Earth
Pledge is Awarded Grants from the EPA and NYSERDA for Waste=Fuel;
Seeks Matching Funds to Help Create Educational Opportunities for
NYC Kids, While Promoting Cutting-Edge Waste Management Technology
Big News! Our Waste=Fuel initiative has received a combined $80,000
from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and New York State
Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The grant monies
will be applied to our efforts to facilitate and promote the use
of Anaerobic Digestion (AD), as a sustainable waste management technique.
AD is the decomposition of organic waste by bacteria in an oxygen-free
environment. Used as a waste treatment process, AD produces a methane-rich
biogas that can be used to generate heat and electricity.
Using funds from the EPA grant, we will install small-scale digesters
at two high schools and in one community housing center in New York
City. This pilot project will provide an exciting environmental
education opportunity for kids, while demonstrating how AD can divert
food waste from landfills, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and
generate value-added resource streams such as renewable energy and
high-value agricultural fertilizer.
NYSERDA’s grant supports our May 12th symposium, The Future
of Sustainable Solid Waste Management: An Introduction to Anaerobic
Digestion, which will introduce AD to stakeholders from the waste,
food, and energy sectors. Speakers include Thomas Outerbridge of
City Green, Inc., Luc De Baere of Organic Waste Systems, Barry Liebowitz
of NYSERDA, Marilyn Lennon of KeySpan Business Solutions, and Rob
Young of Cornell University’s City and Urban Planning Department.
Attendance is by invitation only.
Why Anaerobic Digestion? AD diverts food and other biodegradable
wastes from landfills, where they currently produce vast quantities
of greenhouse gas. This “landfill gas” is the largest
source of methane from human activity in the U.S. Every year, New
York City landfills over 7 million tons of food and other organic
wastes. According to the EPA, this biodegradable waste discharges
over 1.8 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
How does AD work? In a controlled, oxygen-free environment, naturally
occurring anaerobic bacteria break down organic matter and produce
energy-rich biogas (over 60% methane), which can be used to generate
renewable energy or power clean fuel vehicles. Anaerobic treatment
has proven effective with a wide variety of organic wastes, including
agricultural waste (animal manure), municipal solid waste (food
and yard waste) and wastewater (sewage sludge, industrial sludge,
and food processing waste).
We are thrilled to be spearheading the adoption of AD in New York
City and to be kicking-off our Waste=Fuel initiative with these
two great projects.
We hope you’ll be a part of these exciting opportunities by
helping us match these funds! Contact David
Benattar.
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Bringing
Green Roofs to Cool Girls on the Lower Eastside
This
summer, New York’s City’s Lower
Eastside Girls Club (LESGC), will run a farmers market at
the site of their future building, on Avenue D between 7th and
8th streets.
As part of our partnership with the LESGC—which includes
the facilitation of a 5,000 square foot green roof atop their
new facility—we will teach a group of the club’s girls
about the importance of green roofs, training them as spokespersons
who will raise awareness among market customers about the club
and its green roof. The girls will prepare for their role as educators
by visiting Earth Pledge’s own roof garden, and by helping
to build a green roof model to be displayed at the market.
The Girls Club will be the first educational institution in New
York City to benefit from the environmental education opportunities
and the amenity space that green roofs provide. Earth Pledge will
work with the club to develop a program that integrates the LESGC
green roof into existing club activities, including programs in
science, environmental activism, health and nutrition, food preparation,
and youth entrepreneurship.
Lower East Side Girls Club is one of our Viridian
Project partners.
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Join
Us at the 13th Annual Windows on Long Island Wine
Come eat and drink while you celebrate and support local farms
and vineyards at the 13th annual Windows on Long Island Wine.
On Monday, April 28th, you can help preserve New York farmland
by spending an evening with us tasting wine from 23 Long Island
vineyards and enjoying food from top New York City and Long Island
restaurants. Our celebration will take place at Guastavino’s
restaurant in NYC.
Co-hosted by Earth Pledge and the Long Island Wine Council, and
made possible by the generous support of BOSCH, the 13th annual
Windows on Long Island Wine benefits Earth Pledge, helping us
continue to promote healthy, eco-friendly, local and sustainable
agriculture and cuisine.
Click
here to purchase tickets
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Delicious
EP Evening Will Explore Regional Mediterranean Cuisine with Food
Writer Nancy Harmon Jenkins, Chef Sara Jenkins, and Wine Enthusiast
Nico Jenkins
For 30 years, Nancy Harmon Jenkins has lived, eaten, marketed,
gardened, and cooked around the Inner Sea, residing in Spain,
Lebanon, Italy, and obscure hill-country villages on the north
coast of Cyprus. On Tuesday May 13th, from 6:30 to 9pm, Nancy
will join her daughter, chef Sara Jenkins, and her son, writer
and wine enthusiast, Nico Jenkins, for a special evening of eating,
drinking, and discussion around the delights of the ingredients,
people, and culture of the Mediterranean. The event takes place
at our historic Carriage House in Murray Hill.
