The annual “Greenest Block in Brooklyn” competition is underway. Per its website: “More than 1,200 blocks throughout Brooklyn have entered the contest since it was founded in 1994, and an estimated 500,000 residents have participated in this borough-wide beautification and greening effort. Application forms for 2008 are due by June 2.” More info and applications […]

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Among the city-sponsored electronics recycling events taking place is this one next week in Prospect Park. It takes place on Sunday, May 18 from 8AM-2PM next to the Carousel, which is located near the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Empire Boulevard. It’s for both electronic equipment and clothing donations.

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We posted about all of tonight’s Carroll Gardens and Gowanus meetings a bit earlier, but we do want to focus a little on the one dealing with the site of the former Manufactured Gas Plant on Third Avenue under Thomas Greene Park and nearby blocks. It’s one of several toxic sites in Gowanus/Carroll Gardens that […]

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It’s starting to look like the big development at Public Place is going to get a lot larger. The winning Hudson Companies proposal included 774 units of housing and tens of thousands of square feet of commercial and community space. When presentations were made in Carroll Gardens during the winter the possibility that an adjacent […]

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Want to take a GreenWalk? There’s a chance on Thursday. Per an email about the event that came to our inbox: Join us on Thursday, May 1, 2008, from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. New York City College of Technology, CUNY (City Tech) students will lead GreenWalk, a walking tour of Downtown Brooklyn and DUMBO, on […]

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Our Carroll Gardens Correspondent sometimes travels widely. She sent us this photo of trees being planted in Williamsburg by the New York Restoration Project. The location of the greening and trees that will be a lot bigger in 2020 and 2030 and beyond is on Driggs Avenue near N 11th Street.

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Have some electronic devices that need to be disposed? The Third Annual E-Recycling Days at the First Unitarian Chapel in Brooklyn Heights (at Pierrepont St.between Clinton and Henry Sts.) are coming up on Saturday, May 3rd and Sunday, May 4th from 9AM-4PM on Saturday and Noon-2PM on Sunday. It’s sponsored by Denominational Action and the […]

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After last last week’s excitement about the selection of the Hudson Companies to develop the toxic Public Place site as Gowanus Green, we swung by to check on the progress of pre-cleanup work there. Concrete is being dug up and removed from the site, leading to neighborhood concerns about what will happen if/when contaminants are […]

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Yesterday’s protest against Exxon Mobil’s role in helping to sponsor the Earth Day event in McCarren Park, was quite visually interesting and attended by some media and the police. Here are a few photos posted to flickr by amc_. The company’s role was controversial, of course, given the huge spill of oil under Greenpoint that […]

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The Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment has moved into cool new digs on newly-hot Seventh Street in Gowanus (which will also be the site of the new Union Hall venue). We got an early look at it last week, but were asked to keep the photos to ourselves until today. Well, the day has […]

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We’ve posted this before, but Town Square’s Go Green Greenpoint! Earth Day event is taking place tomorrow (4/19) from 11AM-4PM in McCarren Park. Per an email: “Go Green Greenpoint!” is going to be a lot of fun – enviro-friendly vendors, food, music, art contests, recycling stations and much more! School, companies, government agencies and community […]

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Here’s a fun event: a Virtual Toxic Tour and Community Mapping Workshop that will be taking place on Saturday (4/19) from 3-6PM. It will be happening in Manhattan at Eyebeam, which is located at 540 W. 21st Street, but will involve toxic issues in Greenpoint. Here’s a bit about it: In collaboration with fellow Brooklyn […]

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Among the things that spring means are more chances to get out on the Gowanus Canal. So it is with the 9th Annual Gowanus Canal Earth Day Flotilla. This will be happening on Sunday, April 20 from 11AM-3PM and will include “a ceremonial eco-cruise” on the Big G. It is sponsored by the Urban Divers […]

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Want to make a brownstone green? Well, the New York City College of Technology Division of Continuing Education is presenting “Anatomy of a Brownstone: Green Roofs, Green Homes.” It will take place on Saturday, April 26, in the Atrium Amphitheatre at 300 Jay Street. There are two sessions, (morning and afternoon). The 10AM-Noon session is […]

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Tonight (4/9) at 7:00PM, representatives from National Grid (formerly KeySpan) will be in Dumbo for a reception to “discuss their new Energy Efficiency rebate incentive programs for residential and commercial customers. The programs are designed to help National Grid customers save money by improving the energy efficiency of their homes or businesses, and to help […]

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It’s the “Go Greenpoint” Earth Day Festival in McCarren Park on April 19!

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Per an email from the Prospect Park Alliance, our favorite Brooklyn park has a whole lot of events lined up for Earth Week from April 19-27. Here’s a sampling: The Prospect Park Youth Council Pre-Earth Day Celebration will take place on April 19 from 10AM-3PM at the Youth Resource Center at Bowling Green Cottage (Prospect […]

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The city has responded to concerns about work underway at the Public Place site in a letter sent to City Council Member Bill de Blasio saying that the current preliminary work doesn’t pose a threat, but that a water truck and other steps will be taken to contain “fugitive dust” when concrete removal gets underway. […]

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As we noted last week via an email we got, work has started on an expansion of the Roebling Oil Field project, aka the Roebling Oil Building and/or Warehouse 11. We found the pile driver on scene on Sunday and a petroleum-like smell wafting from the scene, though as far as we could tell the […]

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Preliminary work is underway at the Public Place site between Smith Street and the Gowanus Canal, with residents already expressing concern about safety precautions during the cleanup of the highly contaminated site. On March 31, representatives from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination and KeySpan/National Grid will make […]

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It seems like Second Chance Saturdays–the clothing recycling events at Grand Army Plaza–just got underway. Yet, we have already arrived at the last one: Bring your unwanted textile materials to the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket on Saturdays. Clothing and household linens are Reusable & Recyclable. Where: Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket, NW entrance of Prospect Park. […]

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As we reported yesterday, PS 154 in Windsor Terrace became the first school in New York City to ban the use of styrofoam trays and substitute eco-friendly trays made from a sugar cane fiber known as Bagasse. Whereas styrofoam is a petroleum-based product that takes tens of thousands of years to break down, the cane […]

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PS 154 in Windsor Terrace officially became the first school in New York City to ban styrofoam lunch trays and replace them with environmentally friendly trays made from sugar fiber. Council Member Bill de Blasio appeared at a press event this morning with parents and students to make the announcement. City school currently use 850,000 […]

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PS 154 in Windsor Terrace is becoming the first school in New York City to jettison styrofoam trays and Council Member Bill de Blasio is holding a press event at the school today with students and parents. The trays are being replaced with ones made from sugar cane fiber. Per an email: The new environmentally […]

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There is a modest opportunity to recycle electronics at PS 321’s Winter Carnival today in Park Slope. From 10AM-4PM cell phones, cell phone chargers, cell phone batteries, PDA’s and MP3 players can be dropped off for recycling. As far as we understand, they are not accepting computers or other large items. PS 321 is on […]

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