We are destroying ourselves and the planet with our current eating process.
The solution is simple:
LESS MEAT LESS JUNK MORE PLANTS
Repeat it over and over again with each bite.
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We are destroying ourselves and the planet with our current eating process. The solution is simple: LESS MEAT LESS JUNK MORE PLANTS Repeat it over and over again with each bite. [...] I think new construction is to building like heroin is to health. It should be outlawed as a threat to our well-being. There are enough old buildings for us to renovate. New construction is a needless act of arrogance and self destruction. There’s really not much more to say. I could explain why I [...] Go Green Expo NYC is coming up next week. See below to get the $10 special rate. I went last year and it was ok. It is really a subsection of Architectural Digest Home Design Show, although I’m sure it will be bigger this year. Go Green Expo NYC in my opinion is profit [...] We are on holiday. This morning my daughter asked, “Why wherever we go in the world there are so many houses? Why are there so little open fields with flowers?” What have we done to this world? I don’t care if all the houses are green. We’ve got too many of them. We are [...] One of the many differences between renovating a Brooklyn brownstone the old fashioned way and doing a green renovation is the difference in cycles. A normal brownstone renovation is very similar to all post-industrial activity: MAN OVER NATURE. And ever since the “triumph of science” we have been able to overpower the earths natural [...] Here is a cool insight into nature. It is by Michael Pollan. He also talks about the Polyface Farm which is run by “grass farmer” Joel Salatin. Joel is interviewed a lot in the Food Inc Movie. Check out the talk below, follow the links above. All very cool stuff. Not directly connected to [...] This book has a long title: Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roofs. But then again it is a big book. Written by Tim Callahan and Clarke Snell this book overflows with 600 pages and 1500 images. The [...] I had been avoiding the movie Food Inc for a while. I’ve seen lots of animal rights movies: they are depressing. They make me angry because of the barbarity and frustrated because I feel helpless. But one evening I was feeling especially brave. It turns out the movie is UPLIFTING! Sure it jumps all [...] I was just speaking with an Eco Brooklyn intern who is an architect for a non-green firm in Queens. She was lamenting a current job she is working on where they are tearing out beautiful cherry wood details to turn the building into crap rentals. All my workers have similar stories and one of [...] I don’t know if it is a mainstream thing or what but I don’t get LEED. I even became a LEED AP in the hope that I would see what the big deal is but I still don’t get it. Why would you want to spend all that money and time so that you [...] I just came across this craigslist add with the title: green building materials delivered-brooklyn (red hook) Being a green contractor in Carroll Gardens right next door to Red Hook, I thought, “Cool! I can get green building materials delivered to our job site!” The add went on to read: “Hello, we are a green [...] Gennaro Brooks-Church was on a radio show with Henry Gifford last week. Henry is a great building energy technician who has pointed out that LEED houses and the USGBC are not exactly transparent in their energy efficiency statements. Turns out LEED buildings are not as energy efficient as USGBC would like us to [...] As a green builder in Brooklyn we have very definite views on how development should unfold in the neighborhood. This ties us willingly or not to the politicians since they have influence on development. Today I got a generic brochure in the mail from Congresswoman Joan L. Millman and out of random curiosity I [...] A green builder is a humble builder. They listen to the land and surroundings and take their cues from that. They see what nature is offering in the locality and use those resources, thankful for the gift. They build as a servant to the local nature, not a conqueror of it. Like hunters of [...] I am still fighting it out with my fellow green builders on a list serv. I still eat meat, although a lot less, and am still not sure if my body is made to not eat meat…..but…here is what I wrote: After cooling off a bit I am ready to come back in. I [...] A green builder should be treated the same as a coroner or dentist. You don’t call them if you don’t have to. The greenest building is to not build at all. At the industry’s current evolutionary state in building it is best to avoid building if possible because building inevitably consumes resources and destroys [...] When material gets delivered to the job site there is a crucial window of time from when the truck arrives to when it leaves. The driver is usually in a hurry to unload and take off. There is a flurry of excitement over the new arrival of materials and people are busy running around [...] Lately I have been looking a lot at how we use the world’s resources. As a green builder it interests me how we do this because it directly relates to what resources I will use in our green building in Brooklyn. Another reason I like looking at resource allotment is that it is more [...] I just got invited to a greenwashing event called “NEW YORK CITY’S FIRST EVER PRESS ONLY SHOWCASE OF ECO-LUXURY PRODUCTS & SERVICES FROM THE PRODUCERS OF GO GREEN EXPO”: You are invited to showcase your environmentally friendly LUXURY product or service at New York City’s premiere Eco-Luxury Press Event on September 22nd. Leverage Rubenstein [...] As a Brooklyn green contractor we are always looking for ways to save resources. The key ones are water, electricity, and raw materials. We don’t mind using up human energy. It’s good exercise and pretty much limitless. But when you hear facts like the ones in the video below you realize how important it [...] Most people have no idea what state the ecology of the world is. They still think it is about saving the wildlife. But they are terribly wrong. The wildlife has already been decimated. The forests, plants and animals are for the most part destroyed. Not some of it but the majority of it. We [...] I read in the Carroll Gardens Courier that Ratner is continuing his dishonest takeover of the Brooklyn community in Atlantic Yards. After securing a corrupt deal with the MTA where he will be allowed to buy part of their land he said of the site this week: “….it is about affordable housing and public [...] There is a big hoopla right now about low or no VOC. For examples there are a lot of “green” paints that tout their low VOC levels. But does anyone know what the hell VOC means? Below is a good description of the issue by one of my email list colleagues. Bottom line, the [...] I’d rather non disclosure from the EPA than from Toll brothers any day. This is job complex and I don’t expect anyone to know the full consequences right away. What is more important is the reasons behind the actions and Toll Brothers and their cronies have one reason only – money. The EPA has [...] I am having a hard time finding studies for or against the health impact of fiberglass, specifically the little glass fibers in peoples’ lungs. Here is a little conspiracy theory I am thinking up as I write: The big companies that made asbestos told everyone it was safe. Then they all claimed bankruptcy when [...] Peelaway paint remover is the best I know of. It really does a great job. You need to apply it thick, like so thick you can’t see the wood under it. Let it sit a day or so and then gently scrape it off. Wash with soap and water and the wood is [...] When this whole things started I didn’t know if I was pro or con the Gowanus Superfund designation. I now know that my uncertainty was due to very well funded PR information that almost managed to pull me away from my common sense that immediately thought a superfund designation for Gowanus would be [...] Here is my take on green building in Brooklyn over the next 5-10 years. It is actually a lot wider than Brooklyn, but that is my focus. Rising fuel costs will drive people back into the city, this means there will be an influx of people into Brooklyn. This will keep housing prices more [...] There is this great Zen saying: “Before Enlightenment, fetch water, chop wood. After Enlightenment, fetch water, chop wood.” From the Zen perspective it is an acknowledgment of the “isness” of being, meaning that with enlightenment you see life as it is, free of expectation or judgment. You and life are simply “being” perfectly and [...] Here is a useful page showing the various sound tests on interior walls. The whole web site actually has a lot of great info. It is by the Green Glue Company, supplier of the best soundproofing materials IMO. Conclusion: Doubling up drywall doesn’t do much for stopping sound. Resilient channels are pretty cheap but [...] |
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