Tags: New York City

The construction industry produces an estimated 164 million tons of building-related waste per year, making it the single largest contributor to landfills in the US–about 20% of stateside landfill waste is construction debris.  Worldchanging reports that do-it-yourself enthusiasts in England are testing a new business model that would reclaim almost 12% of England’s construction waste by reselling materials at ”ReIY’ (Reuse It Yourself) centers. 

NYC Wildflower Week kicks off its 2nd annual celebration of all things green and wild the first week of May.  Free activities throughout the city will include botanical walks, garden tours, ecology lectures, children’s events, planting opportunities, cooking classes and food tastings.

Here’s great find from our archives: a November 1951 proposal for development at Fresh Kills issued under legendary Parks Commissioner Robert Moses.  The City of New York began filling in Fresh Kills in 1948, initially with the idea of depositing “clean fill” there for three years to make the land developable. 

Good news from Albany: after some early scares, $222 million dollars has been allotted this year to continue the work of the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF).  This money will ensure that state programs at zoos, botanical gardens, municipal parks, farmland and other natural areas remain intact. 

Another fun competition: FlyNY, in partnership with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, is hosting an international kite design contest. Participants will get to show off their aspiring designs and fly their kites on Saturday, May 9th on Pier I on the Hudson River. 

The first issue of LANDFILL, a new annual publication, features photos of first-person narratives being buried at locations around the five boroughs of New York.  Like PostSecret, but uplifting and signed, and with a physical component in the natural landscape.

The MoMA is kicking off  a new exhibit today, “In Situ: Architecture and Landscape,” an exploration of the relationship between the built environment and its surrounding landscape.  Exhibited 20th century works of architecture and landscape will highlight  “spatial, social, and environmental aspects of human life and how they had profound reverberations in both architecture and landscape design.” 

Interdisciplinary environmental arts organization Ecoartspace has opened a physical space in Soho.  Current featured exhibit is “habitat”, an artist studio shed built of reclaimed materials.  The space will also host discussions, screenings, panels, readings and performances centering around art that concerns itself with environmental issues.

Two years into Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 initiative, the Sustainability Practice Network is hosting a panel at NYU the evening of April 21st to discuss the status of PlaNYC initiatives and review lessons learned.

Launched on Earth Day, 2007 Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 promised to address the major environmental sustainability issues facing the city, with 127 initiatives on housing, open space, water, air quality, transportation, brownfields, and the city’s impact on climate change.

Electronic waste contains some pretty dangerous stuff and is best kept out of landfills.  Starting in 2010, disposal of electronics with your regular trash will be illegal in New York City, and any resident who throws electronics into their trash will be charged a $100 fine. 

A series of wowzers: the largest green roof in the US!  Which doubles as a driving range!  And sits atop a water treatment facility!  The $2.1 billion dollar Croton Water Filtration Plant in the Bronx was designed by  Grimshaw Architects, landscape architect Ken Smith and green roof gurus Rana Creek. 

If you want to learn more about solar energy and its implementation, I Heart PV, a pro-solar campaign launched out of Solar One Green Energy, Arts & Education Center, will be giving a special presentation at The Park Slope Food Coop tomorrow  on Photovoltaic technology (“PV”) and current attempts to establish New York as a leader in solar adoption.

FIGMENT, the arts organization partnered with the Governor’s Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), is building a mini-golf course on Governor’s Island.  And they’re holding  a design competition for single holes, which you can enter.  Governor’s Island is an interesting project and, with FIGMENT, GIPEC has been able to keep the island enviably well programmed. 

New Yorkers are throwing less stuff away now than they were three years ago. That’s according to Steve Cohen on his blog at The Observer.  Apparently, we’re down to 51,250 tons per week, from 54,205 tons per week in 2005. 

The Growing and Greening New York exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York continues on until April 22nd (Earth Day).  If you’re interested in the conversation about how New York City needs to adapt for a more sustainable future, you’ll want to check out the show. 

With the 8th anniversary of the closure of Fresh Kills Landfill coming up, the Staten Island Advance’s blog, The Staten Island Notebook, published this story reviewing the steps preceding the landfill’s closure.  The story singles out one man, former Fresh Kills crane operator John Leverock, as a possible progenitor of the idea to close Fresh Kills and to containerize and export the city’s waste, as the current Solid Waste Management Plan prescribes. 

When Fresh Kills Landfill closed, the Department of Sanitation began exporting the city’s garbage to private landfills. The long-haul trucking required for that export has been costly: waste disposal rose from 40 to 100 dollars per ton and has contributed to congestion and air pollution.

More details about Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to tax plastic bags and the revenue the tax will generate.  Independent of revenue, this seems like an easy issue to assume environmental righteousness about, but as New York Times City Room blogger Jennifer Lee points out:

Some have noted that environmental equation on reusable versus disposable bags is not so clear-cut.

Urban Omnibus is an online project of the Architectural League that explores the relationship between design and New York City’s physical environment: revealing the choices shaping the city, encouraging conversation, inspiring innovation.

If you’re interested in the factors shaping Freshkills Park, you might be interested in checking out some of the stories this new publication is covering.