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 [...]
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First 2000, and now 2012: Years in which people think the world might possibly end. The world probably won’t end with a bang, but might just crumble beneath the accumulated consequences of our actions. Meanwhile, American politicians’ opinions of science, especially climate science, are at an alarming low. Sometimes TV makes me wonder if [...] Since the Occupy Wall Street events this fall I have immersed myself in information that questions existing paradigms and searches for solutions to current problems. I’ve always done this, and as a green builder I do it on a daily basis, but the recent Occupy Wall Street events has given my ongoing education a focus and timely reference [...] We’re Brooklyn-based green builders dedicated to turning our local neighborhood green, but we’re always following the latest developments in global standards for more sustainable living. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met in Durban over the past two months in order to hammer out a plan for extending the Kyoto Protocol. [...] 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 [...] 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 [...] On 10/11/11 Eco Brooklyn, a green builder and supporter of a better America and world, went down to the Financial district to check out Occupy Wall Street. Nearly 30 days ago, a diverse group of citizens took to the street in NYC, and marched down to Zuccotti Park, formerly “Liberty Plaza Park”, placed in [...] 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 [...] A typical thing happened today in the life of Eco Brooklyn. One of our workers noticed a dumpster full of wood and called it in to the office. I dispatched our “Rescue Truck”, Eco Brooklyn’s veggie oil pickup, to go salvage the wood before it was carted off to the dump. This wood has [...] I am very happy that gay marriage has been legalized because the more open our society the better nature will fare. Legalizing gay marriage is one step closer to an enlightened society where plants and animals have the same rights as humans. The fact that gay marriage has not been legally recognized up to [...] Fracking, the toxic method of squeezing gas out of the ground is yet another coffin nail in the long line of destructive activities that the oil and gas industries have wreaked on our planet. Check out this cool video below. Get active against Fracking. New York and New Jersey have more Fracking going on [...] If you haven’t signed a petition against Fracking please do so with this link. http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/676/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4322&tag=youtube If you want the negative view on Fracking check out this three minute Video. And yes Haliburton and Cheney are once again part of it. It is so funny how they pop up wherever there are mass deaths, ecological [...] I see the Brooklyn Farmers’ Market as the antithesis of a Twinkie. The Twinkie is always the same. It lasts forever, is full of chemicals and is made on some distant planet. And never does it create a healthy sense of community. The Brooklyn Farmers’ Market on the other hand is possibly the most powerful community force [...] On the Eco Brooklyn job sites we have certain green building concepts that we use. They are mostly coined by me to help the crew and clients understand what Eco Brooklyn’s core goals are. They are easy rallying points to help us all stay on track. These terms can be searched on this site [...] 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’m told by Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development (CG CORD) that outgoing Councilman Bill DeBlasio will be introducing a bill on Dec 9th 2009 that will alter a very old law that protects our front gardens. Right now the front gardens are not owned by the homeowners. Despite this seemingly illogical legal situation [...] 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 [...] 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 [...] Here is a great example of why I love New York salvaged wood over the crap new wood that comes from god knows where. Salvaged wood is better because it is: saved from the overflowing landfill does not cut down a new tree is ‘harvested” locally from buildings already dried out and won’t shrink [...] In a press release from Jan 2009 it is stated that the pentagon is installing more than 4,200 recessed LED luminaries in Wedge 5.They are expecting a payback of less than four years with a reduction of 22% in overall electricity usage. A total reduction of 140 tons of CO2 per year. They even [...] I’ve gone a couple weeks without finding cull or used sheet rock. Not wanting to wait any longer I painfully, regretfully, and sadly went to Home Depot and bought new sheet rock. It is rare that I buy new material like that. Now it is a strange feeling. It is so easy. Go [...] My manager Jack and I were talking about the direction of Eco Brooklyn today and we were trying to put into words the concept of Eco Brooklyn’s services. Jack came up with a genius term: Urban Off Grid. That is exactly what Eco Brooklyn does. We create urban off grid houses. This does not [...] Green Building is a moral prerogative. It is amoral not to build green because to do so is to destroy the earth and ourselves. We must build green because it is the most ethical thing to do. This is why building green and civil disobedience are so closely connected. The New York and Brooklyn [...] |
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