Botanic Garden ‘Grows’ Kids With Green Values

On Saturday, as temperatures rose to unseasonably high levels and the sun came out, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) held its 28th annual Making Brooklyn Bloom event.

Adults and children alike came out in droves to the garden for this year’s theme, “Growing Up Green: Guiding Youth From Gardening to Green-Collar Jobs.”

The theme was designed to engage kids in gardening and thus to mobilize the “greening” of urban communities, which will hopefully then lead more people to green-collar careers. Scot Medbury, BBG president, said that one of the reasons the garden chose this theme was because of the “popular support for a new green-collar economy by President Obama.”

Participants attended morning and afternoon workshops, on topics ranging from cooking to gardening to composting, and perused exhibits in the Palm House (right).

The exhibits were given by greening groups from not only Brooklyn but New York City as a whole. Among the exhibitors were the Center for the Urban Environment, the Brooklyn Compost Project, East New York Farms and Slow Food NYC.

GreenBridge, the garden’s community horticulture program, gave out free plants at the Urban Oasis exhibit. At Solar One’s exhibit, attendants made solar-powered cars and at the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum exhibit, children helped make apple cider.

Green-Collar Job Panel

One of the workshops was a panel discussing emerging green-collar jobs. Panelists were Kate Zidar (below, far right) of the North Brooklyn Compost Project, Omar Freilla (below center) of the Green Worker Cooperative in the Bronx, Ian Marvy (below, second from left) of Added Value, Annette Williams (below, second from right) of Sustainable South Bronx and Brian Aucoin (below, far left) of MillionTreesNYC Training Program.

Discussion was generated through questions from the audience, many of which were geared toward the current economic climate.

One prominent topic was how to generate revenue for a green start-up. Aucoin said, “You get it where you can, any way possible,” and stressed the importance of fundraising. Freilla spoke about the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers (NYRAG), but Marvy told the audience, “it’s going to be tough for you to get a grant this year.”

He continued by saying that if you’re interested in starting a green initiative, “look at what community investment means.” He explained that he might look to his neighbors and ask them to forgo a cup of coffee a day, instead putting that money toward the initiative.

Zidar added that because of the “economic doom and gloom ,the local model starts to make more and more sense.” She gave the example of waste oil from restaurants. These restaurants could pay to have it removed, or a local business could take that oil and convert it into biodiesel fuel.

The consensus among the panelists was that it might be difficult because of the economy, but there are still many opportunities to start a green-collar career. “Grab on to a vision,” Marvy said. “It’s about leadership and finding people to work on your vision.”

Speaker Addresses Importance of Youth

The keynote speaker at the garden’s event was Maurice Small (below), program coordinator of City Fresh, an organization dedicated to building a sustainable food system in Northeast Ohio by making locally grown food more available. Small enlists underprivileged youth to help him build community gardens.

“To have entrepreneurs, you have to have confidence,” he said. “I like to think these young people are like plants. The better you nurture them the better they’ll grow. I’m confident that these young people can change countries.”

Youth in Small’s programs learn how to make compost and grow food, which they then sell. He said there was nothing more exciting to him than seeing a young person eating food that they themselves have grown.

“There is an incredible renaissance going on here,” said GreenBridge director Robin Simmen. She explained that despite recent budget cuts, the organization has figured out how to extend the Brooklyn Compost Project — “Maybe the New York City’s greenest project ever” — to 2010.

“The public is more eager than ever to learn about sustainability,” she said.

Top photo is of Elan and Ana Rabiner making apple cider at the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum's exhibit.

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Yes You Can

Past challenges given by the Brooklyn Green Team have been about changing daily habits. The team has held the "No New Clothing" challenge, the "No Water Bottle" challenge and the "Bring Your Own Mug" challenge, among others. But this time, the challenge is about volunteering.

The Brooklyn Green Team wants you to "commit to volunteering at least three hours in the next three months. We know you can do it."

For more information on the challenge, how to enter, and a list of organizations you can devote your time to, click here.

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Help the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative

I received an email from Brian McCormick, one of the founders of the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI). He reached out for help to win a grant from Green Mountain Coffee for BGI.

