Green Roofs: Expensive and Time Consuming

The New York Times has a story about green roofs, citing Chicago's mayor Richard M. Daleym, who wants to make his city the “most environmentally friendly city in the world.” One of the ways he's accomplishing this goal is through green roofs. New York has some, but hasn't made them a priority like Chicago, because of the expense. See the full story here.

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‘Green in BKLYN’ a One-Stop Shop For Eco-Friendly Needs

Elissa Olin (pictured left with Iam Beck, who she refers to as her “lovely assistant, inventory manager and tech support”), a Brooklyn resident who lives on the border of Clinton Hill and Bed-Stuy, wanted to have a greener home, but discovered that it wasn’t so easy, because there weren’t any local places for her to shop.

“We were trying to live even greener in our home, and it was very inconvenient,” she said. “It was difficult to find the products we needed. We had to travel outside of our neighborhood to do it.”

Around this time, Olin also reflected on her many careers — she is an actor, has worked in catering, and has done technical writing, editing and voiceovers, among many other things — and felt that she needed a change. “[My job] wasn’t serving what was my next purpose, which was to do something in the community, to do something for the earth, to do something to improve the neighborhood,” she said.

So in March of 2008, she had the idea to open a green home goods store in Clinton Hill. A whirlwind year followed in which Olin took a business plan writing class, won the Brooklyn Public Library’s “PowerUP!: Your Business Starts Here” Business Plan Competition, scouted out locations, found one on Myrtle Avenue, renovated it and opened her store, Green in BKLYN, on Earth Day (April 22). “I felt like the universe basically pushed and kicked my butt down the road,” she said.

When stocking the store, Olin looked to her own life. “I started with the products that I loved, knew, used, needed, wanted, that I couldn’t get without traveling to another part of the city.”

And for Olin, “green” means her products are “healthy alternatives. They’re hypoallergenic, they’re energy savers, they save money and they’re earth friendly.”

You can find almost everything at Green in BKLYN: Bamboo dishware, eco-friendly cleaning products, natural soaps, organic nail polish, flushable baby diapers, organic cotton sheets and recycled paper products, to name a few.

The store itself is green too. There’s low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint on the walls and furnishings and fixtures that were either reclaimed or are made of recycled wood. She also has recycling bins, collecting paper, glass and cans, and Olin will soon expand the recycling to include batteries and crayons.

Despite the economy, Olin’s first month in business has been a success: she’s reordered almost all the products at least once. “We’ve been doing just fine — kind of great,” she said.

You don’t have to be green to shop at Green in BKLYN. “I never wanted to tell people what to do, I don’t feel like a store should dictate to anybody anything. What it offers is a convenient way to do what you choose to do,” Olin said. “If you don’t want to go green, anything in here is a green product and you’re still going to make a difference.”

The bottom line is that Olin wanted to provide a “one-stop shop where people could get what they needed for their home. We’ve got it here in Clinton Hill now, and hopefully there will be more stores in other neighborhoods too.”

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Reclaim Our Waterfront Parks on Saturday's 'It's My Park Day'

Join thousands of New Yorkers in caring for and celebrating New York City parks on It’s My Park Day this Saturday, May 16, starting at 9:30 a.m.

This spring, It’s My Park Day will focus on community members working to “Reclaim our Waterfront Parks,” with shore clean-ups, free paddling and rowing, and other fun water-based activities at sites throughout the city. Here are a few highlighted projects – both on and off the waterfront – out of the over 150 projects and events happening on the day.

Coffey Park (Parkhouse, near Dwight Street, between Verona Street and King Street.)

— 9:30am – 10:30am: Kick-off the day with a doggie training session, information table and dog registration. Event coordinated by Red Hook Dog.

— 10am – 2pm: Volunteers are needed for spreading wood chips around tree pits. Activities include arts and crafts workshop, Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy presents a Maritime Museum, living dinosaurs of urban estuary, educational tree tours. Project and event coordinated by Coffey Park Gardeners and Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy.

— 12pm – 4pm :“Drawing Together” Family drawing workshop hosted by Kentler International Drawing Space.


Valentino Pier (Coffey Street and Ferris Street)

— 12pm -5pm: Volunteers needed for a beach clean-up. Activities include free yoga and kayaking. Professional artists will be at the park to encourage self expression through art and music lessons. Project and events coordinated by Red Hook Boaters.

Kaiser Park (West 31st Street and Neptune Avenue)

— 12pm – 5pm: Volunteers needed for general clean-up. Followed by a talent show, cookie decorating, face painting, clowns, and an FDNY fire safety smokehouse. Plus, informational tabling by the NYPD, NYC Community Emergency Response Team, NYC Department of Sanitation, New York Public Library, and more. Project and events coordinated by the Friends of Kaiser Park and GreenApple Corps.

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Hundreds of Trees To Be Planted In Red Hook This Weekend

At this point, there’s a lot of talk about what everyone should be cutting back on or eliminating from their lives to reduce their impact on the environment. But there’s at least one thing we always need more of: trees.

It’s estimated that one mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 pounds per year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support two human beings (coloradotrees.org).

