Jeff Garlin to Speak About Carbon Footprint at BookCourt

On Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m., comedian Jeff Garlin (best known for the role of Jeff Greene on the HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm") will visit BookCourt to read from his new book, My Footprint: Carrying The Weight of the World, a humorous account of his attempts to lessen both his physical and carbon footprint. BookCourt is at 163 Court St. For more information and other readings, visit www.bookcourt.org. You can purchase his book on amazon.com.

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New York's Appliance Swap Out

The  New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is instituting a new rebate program for New Yorkers who want to replace their current appliances with new Energy Star qualified appliances or High Efficiency Energy Star appliances.

NYSERDA will offer a rebate for those who want to replace existing appliances, but a larger rebate will be granted to those who recycle the old appliances. Appliances must be purchased between Feb. 12 through 21. to qualify.

Visit www.nyapplianceswapout.com for eligibility guidelines and the online rebate application.

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NYU-Poly Prof Given Fulbright Study Psychology of Sustainable Design

Richard Elliot Wener, Professor of Environmental Psychology at Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) was awarded a four-month Fulbright grant to lecture and conduct research on the psychology of sustainable design.

Dr. Wener’s research focuses on how to improve design so as to encourage sustainability. Will easily accessible and highly visible recycling bins remind tenants not just to recycle but also to act responsibly and use less water in the shower, for example?

For his grant, he will travel to Europe to examine sustainable buildings in Germany and Austria and lecture at the Vienna University of Technology.  

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New Yorkers Recycle Half Million Pounds of Textiles at Greenmarkets

The Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC) has announced that New Yorkers have recycled 530,000 pounds of used clothes, shoes, linens, towels and other textiles since 2007, the year that it launched its textile-recycling program at its greenmarkets.

The program is a partnership between CENYC and textile recycling company Wearable Collections. More than 20,000 people have participated in it, at greenmarkets city-wide, including those at Grand Army Plaza, Fort Greene and McCarren Park.

Collected textiles are taken to a sorting facility and categorized based on reusability and type of fabric. They are then taken to specific markets where they are in demand.

For more information about CENYC’s textile-recycling program, visit www.cenyc.org/recycling.

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Brooklyn Green Team Raises 1K at Party

The Brooklyn Green Team held a party at Bar Reis in Park Slope, in celebration of its second anniversary of grassroots activism last weekend. The group of friends, who got together after seeing the film The 11th Hour, raised $1,000 at the party, which they are donating to Park Slope green home goods store 3RLiving, the Lower East Side Ecology Center and Partners In Health for Haiti relief.

Money was raised through a cover charge and a silent auction. Some of the items included a gift certificate to Park Slope restaurant Aunt Suzie’s, a $100 gift certificate to Green Apple Cleaners, a nature photograph donated by Green Team founder Amanda Gentile, a greenmarket basket donated by the Council on the Environment of New York City and a free yoga class.

The Brooklyn Green Team, pictured here at the party from left to right, is Robert Weinstein, sisters Amanda and Noelle Gentile, Jennifer Bartels, Melissa Browning and Johanna Voutounou.

Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn Green Team.

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Cold Weather Getting You Down? Head to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Chase away the winter blues at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG). According to the its web site, exposure to daylight, even on a cloudy day, can help restore energy, alertness, and contentment. BBG has a wealth of ongoing programming, from classes to public tours.

Choose from an extensive list of adult classes this winter: register for one in Tai Chi Cuan, or one in designing a brownstone garden. GreenBridge, the community environmental horticulture program at BBG, offers free workshops (space is limited) in topics such as starting seeds indoors or street tree care.

Coming up this Sunday, Feb. 7, there will be a special theme tour to rid you of the winter blues: an hour-long wintertime walk conducted by Lynne Spevack, LCSW, a licensed psychotherapist and veteran BBG tour guide . Two tours remain this season, one this Sunday, Feb. 7, and one on Sunday, March 7, beginning at 1 p.m. Meet at the Visitor Center, dress warmly and wear comfortable shoes. Rain or shine.

Or, you can visit the garden on your own. Admission is free on weekdays from now until March 2.

Photo courtesy of BBG.

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City Tech Professor's Solution to Climate Change: Resources From Space

City Tech physics Professor (and Bed-Stuy resident) Gregory L. Matloff recently released a new book he co-authored called Paradise Regained: The Regreening of Earth.

The book outlines how space resources and space-based power generating systems can work together with Earth-based conservation to meet industrial needs and forge a sustainable future.

Matloff co-wrote the book with Les Johnson, deputy manager of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Advanced Concepts Office at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Al.

“With an ever-increasing share of the human population making the transition to the ‘developed’ world,” said Johnson in a press release, “will come increasing stress on the Earth’s environment, natural resources and ability to produce enough food. The modern environmental movement is tackling these problems head-on by promoting energy efficiency, recycling and renewable resources. While these strategies and technologies are vital, they will be woefully insufficient to provide for a prosperous, long-lived global society with a moderate-to-high standard of living.”

The solution to a progressively worsening environmental situation and its negative impact on society will require “drawing upon the vast energy and material resources that space alone can provide,” said Matloff in a press release. “Doing so will enable us to create a cleaner, healthier environment essential to sustaining life on Earth far into the future.”

Paradise Regained is published by Springer Science & Business Media and is available on Amazon here.

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