Author Archives: Nathan Storey

Weekend Events: Green Careers MeetUp and Solar Energy Discussion, Plus Animals Opening Presents and Candlelight Tours

Candlelight Tours | City AtlasJoin a tour focusing on lighting technology and architectural features, using the Wyckoff House as a template. Learn about lighting options, access to materials and finished goods, and the nighttime tasks people could expect to accomplish under different lighting conditions from the colonial area to the beginning of the 20th century.

via Thecityatlas
Watch Animals Opening Presents | City AtlasA user's guide to sustainable NYC

via Thecityatlas
GreenHomeNYC Green Careers MeetUp | City AtlasThe Green Careers MeetUp is a social event for those who are both looking to break in and have recently broken into the green career field. The idea behind this is to have a short and informal one hour meeting about everyone's current pursuits and successes and maybe to exchange some job postings that have not yet gone viral.

via Thecityatlas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solar Energy In New York | City AtlasA user's guide to sustainable NYC

via Thecityatlas

Tapping the Tappan Zee for Wind, Arts for Transit Director Speaks Out, and Outdoor Restaurant Seating on West Eighth

Tapping the Tappan Zee Bridge for Wind Power – really cool idea. Urban Omnibus has an extended interview with the MTA’s Art for Transit Director. Gothamist reports on a neighborhood plan for West Eighth Street that hinges on outdoor restaurant seating.

Tapping the Tappan Zee for WindReplacing the Tappan Zee Bridge, which carries the New York State Thruway across the Hudson River between Westchester and Rockland Counties, is expected to be one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the New York region in coming years. Some experts have suggested including some green features, like tracks for commuter trains or a bus rapid transit lane.

via Nytimes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urban Omnibus » Arts for Transit: A Conversation with Sandra BloodworthNew Yorkers like to grumble about the MTA. Weekend changes, delays, rising fares, service cuts, subway rats – all are real concerns that should be addressed to keep our public transit system efficient, safe and affordable. But let's not forget that conditions could be a lot worse.

via Urbanomnibus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can Outdoor Restaurant Seating Save West Eighth Street?: GothamistThe area where the Village Alliance is proposing adding sidewalk seating can be seen above (via DNAinfo). Even before the recession started, West Eighth Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway was having serious troubles keeping tenants and the problem has only gotten worse.

via Gothamist

5 Sites for Buying Local Food Online, NYC Uses Tech to Solve Traffic Problems, and More Transit Tidbits

NYC makes Mashable‘s list of 4 cities using tech to solve traffic problems. Also from Mashable – 5 Sites to Help You Shop For Local Food Online. In transportation headlines: Cool Graph of East Side Select Bus Service Impact. Also: Bike Facilities = Good for Businesses.

4 Cities Using Tech to Alleviate TrafficThe Global Innovation Series is supported by BMW i, a new concept dedicated to providing mobility solutions for the urban environment. It delivers more than purpose-built electric vehicles – it delivers smart mobility services. Visit bmw-i.com or follow @BMWi on Twitter. There are one billion cars on the road, and that number could reach 2.5 billion by 2020.

via Mashable

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 Sites for Shopping Local Food OnlineAbout 97% of consumers used online media to shop local in 2010, according to a study by BIA/Kelsey and ConStat. Now, that wasn’t all food shopping of course, but the statistics show that giving money to local businesses is more of a priority than ever.

via Mashable

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Streetsblog New York City » Graphed: How East Side Select Bus Service Cut Trip Times and Gained Ridersby Noah Kazis on November 15, 2011 Yesterday, we reported on the impressive gains in speed and ridership along the First and Second Avenue Select Bus Service route. Since then, NYC DOT and the MTA released their official progress report on the project. It's full of graphics that show the boost for bus riders even more clearly.

