warming, acid rain and smog. Local foods travel short distances and therefore uses less energy.
Below is a list of Greenmarkets located throughout New York City.
The Gowanus Canal, August 2009. The EPA recently designated the notoriously polluted waterway a superfund site.
*The City Council recently passed two bills–one that imposes a civil fine (that means money in addition to wrist-slapping) to those caught dumping in city waterways. The second aims to streamline the process in permitting and regulating building projects that promote new technology, part of the city’s larger efforts to promote a “green economy,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn said last week.
*City officials announced plans for a $2.3 million microbiology lab to help the city monitor water quality, the New York Post reported. New Yorkers produce 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater each day. And Officials say the lab, to be housed at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn, will improve the Department of Environmentalism Protection’s ability to compare test results across the 14 city wastewater treatment plants.
In the spirit of updating the City’s environmental landscape, we caught up with Dan Hendricks from the New York League of Conservation Voters about the next phase of PlaNYC 2030 (check back on Monday for more). An updated set of priorities is scheduled for 2011: “The PlaNYC is required to be updated every four years, so this really creates a great opportunity for us to think about what needs to be added and what needs to be changed,” he said.
