Renewable Energy Comes to Harlem

Mayor Bloomberg and Other Prominent New Yorkers Sign on to Greening Gotham

Green Roof Groundbreaking in the Bronx

Earth Pledge Shows Corporations How Green Roofs Benefit the Bottom Line

This week: Green Roofs for Affordable Housing Workshop

Delicious Cooking Classes Support Local, Sustainable Foods and Farmers

Recent Press About Earth Pledge

New York Times - November 30, 2003

Wall Street Journal - November 12, 2003l

Renewable Energy Comes to Harlem

Earth Pledge’s first BIOGAS project is underway! With a grant from the EPA’s Innovation Work Group and other private and corporate sponsors, Earth Pledge is building an anaerobic digester to process food waste at the Community Food Resource Center, a Harlem based not-for-profit. CFRC serves 750 meals a night, five days a week.

Early next year, the anaerobic digester will be up and running, allowing CFRC to process 500 pounds of food waste and provide about 2 kilowatts of electricity each day, which will save the Center over $250 a month on heating bills, and prevent food from ending up in landfills where it decays, emitting harmful greenhouse gas. Kari Ostrem, coordinator of Earth Pledge’s Waste=Fuel program, says, “We are delighted to work with CFRC to help them become an even more efficient, sustainable and self-sufficient organization.”

CFRC Program Director Hiram Bonner believes that “just satisfying hunger pains is not enough.” CFRC's soup kitchen and on-site food pantry offer healthful, low-sodium, unprocessed foods whenever possible, and CFRC educates clients about healthy eating. In the next growing season, CFRC will source produce from five local farms. Food preparation for the Center is part of CRFC’s Community Culinary Training program, which enables unemployed and underemployed Harlem residents to learn real-world skills in the food services industry. The BIOGAS project will “close the loop” of food production and preparation at CFRC, enabling table scraps and food waste to become a source of renewable energy.

In coming months, Earth Pledge will implement additional anaerobic digesters as part of its BIOGAS project, sited at public schools and public housing projects.

Learn more about Waste=Fuel and anaerobic digestion

Mayor Bloomberg and Other Prominent New Yorkers Sign on to Greening Gotham

GreeningGotham.org, the city’s first green roof resource, is a project to raise public awareness and support for green roof development in New York. Green roofs are both visionary and pragmatic, a way to transform the city’s bare rooftops into a vibrant living ecosystem that can also address many of the city’s urgent environmental challenges.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, EPA Region 2 Administartor Jane Kenny, NYC Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Chris Ward, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel, Actor Ed Norton, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Jonathan Rose, Douglas Durst, Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), Trust for Public Land, and New York League of Conservation voters have all signed on to support Earth Pledge’s vision of a greener, more sustainable city.

The website, created with support from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, includes up-to-date urban environmental news, case studies of green roof projects in the metropolitan area, and a Take Action section where you can sign onto the vision statement and send the Mayor or the City Council Speaker a letter of support for citywide green roof development. You can also send a letter to your coop board or landlord to encourage them to consider implementing a green roof on your building.

To learn more or to join the illustrious group of signatories to the vision statement, go to GreeningGotham.org

Earth Pledge Shows Corporations How Green Roofs Benefit the Bottom Line

On November 6th, Earth Pledge hosted "The Business Case for Green Roofs," a symposium for corporate building owners and real estate industry professionals. The event was a great success, attended by representatives from more than fifty companies, including Nestle, Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Presentations by building owners and developers highlighted the top- and bottom-line benefits of green roofs, from huge stormwater management cost savings at the Ford Rouge Center, to lucrative amenity space at the Heinz 57 Center and Solaire, to positive media attention, food production for the restaurant and more profitable room rates at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. The first event of its kind, the symposium highlighted the growing value of green roofs for the private sector.

Green Roofs for Affordable Housing Workshop

A greener, healthier Gotham should be available to all of its citizens. Green, vegetated roofs present a unique opportunity for affordable housing developers to reduce building operating costs while benefiting the environment and improving their tenants’ quality of life.

On Wednesday, December 10th from 9am to Noon, join Earth Pledge and the Association for Neighborhood Housing Development for the Green Roofs for Affordable Housing Workshop.

This workshop, intended for those involved in the affordable housing field, will outline the costs, benefits, and technical requirements of green roofs, and include a presentation of another Viridian Project green roof currently under construction at the Chelsea Residence, a supportive living facility developed by Common Ground Community and designed by OCV Architects.

The workshop will be held at the Greenpoint Bank at 356 Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn. The event is free, but seating is limited.

To register, call Don Morlan of ANHD at (212) 463-9600 ext. 3