"The funds will help sustain our work over the next five years when the design of the greenway will be completed and the first segements will go into construction. In the current financial environment, coming up wiht the required match for our funding from the NYS Environmental Protection Fund is proving challenging. You can help by voting for the greenway as an innovative climate change solution at www.justmeans.com/competitionidea/7254/promoteidea.html."

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Brooklyn Entrepreneurs Share Values and Space In ‘Co-working’ Building

From the outside, 33 Flatbush Ave. doesn’t look like much. Someone passing on the sidewalk might not even notice it. But on the inside, the building is anything but ordinary.

Al Attara acquired the building around 30 years ago and began filling it with salvaged materials. Now he’s adding start-up businesses.

Three floors of the structure are managed by different companies: Ecosystems, Green Spaces and Interboro. Each of these companies leases space out on the floors to start-up businesses, creating a co-working environment. Ecosystems and Interboro created separate entities — Treehouse (above) and MEx, respectively — under which they rent space.

“Treehouse is a co-working initiative,” said Ecosystems co-founder Andrew Personette. “This is a place where people can come and work together and share resources. We offer the cheapest possible way to have an office outside of your home with all the resources you need.”

For approximately $250 a month, an entrepreneur can bring in their laptop and work, taking their things with them at the end of the day. For around $400, that entrepreneur can have a permanent desk space. “If you have more than one person in your company, it’s slightly discounted for each additional person,” Personette explained.

Which floor a business is assigned to depends on what kind of business it is. Ecosystems, being a sustainable design firm, hosts businesses through Treehouse that are geared toward design: graphic design, furniture design or web design, for example. Green Spaces hosts green entrepreneurs and MEx hosts architecture and urban planning businesses.

Personette said that as of now, there are at least 50 start-ups working out of the building, maybe more. There is a media company called Good News Broadcast, which only reports on good news, a fair trade coffee bean importer and a company that does carbon trading, among many others.

Because there are so many different businesses of different natures, the benefit of working in this space isn’t the price, it’s the shared experiences. “You just hear how so many different people handle their start-ups,” Personette said. “It’s really the right place to be if you’re a start-up because everyone here has the same energy, the same questions.”

All the furnishings are provided by Attara, who has a seemingly endless supply of found objects, ranging from an antique wheelchair, a metal donkey from a game on Coney Island, a spotlight from an old theater in Brooklyn, and several cast iron bathtubs.

There’s so much Attara has collected over the years that the second floor and the basement of the building are completely filled. He built a working kitchen on the fifth floor that is shared by all the tenants, and has everything he would need to build a restaurant if he wanted.

“You could call him a junk collector, but man, he’s got really good taste,” Personette noted. “The whole building is about reclaiming, recycling and creative re-use.” In fact, one of Treehouse’s tables is a granite slab.

Everything in the building is shared among its tenants: space, the kitchen, internet, printers and a wood shop on the second floor.

The wood shop is mainly for small-scale production. “We do everything it takes to get to the point of manufacturing. So, designing, prototyping, all the evolutions of thought processes to get to the product, but then we don’t do large production runs here in this building,” Personette said.

While this co-working community has done so much in such a short time (only a few years), there still is a long way to go. One goal for the future is to create an entity to encompass the building. And also to make sure all the floors have proper heating.

Personette said there will be rooftop farming in the near future. “We already have somebody signed up to raise bees on the roof and gather their honey. We’re planing to make this a really productive space,” he said.

And even farther in the future, “Al would like to share ownership with the inhabitants of the building,” Personette said.

“What’s going on in the building is amazing. As a whole this is totally rare, I don’t know of any other places where there’s a building owner saying ‘Let’s make this amazing.’"

Click for information about Treehouse, Green Spaces and MEx.

Photo courtesy of Treehouse

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Sloop Clearwater Coming To Dock in Red Hook

For eight years, Capt. Samantha Heyman (below) of the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater (right) has wanted to bring her ship to Brooklyn. This summer, she will get her wish.

