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urbangardenersrepAn Eco Brooklyn blog reader recently brought up the June 1st deadline for comments on the Brownfield Cleanup Program application submitted by Lightstone Group for their proposed 12-story, 700-unit development at 363-365 Bond Street, right on the edge of the Gowanus Canal. This reader shared with us that they are very much against building such [...]
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We are building a native habitat at the Eco Brooklyn show house, inspired by the Mannahatta Project - what NY was like in the 1600′s before white settlers. The ecosystems on the property are full of native plants, animals and layouts. This week we went upstate and collected two Garter snakes. We hope the trauma of [...] When I first started mentoring interns one of the first things I told them was that they always had to leave their work area cleaner than when they came to it. Over time this metaphor became the most powerful thing I think I can teach them. Leave your surroundings cleaner than when you arrived….. If [...] Before New York City as we know it today existed, the Gowanus was a tidal wetlands and stream ecosystem. In the 1860s, the area was dredged to become the Gowanus Canal, a major route for oil refineries, tanneries, chemical plants, manufactured-gas plants and other heavy industries who settled along the canal’s banks. These factories dumped wastes and leached [...] Last week, the interns from Eco Brooklyn went to the Net Zero Symposium sponsored by Das Haus in White Plains, New York to hear lectures and view a model of Das Haus, a passivhaus model made from two shipping containers that functions completely off the grid. The conference was held at the White [...] Sea level rise on the East Coast is accelerating at a rate much faster compared to the rest of the world. After analyzing tide levels data from North America, scientists have unexpectedly found that there is a 1,000 km-long sea-level rise (SLR) hotspot on the highly populated Eastern coast of North America.
The hot [...] The Green Roof Professional (GRP) certification system was developed by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a not-for-profit industry association working to promote and develop the market for the green roofs throughout North America. In addition to providing a professional accreditation program, the organization facilitates the exchange of information, supports research, and promotes the establishment of [...] 
How does the nature we find in and around our city reflect who we are? There are two approaches, generally speaking, one can take when dealing with habitat conservation in urban areas. The first and most common is an attempt to return to the historical habitats that were found in the city long before it had [...] In 1875, Fredrick Law Olmsted designed Riverside Park, in 1935 Robert Moses built a highway right thought, but somehow the park has prevailed and it now going to be home to one of the greenest structures in the city – a composting toilet. Riverside Park is home to the cities only clay tennis courts, this [...] Green building and eco-sensitive design is currently at the forefront of our modern ethos. What this means for the green builders, contractors and architects of NY, and the world, is a period of dramatic change and challenge is ahead if not already begun. A change in the way we think about new buildings and construction, [...] 
On June 7th, Van Alen Books hosted a panel discussion on architect David Bergman’s book Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide. Susan Szenasy, Editor-in-chief of Metropolitan Magazine, moderated the panel, which was made up of architect and professor David Bergman, Terreform ONE co-founder and Planetary ONE partner Mitchell Joachim, and NYC Department of Design and Construction [...] The now extinct Kowloon Walled City, also known as the City of Darkness may be a perverse prototype for green, sustainable living. Eco Brooklyn is constantly searching for green building alternatives applicable to New York City living, so when we came across Kowloon we almost fell off our seats. It was Gotham City on cheap [...] I read the book Design Revolution, 100 Products That Empower People by Emily Pilloton to see if any of the designs could apply to a New York green contractor. The book is organized into eight sections: Education Enterprise Water Energy Mobility Food Well-being Play There were plenty of great ideas that could be applied to a [...] Eco Brooklyn does not want Wal-Mart in New York because we feel Walmart’s business model is not conducive to the small neighborhood shopping experience that makes New York and Brooklyn so special. We posted our opinion in this blog post on our site. Recently somebody called Keith Blackwell tried to leave a comment to that post and it [...] As NY Green Contractors, we work hard to turn NYC green and we love any opportunity to share our labors with the public because it spreads awareness of green building. The