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Citigroup Supports the Earth Pledge Viridian Project Earth Pledge Gathers Top Public Officials and Design Professionals at 2-Day Green Roofs Event Make your Earth Pledge for the Holidays Grassfed Meats Lecture Wraps Up Farm To Table Series Earth Pledge in the News Turning Our Waste into Energy What is Anaerobic Digestion?
Citigroup Supports the Earth Pledge Viridian Project On November 19, 2002 Earth Pledge launched the Viridian Project with Housing Works as our first partner and Citigroup as our first sponsor. The Viridian Project provides technical and financial support, as well as job training for construction of green roofs atop buildings that offer supportive housing to low- and moderate-income individuals. Working with Housing Works we will develop a 7,500 square-foot green roof on the organization’s East Village supportive-living facility. The building houses 55 formerly homeless clients living with HIV/AIDS and provides health care, case management, harm reduction and meals to an additional 40 formerly homeless people every day. This green roof, the largest to date in New York City, will not only cut energy costs and extend the roof's lifecycle, it will also provide job skill training as part of the Housing Works Second Life Training Program. Housing Works tenants will enjoy safe outdoor space for recreational and therapeutic activities when the project is completed in 2003. On December 5, 2002 Citigroup Foundation announced their decision to support the Viridian Project with a grant of $25,000. We are grateful to have their support and feel that their commitment provides a terrific foundation for us to engage additional sponsors.
Earth Pledge Gathers Top Public Officials and Design Professionals at 2-Day Green Roofs Event On November 22nd + 23rd, Earth Pledge held Greening Gotham’s Rooftops, a two-day event exploring a comprehensive green roof plan for New York City. Friday’s event was a closed-session forum for government officials. Our 35 attendees represented 16 New York City, State, and Federal agencies including New York City Departments of Buildings, City Planning, Housing Preservation and Development, Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination, Housing Authority, School Construction Authority, Environmental Protection, and Parks. Representatives from the Bronx Borough President’s Office, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency were also in attendance. The afternoon concluded with a roundtable discussion that dealt with options for government support of green roof implementation. Government is in a unique position to support green roof projects through research and test projects, creative incentive packages, zoning structures, and regulations. The crowd for the open symposium on Saturday was made up of 130 architects, engineers, landscape designers, developers, media, and general public. Presentations included some of the most innovative green roof projects currently being developed in North America, including the 10.4-acre living roof at Ford Rouge Center in Dearborn, Michigan, and an “eco-roof” atop a renovated slaughterhouse in Nashville, Tennessee.
Make your Earth Pledge for the Holidays Since 1991, Earth Pledge has promoted and implemented sustainable solutions to some our most pressing environmental problems. Your financial support will help us continue to: Create an important marketing venue for farmers, providing them with a vehicle to connect to consumers, restaurants, grocers, products, and resources. Help us help them continue to provide us all with safe, healthy, delicious food. Educate professionals and the public about the evolving ideas and practical benefits of sustainable architecture, cuisine, and energy choices through lectures, classes, websites, and publications. Provide new solutions to environmental crises in the areas of energy, shelter, food, and farming including: anaerobic digestion facilities to process NYC food waste, green roof development, and programs to support farmers in the Catskills/Delaware Watershed and other regions transition to sustainable practices. To make your contribution to Earth Pledge
Grassfed Meats Lecture Wraps Up Farm To Table Series Why has it become common beef industry practice to stuff cattle with antibiotics, hormones, and feed made from maize, grain, and “by-product feedstuff” like chicken manure, ground cardboard and parts of other cattle? Though these widespread practices fatten cattle cheaply and quickly, they raise serious concerns regarding human, environmental, and animal health and welfare. Cattle actually evolved to eat grass, not grain. So, is grassfed best? Chefs Dan Barber and Mike Anthony of Blue Hill Restaurant, and farmer Amy Kenyon of Skate Creek Farm and Meadow Raised Meats came together for the final lecture in our Fall 2002 series to discuss grassfed meats, touching upon the health and environmental benefits of grassfarming. Among many things, we learned that grassfed is lower in calories and richer in Omega-3 fatty acids and cancer-fighting CLA than it’s grainfed counterpart, and that grassfarming protects our streams and groundwater from agricultural runoff. A tasting of delicious grassfed meats from Skate Creek Farm, prepared by Blue Hill, provided an added bonus to an energetic discussion between audience and panelists. For more information on grassfed meat issues visit FarmToTable.org. In the Learn section you’ll find a wealth of recent articles on sustainable food news including Grassfed Dairy and Meats: Why Grassfed is Better than Organic. Additionally, we recommend two great books: Fast Food Nation, By Eric Schlosser; and Why Grassfed is Best, by Jo Robinson. Earth Pledge in the News We've been very busy at Earth Pledge and the press has taken notice. Here's recent coverage from Dwell magazine, Oneonta Daily Star, and Metropolis Online.
Turning Our Waste into Energy We’re thrilled to announce a new collaborative effort with Council on the Environment of New York City to work on sustainable alternatives for coping with NYC’s massive organic waste flow. This partnership builds on Earth Pledge’s food waste diversion initiative, FoodWaste = Fuel. We are developing a series of small-scale anaerobic digestion facilities to process food and yard waste from New York City’s public schools and New York City Housing Authority sites. Our first facility, at the Edenwald-Gun Hill Neighborhood Center in the Bronx, will divert 100 lbs of kitchen, yard, and non-recyclable paper waste per day. The project will offer educational opportunities for students and community members who will be able to see first-hand how digester methane is used to generate renewable energy.
What is Anaerobic Digestion? Anaerobic digestion (AD) might not be the stuff of everyday conversation here in the United States, but in many places around the world--especially in the European Union--it’s old hat. An innovative way to divert organic waste from landfills while producing valuable renewable energy, AD can be used by city municipalities, schools, hospitals, businesses, and more. That’s why Earth Pledge is working to bring wide-scale use of AD to the U.S. AD technology improves the efficiency of a process that takes place when organic waste decays in an oxygen-free environment. When naturally occurring bacteria break down organic matter in the anaerobic digester, biogas is produced. This biogas can be used in clean fuel vehicles or as a source of renewable energy. Organic waste produces methane, which when released into the environment is a harmful greenhouse gas thirty times more potent than carbon dioxide. While there are some landfill operators who capture methane for electricity generation or other uses, it is most often released into the atmosphere or flared off to prevent build up. Using AD, we can reduce the release of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere while generating renewable energy from what is normally considered waste.