From July 30 to Aug. 2, the Clearwater (a 108-foot wooden replica of an 18th- and 19th-century traditional cargo vessel) will be docked near the Fairway Cafe in Red Hook, said Captain Heyman. Normally, the ship’s stay at any given dock would be two to five days, but in this case, “there is the possibility that it could be extended,” she said.

This particular dock is owned by Tom Fox, the president of New York Water Taxi. Heyman is grateful to him, as well as property owner Greg O’Connell, for their generous support.

She explained that the Brooklyn location for the Clearwater is ideal for many reasons. It has “the best fishing in the Hudson River estuary,” and is wide open enough for the wake from other boats “not to get too vicious.” When sailing in the East River, the ride can “become uncomfortable,” Heyman added, saying that sometimes the ship can even slam into its dock.

Heyman also wanted to dock the Clearwater in Brooklyn because “it’s a great community. We have a pretty loyal group of members in Brooklyn.” She said these members are so loyal they will take the subway for more than an hour to make it to docks in uptown Manhattan for a 9 a.m. departure.

The Clearwater is a “member-supported organization” and it needs this enthusiasm and loyalty. Which is why it held a benefit at the Brooklyn Brewery last week.

Heyman explained that she wants to raise money through “an initiative of small grassroots events,” like the one at the Brewery. For $20, people who went to the benefit heard several local bands, drank Brooklyn Brewery beer and ate food from a local deli.

“I want to do it again, we had such a good time,” Heyman said.

This kind of grassroots approach was “how Pete [Seeger] raised the money to build the boat in the first place,” said Heyman, referring to the singer’s mission in 1966 to get the public to care about threatened waterways by caring for one boat. The Clearwater was launched in 1969.

Today, children can take school field trips on the ship, which last three hours. The programs the Clearwater holds vary depending on the group, because students from fourth grade through college can sail.

The group of students usually ranges from 40 to 45, and when they get on the boat they help throw out a fishing net. They put the fish they catch into aquariums on the boat to study and learn about them. The Clearwater has a catch-and-release license, explained Heyman, who has caught starfish and even two sea horses in New York Harbor.

During the sail, students take turns steering the ship, they help raise the sail, and are divided into groups that visit stations around the vessel. They can learn the chemistry of the water, get close up to the fish they caught and see what it’s like to live on a boat.

Heyman explained that an overall lesson the students learn is how to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

“When we turn the engine off and are only on the sails, we relate it to riding a bike instead of driving a car,” she explained. Seeing what life is like for the 17 crew members living on the Clearwater teaches students about conservation and living with less.

“Seventeen people can live in a situation with limited resources,” Heyman said. There are no napkins, paper plates or plastic water bottles. She wants students to see that “it is possible to live well without so much stuff.”

But you don’t have to be a student to board the Clearwater. Public sails are offered, where you can sign up with a group or come to just “relax and enjoy yourself” on the boat, she said.

And during every sail, Captain Heyman says that there is always a moment of complete quiet, where the group on the boat can sail in silence. This is to show students that their trip on the Clearwater isn’t just about learning, it’s about enjoying it too.

Photos courtesy of the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.

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Make Brooklyn Bloom This Weekend

Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) presents Making Brooklyn Bloom, the Garden’s annual community horticulture event and spring gardening kick-off day on Saturday, March 7.

For 28 years, BBG has produced Making Brooklyn Bloom — an event that has grown more popular as it has become increasingly resonant with the borough’s citizens. This year’s theme is “Growing Up Green: Guiding Youth From Gardening to Green-Collar Jobs.”

Making Brooklyn Bloom ’09 is devoted to engaging youth in gardening as a way to mobilize the “greening” of urban communities and pave the way to “green-collar” careers, especially through growing fresh food. The free event offers ... read more.

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Recycle Old Clothes

According to the Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC), 5.7% of NYC's residential waste is textiles, even though they are recyclable. So instead of throwing old clothes away, you can drop them off at a CENYC textile collection. There are collections at the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket (at the north west entrance to Prospect Park) on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information on what you can recycle and locations in Manhattan, click here.

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