via Streetsblog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Streetsblog.net » More Evidence That Bike Facilities Are Good for Local BusinessesIt's a shame businesses so often line up against better bike infrastructure. Believing that business depends on customers who drive, local store owners have opposed bike improvements in Philadelphia, Memphis and many other cities. But research shows that bike facilities and local businesses are, in fact, complementary.

via Streetsblog

Toys Tell the History of NYC, Up-cycling to Create a Minimalist Closet, and a New Collaboration Cart for Design Charrettes

The Museum of the City of New York has a new exhibit that shows the social history of childhood in NYC through toys. Do The Green Thing talks about Re-Consuming (we like the up-cycled minimalist closet). Hester Street Collaborative has made a Collaboration Cart to aid in Community Design Charrettes.

Museum of the City of New York : On the Move: Transportation ToysEmbracing the past, present, and future of New York City and celebrating its cultural diversity, the Museum of the City of New York is Your City Museum! Explore the forces that shaped the city, investigate the neighborhoods and cultures that invigorate New York City, and join in shaping the future!

via Mcny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do The Green Thing: A minimalist wardrobe for the upcyclerYou can use bottles to make just about anything; a greenhouse, a school even your own island. But this idea is a bit simpler and doesn't require quite so much DIY skill. With just 6 big plastic bottles and a few screws you can build this clever space saving wardrobe.

via Dothegreenthing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

House’s collaboration cart puts community planning on the streetGrist is proud to present the Change Gang — profiles of people who are leading change on the ground toward a more sustainable society and a greener planet. Some we've written about before; some are new to our pages. Some you'll have heard of; most you probably won't.

via Grist

Civic Pride T-Shirts, Crowdsourcing the Electoral Redistricting Process, and the Climate Crisis Blame Game

Think Progress asks “Is the Climate Crisis Caused by the 7 Billion or the 1 Percent?” The Public Mapping Project is trying to bring more transparency to electoral redistricting in New York State.  Ready to shop for gifts already? City Fabric has made some great looking shirts with NYC maps on them.

Is the Climate Crisis Caused by the 7 Billion or the 1 Percent?As we reach 7 billion people, Climate Progress is featuring a variety of opinions on population. – by Ian Angus and Simon Butler in a Grist repost The approach of [7 billion] milestone produced a wave of articles and opinion pieces blaming the world’s environmental crises on overpopulation.

via Thinkprogress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Public Mapping ProjectThe Public Mapping Project seeks to increase public participation and transparency in redistricting through the deployment of on-line mapping tools and educational information.

via Publicmapping

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CityFabric® – Wear You Live™ — Lower Manhattan TeeManhattan is the most densely populated region in the United States. The grid of the city was laid out to emphasize the American notion of democracy.

via Cityfabric

Local Honey, Smart Parking, Urban Homesteading, Street Art Made By Erasing Dirt, and High Line Park Book

NYC DOT will be instituting new high tech parking management in 2012. In other transit news, residential parking permits are being considered. Think Progress ruminates on the pluses and minuses of urban homesteading. Moose Benjamin Curtis scrubs city dirt and grime to make street art. There’s a new book out the making of the High Line Park. Lifehacker gushes over local honey. Find out where to find a producer of local honey in your neighborhood.

Streetsblog New York City » NYC DOT to Roll Out Smart Parking Tech in 2012by Noah Kazis on November 7, 2011 New York City is moving forward with plans to use sensors to improve parking management, along the lines of San Francisco's pioneering SFPark system. The program will be unveiled next year, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan announced at a conference on transportation and technology held last Friday at Columbia University.

via Streetsblog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reserved parkingCity residents may soon get the exclusive right to park on the streets where they live. After years of false starts, state and city legislators are seriously looking at a plan to establish residential parking permits in the Big Apple.

