NY Times Bestselling Author Visits Brooklyn School

Deirdre Imus, bestselling author of the "Green This!" series of books, visited PS 54 to guide students on how to reduce health effects in the everyday environment and lead healthier lifestyles.

Imus held a question and answer session with fourth- and fifth-grade students, introducing them to environmental issues, making them aware of environmental health hazards they may face in their everyday lives and encouraging them to practice healthy habits that will ensure their own wellness and the wellness of their families.

At the end of the session, the children presented Imus with a handwritten book summarizing answers to her questions and each received a packet from the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology with helpful green tips to use at home.

Founder of the Deirdre Imus Environmental center for Pediatric Oncology at the Hackensack University Medical Center, Imus was brought to the school by Communications Consultant Leslie Yerman of Leslie J. Yerman Communications, who is partnered with the school through the nonprofit organization PENCIL.

PENCIL builds and supports customized relationships between business leaders and principals to inspire innovative solutions to the challenges facing New York City public schools.

Photos of Imus with the students courtesy of the Marino Organization

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What to Do With Those Plastic Bags

Here's your dilemma: Since you heard about plastic grocery bags sitting in landfills for up to an estimated 1,000 (!) years, you've switched to a canvas tote. But you still have tons of plastic bags kept in a larger plastic bag under your sink (or in your closet). And sometimes you forget to bring a reusable tote and take home a few more. Other times you (gasp!) throw one or two away because what on earth can you do with so many plastic bags?!

If this is you, you're not alone. I myself have a box full of plastic bags, some of which are three years old. So, thinking that readers might also have this problem, I Googled "what to do with plastic bags," and found some ideas. The obvious is to find a plastic bag recycling bin at your local grocery store, but this could pose a problem, because some types of plastic can't be recycled with others.

I also found several websites dedicated to craft projects made out of plastic bags. Some crafters fuse plastic bags together by ironing them, then sew those into totes, jewelry, jackets, dresses...etc. But melting and fusing plastic releases fumes that may or may not be toxic. I can't see how they could be very good for you or the environment.

Other crafters cut their plastic bags into strips and knit or crochet with them. If you know how to knit or crochet, I think this is the project for you. I searched through some sites and found a basic and easy pattern (because who wants to devote tons of time on a complicated pattern for knitting plastic bags?) and you can find it here.

If you don't know how to knit and desperately want to knit up your plastic bags, here's a step-by-step video from youtube.

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Last Week's Third Thursday A Success

Every month, the Center for the Urban Environment holds a "Third Thursday" event, on the third Thursday of the month for a discussion about the environment and today's issues. Last Thursday the discussion was about water. Guests were invited to see what they really know about the future of New York City’s waterfront. 'City of Water,' a new documentary by the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance and the Municipal Art Society was shown. MWA President Roland Lewis and filmmaker Jasper Goldman talked about how the documentary tackled issues of development and access to the waterfront head-on. Two years in the making, 'City of Water' explores the aspirations of public officials, environmentalists, academics, community activists, recreational boaters and everyday New Yorkers for a diverse, vibrant waterfront at a time when the shoreline is changing faster than at any other time in New York’s history.

For more information, visit www.thecue.org.

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Bensonhurst Resident Contributes to 'Green' Book

If you’re like me, watching Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth made you a little depressed. And hearing all the scientific reports about global warming makes you a little discouraged and overwhelmed. If it’s so bad, how can we possibly make a difference, right?

Well, not really. It is possible to change the course of the environmental crisis, maybe even stop it completely. And it doesn’t have to be that hard. Imagine if every person in this country started recycling his or her bottles and cans. Or if every person replaced just one light bulb in his or her house with another, more energy efficient one. The results might prove us wrong.

This is the point of a new book released by Hatherleigh Press, entitled You Can Save the Earth: 7 Reasons Why & 7 Simple Ways. A collaborative effort by several publishers, editors and writers who work at Hatherleigh — based in Long Island City — one of the editors who worked closest on the book is from Brooklyn.

Anna Krusinski has lived in Bensonhurst for three years. A recent graduate of Hunter college, Krusinski has always been an environmental activist: “I’m kind of a pain in the butt about recycling,” she laughed. “I’m passionate about it.”

So working at Hatherleigh ... read more

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Not Just Clownin’ Around On Controversial Bike Lane

Environmental Groups, Cyclists Face Opposition in Williamsburg

A group of “bicycle clowns” showed up on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg yesterday morning to defend their turf — the new two-way, 1.5-mile bike lane the city installed this past fall.

