Below is the full agenda and list of talks. Tickets are $25 and include lunch. To purchase tickets, click here. For inquiries, you can email me at cmolnar@hunter.cuny.edu. We hope to see you next Monday!

Posted by the Green Queen Bee…back in action.

It has been quite a few weeks since I have had the opportunity to share in the production of the Sustainable Cities Blog. I have been in hives of the southern hemisphere, doing research and finishing up the last six credits of my Masters degree. So, you might notice a higher than usual number of posts on Rio de Janeiro in the next few weeks, but that was home for the summer. Not to mention, that place is brimming with environmental issues…and solutions of course. Photo Courtesy of windowfarms.org But today, a short piece on a neat project I got a close look at this weekend. Eybeam | Art and Technology Center in Chelsea has their very own Window Farm for the time being. Part art, part research and development, 100% excellent, this project seeks to provide people with the tools they need to bring technology into their own homes, to grow some veggies. It is a closed, hydroponic system that drips gravity fed water (that first gets pumped to the top) into old plastic bottles. As you can see, lights adorn the installation, since most of us do not live on the top floor of buildings with massive southern exposure. But if you do, contact the window farmers at: britta [at] windowfarms [dot] org so you can get one going!

An Envirolet Composting Toilet, not to be confused with a cast iron stove.

A few days ago, Slate ran an amusing piece on the sustainability issues surrounding “toilet behavior in the Western world.”  The folks over here at CISC like this article because while it takes full advantage of the comedic value of the subject matter, it also conveys the very real importance of reducing consumption in the bathroom.  For example, our readers probably know that cutting down on time in the shower is one way to live more sustainably, but were you aware that toilet flushes account for even more daily water consumption?

The humble commode is a thirsty appliance. In a 1999 study of 1,188 American homes, toilet flushes accounted for 27 percent of an individual’s daily indoor water consumption—more than washing machines (22 percent) or showers (17 percent). Your personal toll will depend on what kind of toilet you have. If it was purchased after January 1994, federal law requires that it use 1.6 gallons or fewer per flush; otherwise, it might drain 3.5 to 7 gallons with every pull of the lever. The average American flushes his home toilet five times a day, sending 8 gallons to 35 gallons of water down the tubes.  Read more…

When people talk about productive urban solar power installations, I tend to think of the sun drenched cities of the South: Phoenix, Albuquerque or even Miami.  Their cool and cloudy cousins further north seem to be unlikely candidates for major solar energy infrastructure (especially with summers like the one we’re experiencing in New York!). However, according to the good folks at Solar One–a green energy, arts, and education center located right on the East River at 30th St–NYC is uniquely situated to utilize and benefit from solar power.

Come out to Governors Island this weekend to hear why New York needs solar energy and how we can effectively fight for it by building a grassroots initiative. Also, check out the description (at the above link) of next saturday’s presentation on Gardening in the City.

Green Workspace, Courtesy of Copperwiki

Since we spend a majority of our time in our workplace, wouldn’t it be nice if it was not only a little more earth friendly, but also healthier and more people friendly? Learn why workplace greening is critical—even the smallest steps count—and how to do it for yourself and your workplace.

Dan Miner, Chair of the Sierra Club New York City–”America’s oldest and largest environmental orgranization,” will cover this issue and answer questions on Governors Island this Saturday. Pack a picnic, bring your bike, and use this as an excuse to enjoy one of NYC’s quietest and greenest open spaces. Be sure to catch the noon ferry (it’s all free, by the way) because the event will begin at 12:30.

Dan’s presentation is part of a summer-long series (every Saturday) put on by the very same Institute that has brought you this blog. You can check out the full list of events on our website.

Our regular readers have probably noticed that for the last few weeks we have been posting about upcoming events being held on Governors Island. These have all been sponsored and organized by our host Institute and today I’d like to quickly make sure that people know exactly what it is that we’re doing out there, as well as give you a heads-up on one of the more exciting lectures of the summer.

This is the 4th summer in a row that we have been organizing public events out on Governors Island (for a quick look at the fascinating history of this Statue of Liberty neighbor, see here).  Each year a specific perspective on urban sustainability is developed to give the series a concrete direction.  In the summer of ’08 the series was titled “Sustainable CUNY – Sustainable NYC.”  All the events were geared toward investigating and celebrating the intimate connection between green initiatives at NYC’s public institutions of higher eductation and the environmental progress of the city as a whole.

This summer, the title of our lecture series is “Sustainable Living for Sustainable Cities.“  Each week we have put together an event that explores how environmental sustainability is (or should be) a part of our everday lives; at home, on the go, and at work.  July 25th (this coming Saturday) promises to be one of our most engaging and moving lectures.  Vice Pres. of Energy Initiatives at the Community Preservation Corp, Andy Padian, will be telling folks why they need to “curb catastrophic waste” in the places they live and how to do it.  He will be inspiring people to do things in their apartments, buildings, and offices to dramatically reduce energy waste and make cash flows increase.  So pack a picnic basket, hop on a ferry this Saturday, and participate in the pushing urban sustainability forward!

Dylan Gauthier of Mare Liberum, a free-form publishing, boat-building and waterfront art collective, will walk you through the boat-making process and discuss what it takes to make viable aquatic craft an alternative to life on land. Dylan’s lecture will compliment other events that will take place on Governors Island, and the contiguous waters thereof, as part of CityofWaterDay. During CityofWaterDay, commercial vessel traffic will yield to kayaks, boats, and canoes as thousands of Tri-State dwellers avidly paddle their way to Governors Island for a free day of good food, music, and Dylan’s lecture.

