Green in the City

Sick of junk mail?

Are you tired of collecting junk every time you open your mailbox? How about that feeling you get when it just goes straight to your recycling bin?

Yeah, I'm tired of it too.

That's why Green Dimes' free service is neat: they guarantee up to 90% reduced junk mail in 90 days.
If you are really dedicated, you also have the option of paying a small fee to have them more actively stop your junk mail  - and they'll plant 5 trees for being a premium customer.

Here's how it works:

1. Sign up and provide your name and home mailing address.
2. Log in to the GreenDimes site and choose which mailers you want to stop.
3. Tell them which catalogs you no longer wish to receive.
4. Monitor the progress of your removal requests through the GreenDimes website. They'll even tell you if any additional actions are required.

It's too easy to not try...if you're green, that is.

Bette Midler and her helluva Hulaween Party

Yep, another year another party - and from the sounds of the last couple of years, this one promises to be just as fun.

Here's the details:
Friday, October 31st 2008
Cocktails 6:30 p.m. and Dinner at 7:30 p.m.
The Waldorf Astoria
301 Park Avenue at 49th Street

Honoree: Alice Waters
Entertainment: Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine
Master of Ceremonies: Kathy Griffin
Costume Judge: Michael Kors

After Party hosted by The Buds, complete with dancing and casino tables!

Click here to buy tickets.

Recycling your paper

Here's something green you can do that is unbelievably easy:
Recycle all of your paper.

That's right - I'm saying ALL of your paper. Not just the printer paper, or your old Time Out magazine. This means recycling your cereal boxes, receipts, envelopes and paper packaging. ALL OF IT.

The Council on the Environment of New York City put out a brief advertisement to educate us on how much paper we throw away every year...humbling statistics they offer. Check it out: http://www.cenyc.org/recycling/remix

If you're not much into the ad thing, take at look at some of these stats about our city:

• Did you know that New York City residents currently recycle only about 17% of their total waste--half of what we could be recycling under the current program?

• Paper and paperboard constitute 36% of the total amount of solid waste produced.

• Paper can be recycled about four times before it loses its tensile strength.

• If each copier in the U.S. made five fewer copies every day, we could save up to 1.4 million trees per year.

• Making new paper from old paper uses up to 55% less energy than making paper from trees, and creates much less air and water pollution.

• Every year, Americans throw away enough office paper to build a wall 12 feet high, stretching from LA to NYC.

• If only 100,000 people stopped their junk mail, we could save about 150,000 trees every year.

• If we all recycled our Sunday papers, we could save over 500,000 trees each week.

• Of the 62.5 million newspapers printed each day seventy percent will be thrown away.

Still not convinced it's worth your time?
Well did you know that diesel trucks carry Manhattans garbage 7.8 million miles every year - the equivalent of driving more than 312 times around the earth.  Or that landfills are responsible for 36% of all methane emissions in the US, one of the most potent contributors to global warming.

So by recycling paper, we are at least cleaning up our personal breathing air!

If none of this convinces you that it's worthwhile to put aside your paper products to be recycled once-a-week in our city's easy curbside service...well, then, I don't know what will.

(All stats are from CENYC's website: www.cenyc.org)

Green Map - mapping our city one eco-wonder at a time

I can't rave enough about this organization - Green Map is doing what the rest of us eco-aware folks wish somebody did: they are mapping the expansion of international environmental resources. Their website offers locations far and wide, from Cameroon to Colorado. And in our backyard, NYC, Green Map offers various maps for our enjoyment: from composting resources to mapping the effect of our city's energy consumption there's something for everyone.

Check out the Green Apple Map where they've mapped environmental resources available to New Yorkers onto a Google map of Manhattan. You can learn about environmental buildings in the city, local eco-hazards, outdoor activities and even public works and landmarks.

And just when I thought it didn't get better, I stumbled across a new project: Open Green Map. This offshoot allows regular people, like you and me, to input our latest environmental finds onto a public, intereactive, online map. Still in development, you can get a preview of what it will be. Check back often to be a part of a great resource!

Union Square Greenmarket

I know this is an obvious one - I mean, hasn't every good green New Yorker visited the Union square Greenmarket at least once?

Well, apparently not. Hence why I mention it here. On a recent poll amongst friends and neighbors, over half had never actually venture through the Union Square Greenmarket...ever.

Shocked and surprised, is all I can say.

Held Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday between 8 AM and 6 PM year round  -that means you can get your fresh, good-for-you local stuff even in the middle of winter. The market has, on average, 250,000 customers a week that purchase 1,000 varieties of fruits and vegetables. And according to this article, "there are 1,000 varieties of fruits and vegetables, more by a factor of ten than you’ll find in the average supermarket".

Even if you don't want to buy anything local, organic or even remotely good for you it's still fun to cruise the stalls sampling the cheeses, tasting our state's wines, and indulging in an artery-clogging pastry or two.

In addition to fruits and veggies, you can buy flowers, plants, breads, honey, milk and yogurt, eggs, a wide variety of meats, and more - not to mention the artists who offer their unique and beautiful work, as well!

Basically,

• it's good for first dates: if you don't feel like talking you can claim to be enthralled with peopel watching OR you can feed each other spoonfuls of blackberry yogurt and hold hands by the live beehive.
• it's good for kids: you can teach them where food comes!
• it's good for dogs: there are lots of fidos at the market PLUS you have the dog run right next door. Bonus!
• it's good for fashion: after indulging in pastries and cheese, you can stroll over to the multitude of fashion outlets to empty your wallet (not that we encourage this...see our call for second generation fashions).
• it's good for you: gets you out into the fresh air and reconnect with what real tomatoes (lumpy little things) and carrots (gasp!) with the tops still on top.
• the list goes on...

Walk with the animals, not just like one.

This Sunday, September 28th join the throngs of other folks who love their animals and walk for them, too.

The day begins at Columbus Circle (by Merchants Gates at 59th Street) at 10 a.m. Don't forget to bring the $20 registration fee, which buys not only animal rights but for a cool Walk for Farm Animals               t-shirt. Or, save time and a cool 5 bucks by registering online.

But don't worry - it's not all work. Farm Sanctuary will provide live music and delicious vegan food provided by The Groovy Baker. While your munching enjoy the guest speakers including world-renowned animal ethicist, author and professor Peter Singer, New York State Senator Liz Krueger, Farm Sanctuary Executive Director Jeff Lydon, Mercy for Animals Director of Campaigns Freeman Wicklund, rapper Princess Superstar, and vegan Ironman champion Brendan Brazier.

There will also be a raffle for fabulous prizes including a stay at the Farm Sanctuary B&B, gift certificates to NYC’s favorite vegan restaurants, and a subscription to VegNews Magazine.

3,600 square feet of raw earth

Meet NYC's own Earth Room. It's 3,600 square feet of prime Soho real estate space filled with raw, good smelling earth.

Built in 1977, the New York Earth Room is a "sculpture" made by Walter de Maria. His first two such sculptures were in Munich, Germany (1968) and Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt, Germany (1974). The first two works no longer exist. Poor Germany.

Lucky for us, we still have our Earth Room and we can see it for free. Yep, FREE. Go, see, and breathe in the long lost smell of real dirt. You won't regret it.

More info: http://www.earthroom.org/