via Nypost

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urban Homesteading is a Popular Trend, but It’s also Ruffling Some Feathersby Cole Mellino Urban homesteading, in which households grow their own food and often raise animals for food in an urban environment, is becoming more and more popular as people decide to opt out of our globalized, industrialized agricultural system. Concerned about the state of agriculture and the impact our farming methods are having on […]
via Thinkprogress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Dirt: Street artist scrubs images into the urban landscapePhoto: c/o MooseStreet artist Moose Benjamin Curtis was having some difficulty with the police. The officers had just arrested him for creating designs on a wall in South London. But it was complicated — as things often are when Moose is involved.

via Grist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alexandra Lange: Lessons from the High Line: Observers Room: Design Observer

via Designobserver

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buy Local Honey to Make Sure You're Really Getting Honey, and Support Local BeekeepersA report by Food Safety News earlier this week claims that the majority of the honey available in most grocery and department stores in the United States doesn't legally meet the definition of "honey." It's been "ultra-filtered," in order to produce a super-clear product that won't crystallize.

via Lifehacker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Local Honey – LocalHarvestBees are social insects, cousins of wasps and ants. Bees are very useful in nature as flower pollinators, and as a side job, they produce lots of good products for us, like honey, beeswax, pollen, and royal jelly. Honey has been found to have medicinal qualities, particularly when applied topically to burns, wounds, and ulcers.

via Localharvest

Video: Jan Gehl on cities

Jan Gehl speaks on the importance of understanding the function of cities, and how to improve them.

Jan Gehl’s Incremental Approach to UrbanismMy ongoing study of how best to design the human habitat has been consumed by the research of Jan Gehl. I am pleased that the CNU will be hosting him for a keynote lecture at CNU20. If you have not picked up a copy of his latest book, Cities for People, I highly recommend you give it a read.

via Russellpreston

Report issues in your neighborhood with the SeeClickFix map

Explore the SeeClickFix map of NYC right from this page, or go to their website to become a registered SeeClickFix citizen.

SeeClickFix asks us to “Imagine a world where every citizen feels empowered and part of their neighborhood. Imagine if everyone trusted and felt taken care of by their local government. We know there are already a lot of involved citizens and hard-working local authorities and service people. We seek to use the power of the internet to bring them closer together and reach even more people.”

SeeClickFix has iPhone, Android, and Blackberry apps to report issues on the go.

New York City Hurricane Irene news roundup – reports, maps, science, advice


How to Prepare for Hurricane Irene via Nbcnewyork

New York City hurricane evacuation zones via WNYC (interactive map)

hurricane evacuation zones via Nyc

Hurricane Tracker via Nytimes

Urban Ocean Observatory Hurricane Irene Scientific Report via Stevens-tech

 

 

 

 

 

Teenager inspired by nature may have just improved solar power tech

Teen Taps Into Power of Fibonacci to Harness the Sun

After a hike in the Catskill Mountains last winter, 13-year-old Aidan Dwyer noticed the patterns in the branches of trees. Investigation led him to an important insight about how the shape of the branches can be used by the tree to optimize the amount of light collected for photosynthesis.

via Wired

New York Restoration Project

NYRP Volunteer Opportunities

Join New York Restoration Project (NYRP) in planting and caring for trees, cleaning parks, planting flowers in community gardens – even helping out in our office. There’s so much to do and so many chances to get involved with fellow New Yorkers who are having a lot of fun and making a real difference greening our great city one block at a time!

via Nyrp

Serve.org

Serve.gov is an online resource for not only finding volunteer opportunities in your community, but also creating your own.

The President has said that the challenges America faces are unprecedented, and that we need to build a new foundation for economic growth in America. The Administration has begun this work with dramatic new investments in education, health care and clean energy, but we cannot do this alone here in Washington.

via Serve

 

 

Learn about the implications of the Supreme Court’s new ruling on greenhouse gases.

The Carbon Ruling

The Supreme Court’s decision on greenhouse gases on Monday is a disappointment to the states and environmental groups that had hoped to use federal common law to curb carbon dioxide pollution from power plants. It would also appear to be a setback in the fight against global warming.

via Nytimes