Trees are not only good for reducing carbon emissions, they also provide shade to buildings. This reduces the need for air conditioning in the summer, curbing energy consumption.

Sounds good, right? But how do you plant trees if you don’t have a yard? Or, if you have a yard, where should you go to get trees? MillionTreesNYC has the answers for you.

An initiative started by Mayor Bloomberg as part of his PlaNYC program, with the New York Parks Department and the New York Restoration Project, MillionTreesNYC has an ambitious (if not obvious) goal: to plant one million trees in New York City in the next decade.

Drew Becher, executive director of the New York Restoration Project — which was founded in 1995 by Bette Midler — said that Midler proposed the MillionTrees idea to Mayor Bloomberg in the fall of 2006 to increase the tree canopy of the city.

So far, more than 200,000 trees have been planted in the city since MillionTrees was first implemented. And this weekend, Brooklynites have an opportunity to participate in a public tree planting — American Express “Make a Difference” Community Volunteer Day — at Red Hook Houses, a New York City Housing Authority development.

From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., community members who have signed up as individuals or in groups will work toward planting the 300 trees procured from tree farms within a 180-mile radius of the city, said Becher. “Anyone can do it, it’s open to the public,” he noted, saying that many volunteers bring their children to help out.

Working in groups of three to five, volunteers first dig holes for the trees. “You can dig up a lot of interesting stuff,” Becher said. They plant and water the trees, then clean up the trash in the surrounding area. “At the end, the space looks really nice.

“It’s a great community thing,” Becher continued, noting that volunteers who don’t know each other often work together to plant the same tree.

“All of our public tree plantings have been incredible,” Becher said. “It’s a great day, doing something great for the environment.”

To get involved in this Saturday’s tree planting — or any other upcoming plantings, Becher said there will be about 10 this spring — visit www.milliontreesnyc.org.

Plant Your Own

Can’t make it to a public tree planting? MillionTrees has another option for you. Its Tree Coupon Program was launched in April and continues through spring planting season.

Anyone interested can log on to the MillionTrees web site and download a coupon (or just click here) for 20 dollars off the purchase of a tree — a one-inch caliper or larger — at participating nurseries throughout the city.

The five participating nurseries in Brooklyn are the Chelsea Garden Center, Red Hook at 444 Van Brunt St.; Dragonetti Brothers at 1875 Ralph Ave.; the Gowanus Nursery at 45 Summit St.; Kings County Nurseries at 625 New York Ave. and Liberty Sunset Garden at 204-207 Dyke St.

“If you’re going to plant a tree anyway, why not get 20 bucks off?” asked Becher, who said that everyone who does plant a tree should visit the MillionTrees web site to register it and count it in the city’s goal of one million trees.

“If you plant a tree and then go see it 10 years later, it’s humbling,” Becher said. “Especially in these times, giving back to your community is a good thing.”

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Sustainable Designs At BKLYN DESIGNS

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce is presenting its seventh annual BKLYN DESIGNS show this weekend, with tours and exhibits spread out over three days. Among the exhibits was one at St. Ann’s Warehouse, where designers presented their new creations, many of them sustainable.

Here are some highlights:

Jason Horvath and Bill Hilgendorf of Uhuru Design (pictured above with event organizer Karen Auster) launched their new furniture designs: a stitched table, standard chairs and metal stoolens (actual name). Their creations are made using sustainable materials. “For these particular chairs, we got the backs from old chair factories,” Horvath said.

Representatives from sustainable design firm Ecosystems showcased two of their new items: a table that can convert to a chair and a line of hardware that can be used to put many different types of furniture together. “We’re excited about our new table and hardware systems,” said Innovation Director Matt Tyson. “We love it here [at Bklyn Designs].”

Marc Vecchiarelli, of VEXELL, displayed the company’s GREEN ON GREEN line of outdoor furniture, made of eco-friendly materials. The top of the table, for instance, is made with “water permeable design” materials, he said. “Instead of metal grates, you put this down and it filters all the water and debris. It’s an all natural type product.”

Design firm From the Source has locations in Indonesia and the United States, creating furniture from reclaimed, vintage, salvaged or plantation-grown hardwoods. “We work with about 50 different villages [on the island of Java],” said Design Director Penny Emmet. “There’s so much beauty in the grain and color of the wood that we’re working with.”

Hugh Hayden designed a chair made completely of tennis balls that would have been thrown out had he not reclaimed them. “It’s made from tennis balls from Columbia University tennis center. A lot of these private tennis clubs or universities prefer to use very fresh or bouncy tennis balls.” he explained. “It’s giving them a second life.”

Design students from Pratt were also at St. Ann’s Warehouse, some showing their kitchen creations. Dana de Vega created a set of salt and pepper mills with boiler drain valves used as handles. “Thinking of boiler drain valves, they’re just things that exist,” she said. “It’s to create a new look; they’re very industrial looking.” Joe Kent, another Pratt student designed a cutting board. “When you’re carving a piece of meat, it actually controls the runoff,” he said.

Bruce Marsh, of DUMBO-based brucemarsh designs, showed a bed made by strips of rope connected to a wood frame. “It conforms to your body,” he said. “I had seen a piece of rope like this in a marina, I thought it was so beautiful and soft.”

