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Occupy Wall Street

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 [...]

Building With Awareness

Eco Brooklyn just came out of a renovation of a four story brownstone where the budget was very tight. We took the job full of idealism believing we could make green building affordable to somebody with a small budget.

It ended badly.

We had to hire workers willing to charge lower salaries which resulted [...]

Upcoming Speaking Announcement

Green Home NYC is featuring Gennaro Brooks-Church as a guest speaker. He will be speaking on two key concepts he coined: Build It Forward and the Zero Brownstone. More info below on the event next week.

August forum: Working with contractors (AIA credit)August’s forum will discuss working with contractors in both residential and [...]

Green Building Perspective

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 [...]

Sustainable Building

Ever wondered who coined the definition of sustainable building? Many people had a good idea what it was but it really became official with the publication of the Brundtland Report.

The Report by the Brundtland Commission, titled “Our Common Future”, was published by Oxford University Press in 1987 and laid the definition for sustainable [...]

Build It Forward or don’t build at all

Here is a great collection of words organized in a powerful way. If you are doing something green then you need to realize you are part of the largest single movement the world has ever seen. This is BIG.

The quote that caught my attention the most was: “We can either create assets for [...]

Build It Forward Further Defined

When I coined the concept of Built It Forward I knew what it meant but that didn’t mean I knew how to accurately describe it to others. Today I was describing it and came across a good way:

When you build it forward you are giving more to the world than what you are [...]

Build It Forward

I’ve thought up a concept called Building Forwards where you create equity for people in the future. It comes down to using time as a bank.

The perspective of time makes all the difference with how we live our lives. I had an interview with the execs at Lightolier lighting company here in Manhattan [...]

Build It Forward Discussed

“Building Forward” is a concept I coined to define Eco Brooklyn’s building philosophy. Eco Brooklyn is a green building company. That is a given. But as I renovate these hundred year old Brownstones in Brooklyn I communicate with the artisans who labored over them a hundred years ago and I realize how much they [...]