Mare Liberum Dory / Neuberger Museum performance-build from dgoats on Vimeo.

Mare Liberum Dory / Neuberger Museum performance-build from Dylan on Vimeo.

The events taking place on Governors Island this Saturday point to important sustainability principles relevant to all cities located by the coast. To remain vibrant, economic activity must accommodate recreational access to the waterfront. The difficulty with adequately checking undesired economic externalities, such as waterfront degradation found in many cities around the world, and maintaining a healthy environment for people to enjoy, equitably, while maintaining a vibrant economy, is a fundamental challenge for urban sustainability–as all are equally important, but difficult to provide equally.

Dylan’s lecture symbolizes the approach that will allow people to develop solutions to sustainability challenges. Constructing a boat from discarded scrap wood demonstrates the creative spirit necessary to revitalize otherwise derelict objects. The same creative spirit needs to be increasingly applied to city coasts to drive the discovery of solutions for sustainability.

Pack a picnic, bring your bike (or boat), and use this as an excuse to enjoy one of NYC’s quietest and greenest open spaces. If you don’t have your own boat, be sure to catch the noon ferry (free) because the event will begin at 12:30. And if you do have your own boat, get going by 10 am to get a good seat.

Dylan’s presentation is part of a summer-long series (every Saturday) put on by the very same Institute that has brought you this blog. You can check out the full list of events on our website.

Composting, courtesy of the Lower Eastside Ecology Center

The average New York City household discards two pounds of organic waste each day—more than a million tons of organic material a year! Composting is one of the most direct, accessible ways to reduce the amount of garbage you produce and we’ll even teach you how you can do it in your apartment!

Carey Pulverman, from the Lower East Side Ecology Center, will cover this issue and answer questions on Governors Island this Saturday. Pack a picnic, bring your bike, and use this as an excuse to enjoy one of NYC’s quietest and greenest open spaces. Be sure to catch the noon ferry (it’s all free, by the way) because the event will begin at 12:30.

Carey’s presentation is part of a summer-long series (every Saturday) put on by the very same Institute that has brought you this blog. You can check out the full list of events on our website.

It is with great pleasure that I direct you dear readers to our new website hosted at the same address as before www.cunysustainablecities.org. We hope you find it more user friendly and full of information about what we do and upcoming events. But most importantly, we hope you find it inviting so that you get more involved with sustainability in the city!

Thanks very much to Dartmoth Design who worked with us to develop the web’s layout for some time. And a HUGE thank you to our Web Master/Media Coordinator, Andrew Lynch for making that vision actually become a reality.

Make sure to watch the video which was created by two wonderful Hunter College students: Patsy Chen and Jenni Jenkins. Their creative genius will help us spread the CISC gospel far and wide.

We will still be blogging a bit over here for now because as you will see, our blog software is not entirely ready for your comments and contributions. But soon enough, all of CISC on the web will be in one place.

Enjoy!

Take Two

Last week’s blog entry on the status of the New York City Green Roof Tax Abatement was pulled from the blog on Friday, March 6^th when it came to our attention that there were some inaccuracies stated within it. The text where the inaccuracies lay was in the following paragraph:

“The initiative is however under threat as the abatement has been significantly reduced, in the initial draft that the city has formulated. Originally, the money returned to a green roof investor would cover approximately 35% of the project cost. That was with a $4.50 per square foot abatement. The draft released recently (and discussed at a public hearing on Tuesday) will allow for only a $1 abatement, which comes to covering the cost of about 5% of the green roof.”

As a correction, the initiative is not at all under threat, regardless of NYC’s economic situation which was later alluded to as a potential reason for the alleged reduction. On the contrary, the city is bound by law to provide a tax abatement of $4.50 per square foot, not $1.00 which was incorrectly published. The $4.50 represents 35% of the average cost differential between a standard roof and a green roof.

The numbers stated within the initial blog entry reflected additional costs that might be encountered, out of necessity, to comply with existing building codes, permit acquisitions, plant type restrictions, etc. The job of the Department of Buildings (DOB) is first and foremost to ensure building safety and enforcement of rules, while at the same time balancing the need to streamline processes. And when new technologies, generally out of the usual purview of building codes—such as green roofs—are introduced, there will certainly be a learning curve. This is the first time that rules related to plants and horticulture are being addressed by the DOB, en masse. Therefore, the public review process actually served to help the city learn about industry best practices and public comments were taken into account for the final rules.

Rob Crauderueff, Policy Analyst at Sustainable South Bronx, who was also mentioned in the initial blog entry, maintains that green roof implementation will remain cost prohibitive for some interested parties. He feels that additional cost burdens, in the form of permit acquisitions and other components of the application process will, in everyday reality mean that a $4.50 per square abatement will in effect turn into a lower $1.00 per square foot abatement. This $1.00 reflects an estimate of the average costs of other related processes. Crauderueff says that while the abatement remains the same, the value of it decreases.

This conundrum provides another insight into how difficult the task of urban sustainability adaptation can be at times. “Part of the challenge of implementing progressively minded building reform is that it has to work within the existing constraints of building protocol and legal responsibilities,” said CISC Director Bill Solecki.

The Sustainable Cities blog apologizes to the Department of Buildings of the City of New York and to the public for inaccurately stating the terms of the Green Roof Tax Abatement. We have made every effort to verify the facts and create a more informed and precise account of the situation. We hope to bring you further (accurate) information on the Green Roof Tax Abatement as it advances. Clearly, it is not as simple as making a roof green, for better or for worse. But the initiative is signed, almost sealed, and eventually will be delivered, which is laudable in itself. To view the legislation, click here.