Photo by Don Evans

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Greenway Cleanup This Weekend

Join the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI) in cleaning up the Columbia Street section of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. The cleanups are held in cooperation with the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association, in order to keep the newest section of the Greenway free of trash and other debris. Tools, trash bags, work gloves will be provided.

Meet at BGI’s office, 145 Columbia Street between Kane and Degraw (Ring the doorbell on left-hand side of residential entrance). RSVP to bmccormick@brooklyngreenway.org.

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DUMBO-Based Dynomighty Produces Recyclable Wallets, Goes Viral on YouTube

Here’s the situation: you need a new wallet, but it’s the recession. You don’t want to spend too much on it and you want it to last. What would you think of one that’s water resistant, tear resistant, lighter than water and expandable? Oh, and did I mention it’s only 15 dollars?

Impossible? Not for DUMBO-based company Dynomighty Design. They’ve been making the “mighty wallet” since 2005. Designed by Dynomighty founder Terrence Kelleman (pictured above left, with Tim Knock), the wallets are constructed from a single sheet of Tyvek (the same material as Express Mail envelopes) that is folded and glued in two places.

Kelleman didn’t start out designing wallets. A fine arts major, he worked at the MoMA and was inspired to create jewelry out of magnets. He sold his first bracelet at the MoMA design store in 2002 and has since expanded his jewelry line to include more bracelets, necklaces and rings.

He expanded his product line because “I had been fascinated by Tyvek,” he said. “I’d seen it used in some creative ways but not really as a robust product itself... it’s such a thin material, its eco-friendly, recyclable, super-strong, lightweight and super thin.”

So he began folding an express mail envelope, which took about a week, he said. “I was using my creative processes, which is diving head in and not letting go until I find a solution,” Kelleman explained. “The first wallet was more or less an accident.”

Since that time the wallet has been redesigned. “There’s no stitching, it’s folded and glued in two points on the inside,” Kelleman said. “It gives the wallet a lot of flexibility, so you can start out with a wallet that’s thin, but if you fill it with a lot of materials it can be as big as you need.”

One is made to look like an express mail envelope, one looked like a folded up piece of notebook paper, one looks like a folded up subway map and another has the first 3,000 digits of pi printed on it, which Kelleman calls “geek chic.”

Along with the wallets, Dynomighty also produces Tyvek luggage tags and totes.

... But How Do You Recycle It?

A common misconception of the mighty wallet is that it’s made of recycled materials, said Tim Knock, Dynomighty director of sales and marketing. It is actually the wallet that’s recyclable, he clarified.

“Most people don’t know it’s recyclable, or if they do they don’t know how to recycle it,” explained Kelleman. “One of our initiatives this summer is to focus on increasing awareness not only here in New York... to corporations who receive express mail envelopes, to say, ‘We are now a receiving center [for Tyvek].’

Dynomighty sends the used Tyvek back to the DuPont, the company that manufactures the material.

“We started it for our own products,” he added. “Our new initiative is to start doing more outreach.”

The goal for Kelleman is to eventually make the mighty wallets out of recycled Tyvek, possibly scraps and pieces left over. Those scraps would then be “reprocessed and turned into other product... giving it a second life,” he said.

Viral Marketing in a Down Economy

What’s unique about Dynomighty, Kelleman said, is that they have never taken a loan and don’t have investors. This means no advertising, so he has found creative ways to get the word out about his products.

When Kelleman made the first magnetic bracelet, he posted a video of it on YouTube. He made it himself, with his digital video camera, and as of today it has garnered two million hits, said Knock.

Since then Kelleman has posted many more videos of his products on YouTube, introducing them to viewers or showing viewers how they work.

“I’ve actually made a video on YouTube where I’ve showed people how to take their old express mail envelopes and convert them into wallets,” Kelleman said. “To demonstrate how strong these wallets are, we actually put two holes through the bottom and the top of one — Tim [Knock] hung from it in our warehouse... and it didn’t break. It’s on YouTube.”

And it’s not only Kelleman who is posting videos about mighty wallets; there are others from people who have purchased a mighty wallet. He saw one that’s “a nine-minute long video about someone receiving his mighty wallet and saying goodbye to his old wallet.”

The viral phenomenon that is the mighty wallet happens on other web sites, too. Knock said that someone posted about their wallet on the kidrobot web site (a store in SoHo), and “next thing you know, there’s two and a half to three pages of blogging about the mighty wallet. On another company’s website.”

Knock said that this summer, Dynomighty is looking to hire an intern to blog and tweet about the products and the company, allowing them to stay in touch with their customer.

“It’s not being corporate and behind the scenes, this is an item that’s a respectable price,” he explained. “People are realizing that. What can you buy for 15 dollars anymore?”

In this economy, Kelleman says his use of viral marketing coupled with the lack of investors has made Dynomighty strong. In fact, they’ve grown in the past year.

“It’s made us a lot better as a company — more resilient, more frugal, smarter about all of our decisions,” he said. “We’re not a big company. Every time we need to make a decision, we pull all our resources together.”

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