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 …
A few years ago, Eco Brooklyn’s director became certified as a LEED AP. Till this day we have yet to certify a job with LEED. This is because we easily attain LEED Platinum standards and feel it falls short on many levels. So we put our money and energy on other things we feel are …
Here at Eco Brooklyn we are making plans to build a backyard treehouse as part of our ongoing experimentation with living walls and salvaged materials. We have so much great wood it makes a lot of sense to offer a back yard treehouse service to New York families. It’s actually more like a shed on …
Building a treehouse. I mean shed. No, rec space? Read More »
The growth in sustainable and green living has given rise to a movement of eco-tourism in a variety of forms across the country. Specifically the use of salvaged materials is making a breakthrough in the realm of practical and/ or novel green construction. Across the country salvaged building trends and communities are blossoming and their …
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 …
This blog post is in response to my post last week, “I Am a Weed.” Since a lot of Eco Brooklyn’s work involves creating ecological plant-scapes, the issue of weeds and native species arrises a lot. As an ecological landscaper we’ve learned that the only difference between a weed and a plant lies in the …
If you were at the Eco Brooklyn Green Show House yesterday you would have seen a delivery man running briskly down the street with a white box in hand. On the box in big red letters were written “Attention: Non-harmful reptiles inside”. Inside the box were two (one male and one female) Eastern Box Turtles and their arrival marked …
An activist group has formed in Surrey, England called The Diggers 2012. Their similarities to Eco Brooklyn are apparent with their slogan, “To make the Waste Land Grow.” As a NYC green builder, Eco Brooklyn strives to make the concrete filled city more ecologically diverse and thus balanced. The concrete jungle can be thought of …
A significant aspect of green building and living sustainably is using vernacular materials and buying locally. Being green also means being a locavaore, eating and buying foods grown locally. But what about the vegetation we choose to plant in our gardens? We may choose a particular plant because of aesthetics, how well it will grow …
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 …
Get More Green From Your Building – Another Recommended Educational Event Read More »