The Jenkins’ will illustrate how staple ingredients are
inextricably bound with the land, people, and culture of the Mediterranean,
and will discuss emerging American food movements that seek to
foster a similar relationship between individuals, communities,
farmers, and the environment. Chef Sara will cook from Nancy’s
exquisite recipes, including Salt Cod Tart Tatin, Seafood Couscous
with Sardinian Seafood Stew, Tunisian Olive Oil Tea Cake, Sweet
Cheese Ravioli with Honey, and much more. Nico will discuss the
wines that can be paired with these dishes.
Tickets are $85 and include: a signed copy of Nancy’s new
book, The Essential Mediterranean, an extensive tasting
of dishes from the book, and a selection of Mediterranean wines.
Earth Pledge expects a sell-out crowd, including many who will
treat their mothers to this special experience in celebration
of Mother’s Day. Proceeds support FarmToTable.org and related
Earth Pledge efforts to promote local, seasonal, sustainable agriculture
and cuisine.
Special thanks to our generous sponsors: Ceretto
Winery, Niman
Ranch, Manicaretti
Italian Food Imports, Murray’s
Cheese, Tenuta
di Capezzana Winery, and Whole
Foods Market.
The Carriage House is located at 149 East 38th Street (Lex/3rd)
To purchase tickets, call 212-725-6611, x225.
Did
You Miss the Green Roof Workshops?
We wish we could have accommodated all who were interested
in our recent spring Green Roof Workshops. Both workshops sold
out quickly. Our attendees—over 200 design, architecture
and landscape professionals—obtained step-by-step information
on how to create green roof projects from experts like green roof
plant specialists, Ed Snodgrass of Emory Knoll Farms, and Robert
Herman of Uncommon Plants; roof consultant, Tim Barrett of Barrett
Roofing, and many others.
For those who were not able to attend, we will soon have videotapes
of both workshops. Please contact Gaby
Brainard for more information.
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Pledge to be in Chicago at Nation’s First North American Green
Roof Conference
Join us this spring at Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Cities,
the First North American Green Roof Conference, Awards, and Trade
Show, to be held in Chicago on May 29th and 30th. The event, hosted
by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a Toronto-based green roof trade
organization, will showcase the latest green roof products and services.
Throughout the weekend, 40 speakers from eight countries will address
the policy, design and technical issues involved in green roof implementation
in urban areas. Colin Cheney, director of our Green Roofs Initiative,
will present Green Roofs for New York City: An Interdisciplinary
Study, outlining Earth Pledge and partner’s interdisciplinary
research project to evaluate the feasibility, costs, and benefits
of green roof development in New York City. Other activities include
a green roof awards dinner, and tours of the beautiful green roofs
atop Chicago’s City Hall and the Chicago Center for Green
Technology. Earth Pledge is a silver sponsor.
The conference is open to government officials, architects, landscape
architects, designers, planners, engineers, the business community,
our foundation partners, and the public at large.
For
more information and for registration
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“Hero
For the Planet” Speaks at Earth Pledge
On May 21st, Earth Pledge will host Richard Sandor, chairman and
CEO of the Chicago Climate Exchange, for a talk and reception at
the Carriage House. In August 2002, Dr. Sandor was chosen by Time
magazine as one of its "Heroes for the Planet" for his
work as the founder of the Exchange.
The Chicago Climate Exchange—one of the most innovative and
successful attempts to fuse economic and environmental sustainability—is
a self-regulated exchange marketplace that administers a voluntary
greenhouse gas reduction and trading program. Join us for an evening
of discussion about the successes and challenges of the Chicago
Climate Exchange.
This event is open to the public and free of charge. Seating is
limited and reservations are required.
To RSVP, please contact Elisabeth Van Der Mandele at 212.573.6969,
ext.15, or evandermandele@carriagehousecenter.org
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Sustainable
Architecture Happenings About Town
Meet filmmaker Chuck Schultz, Rural Studio graduate and former instructor
Steve Hoffman, and outreach graduate David Ranghelli at a screening
of The Rural Studio, a PBS documentary film.
The Rural Studio celebrates MacArthur Fellow and Earth Pledge friend,
the beloved late Samuel Mockbee, and his vision of architecture
as a catalyst for social change. The film follows Auburn University
student architects as they work to rebuild the social and physical
landscape of a long neglected, southern rural community, brick by
recycled brick.
Admission is free.
Saturday April 26th at 3 PM
Tishman Auditorium
The New School University
66 West 12th Street
Visit www.ruralstudiofilm.com
for more information.
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