The lane raised the ire of non-cyclists in the community when “No Stopping” signs accompanied the freshly painted paths. There is now no legal curbside parking along a 20-block stretch of the largely industrial waterfront road, a subtraction of approximately 256 parking spaces, according to the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) web site.

The colorfully clad demonstrators yesterday were from the environmental group Time’s Up. They say they’re defending the bike lane against threats from a group of vocal opponents, made up at least partially of members of the neighborhood’s Hasidic community, who have reportedly objected to the “immodesty” of the hipster cyclists.

Some opponents have even threatened to block the bike lanes with private school buses, a Time’s Up press release said, which would endanger cyclists by forcing them out into the middle of the road.

But bicycle clown Ben Shepherd reported that yesterday’s theatrical defense of cycling was ... read more

Story by Phoebe Neidl, photo by Clarissa Roudabush

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CCNY and EPA Sign Memorandum to Build Long-Term Recruitment and Educational Relationship

The Eagle received this press release:

The City College of New York (CCNY) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding calling for increased cooperation between the College and
EPA’s Office of Solid Waste & Emergency Response (OSWER) and Region 2.

The Memorandum, which runs for five years and is renewable, aims to build a long-term recruitment and educational relationship that will achieve three goals:

— Bringing qualified employees into EPA's workforce.
— Promoting positive awareness for the agency's work.
— Facilitating information and technology transfer from EPA to CCNY to assist in curriculum development and foster an exchange of ideas with faculty.

“This memorandum opens the door to exciting new opportunities for City College students and faculty to participate in and benefit from EPA’s programs, and it is a ringing endorsement of our success in preparing
students from diverse backgrounds for science and technology-related careers,” said CCNY President Dr. Gregory H. Williams at a signing ceremony held in his office.

“As we strive to become a leader in environmental education, our new relationship with EPA will help us enrich our curriculum and play a greater role in addressing the environmental challenges that confront our city, our nation and the world.”

“The environmental challenges we face today and into the future require a workforce that is well-educated, dedicated to the cause and ready for action," said Alan J. Steinberg, EPA Regional Administrator.

The programs covered under the Memorandum will help EPA carry out the President’s Management Agenda as it relates to strategic management of human capital through the use of innovative and progressive recruitment tools. Specifically, it addresses a dwindling supply of diverse students pursuing science and technology-related careers.

Components of the program covered by the Memorandum will include: summer internship opportunities for CCNY undergraduate and graduate students; a Student Educational Employment Program that will enable EPA to recruit CCNY students majoring in engineering, physical and social sciences, economics, computer science or public administration to fill positions within that program; and a Visiting Environmental Professional Program that will bring EPA officials to campus to speak to classes and conduct mini courses, lectures and seminars on current environmental topics, among other things.

To learn more about EPA partnerships and programs, visit www.epa.gov/region2.

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From ‘Crack Garden’ to Greenway

Three Like Minds Are Forging Ahead

Milton Puryear (above right) and Brian McCormick (above left) met in 1997, under somewhat unusual circumstances.

Both had recently moved to the Columbia Waterfront neighborhood, and both were passionate about being outdoors.

So Puryear started a garden of sorts, in a wide crack on the west side of Hicks Street, south of Congress Street, near his home. He frequently worked on it, calling it the “Crack Garden,” and McCormick often walked by.

“Milton single-handedly eradicated all the ailanthus trees” that made the crack, and brought flowers in, said McCormick. One day, McCormick went up to Puryear and asked, “Can I help you? This looks dangerous.” With McCormick’s help — which included putting up a traffic cone to make sure Puryear didn’t get hit by any cars — a friendship was born.

Sadly, the Crack Garden no longer exists. Maintenance crews came along and destroyed it, said Puryear, who decided not to rebuild. “It was too much effort to be putting back into something that could just go away like that. That’s when we decided to make a real Greenway.”

“Myself and Milton have been working on the Greenway since 1998,” said McCormick. “We were the chair and co-chair of an organization called the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Task Force. Meg [Fellerath] joined us about a couple of years later.”

“I moved to the neighborhood in 2001 and met Brian on the street,” said Fellerath (above center). The three of them incorporated as the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI) in 2004. Their objective was “to not only be advocates, but be catalysts and the planners of what became a project that spanned 14 miles along the Brooklyn Waterfront,” explained McCormick.

The three of them, upon moving to the neighborhood, felt that it lacked a shared space where people could be safe and active outside. Fellerath said ... read more.

Photo above courtesy of the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative

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