Earth Day New York organization has created a great way for New Yorkers to celebrate Earth Day as well as learn more about green [...] We are renovating a Yoga studio in Brooklyn Heights, one of New York’s many historic and wonderfully preserved landmark neighborhoods. This beauty is preserved thanks to the diligent work of the Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC). Eco Brooklyn, Inc., a green contractor, renovating a new yoga studio in Brooklyn Heights, NY. You could almost say [...] Finally, a way to pursue the “triple bottom line” (people, planet and profits) with legal backing! It is called the Benefit Corporation (as opposed to a normal C or S Corporation for example). Signed into NY legislation by Governor Cuomo the new law allows businesses to be recognized and filed a for more than their financial [...] The folks from GardenUp just stopped by the EcoBrooklyn Green Show House to tell us more about their great new products for gardening. They’ve created a simple vertical system based on hydroponic technology that is great for small spaces, easy-to-use and highly efficient – perfect for city living. An example of one of GardenUp’s towers [...] As a NY Green Contractor we think this event from the Pratt Center for Community Development (http://prattcenter.net/) is great, it really helps increase public awareness around green building issues in NYC and educates people about ways they can get themselves or tenants involved in sustainability. They even plan to work on issues like changing attitudes [...] Unable to sleep at 4am in New York I came accross this video of an abandoned town renovated by a small group of utopians. It is one of the most inspirational green building stories I have seen in a long time. So often green building is housed withing the capitalistic context where it is just another product to [...] Check out this petition on change.org. We think their proposal to turn an abandoned tract of land into green space will benefit many New Yorkers. The Rockaway Beach Branch Committee is petitioning the New York City Council to turn an abandoned 3.5 mile stretch of the old Rockaway Beach Branch railroad into a green space. [...] As New York green contractors we follow the latest developments in NY building codes very closely. Yesterday, the New York City Council enacted three proposals from the Urban Green Task Force. The new codes, effective July 1, 2012, mandate more stringent regulation of waste, recycling, and pollutant filtration, representing a step forward for green building. [...] Here is a shout out to Film Biz Recycling. They do great work and help reduce the waste of the film industry, which quite possibly is one of the most wasteful industries out there because film builds real world environments and immediately after the shoot need to get rid of them. Film Biz Recycling is [...] It seems like just in the past week the trees of New York have decided to shed most of their leaves. Around EcoBrooklyn, leaves are floating down onto our green roof and some of our projects in the yard. The smell of fallen leaves overpowers the smell of city, and it’s a welcome scent [...] I have tolerated Mayor Bloomberg because he has done some good things for New York’s ecology. He isn’t the mayor of Copenhagen, Denmark. Now that is a city worth looking at in terms of ecology and social planning. But Bloomberg could have been a lot worse. His plan NYC is an acceptable plan, the bare minimum any [...] As a New York Green Contractor, here at EcoBrooklyn we focus mainly on one aspect of reaching sustainability, and that is by green building. But of course, this is just one way to approach sustainability. Colleges for instance, are trending towards setting up sustainability initiatives. They generally include some specific measures that will make them [...] As a green design build firm in New York we are constantly looking for ways nature makes an impression on the city. Here is a literal impression. A leaf fell onto the sidewalk cement when it was wet and made its permanent mark. Climate Week NYC offers up to 8 events a day. And many of them relate to green building in unexpected ways. What better time of the year to let your green out? Climate Week NYC offers such a wide variety of events at varying locations and times to fit everyone’s interests and schedules. For a [...] As a New York green contractor the truth is that our work is very much about things not in NY. Each time we salvage wood from a dumpster we aren’t saving a NY tree. We are saving a Canadian of Brazilian tree. As a company we may be acting locally but our vision is very [...] This NYC government web page lists the times, zip codes and dates that helicopters will spray pesticides over the city. They call it the “Aerial Larviciding Schedule”, and define Aerial Larviciding as: Dropping natural bacterial granules by helicopter to marshes and other large natural areas to kill mosquito larvae before they grow into adult mosquitoes. Does [...] |
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