Press epNews Bulletin Board


Earth Pledge Launches the Guardian Trust to Ensure Longterm Safety of Redeveloped Brownfields

Eat, Drink, and Celebrate Local Vineyards in Support of Earth Pledge

Green Roof Curriculum Development Begins

Organic Farming Research Foundation Awards Earth Pledge With Research Grant

Earth Pledge Introduces Two Sustainable Cuisine Cooking Classes this Spring

Join Earth Pledge for a Suite of Cutting Edge Environmental Conferences This Spring

Earth Pledge Launches the Guardian Trust to Ensure Longterm Safety of Redeveloped Brownfields

Earth Pledge is pleased to announce the formation of The Guardian Trust, an innovative public/private partnership that works with development companies and brownfield site owners to turn contaminated properties into useful land by ensuring environmental clean-up standards are met and maintained.

Brownfield sites are environmentally contaminated properties that are often left empty and unused. There are hundreds of thousands of brownfields throughout the US, many located in lower-income communities, which have the potential to be successfully redeveloped into businesses, housing, and public space. The Guardian Trust program will facilitate redevelopment, revitalizing communities while preserving the urban environment.

Click here to read recent press about the Guardian Trust

Eat, Drink, Celebrate Local Vineyards and Support Earth Pledge

Join us for Windows on Long Island Wine, a grand tasting event that celebrates local vintners, growers, and restaurants on Long Island and New York City. Long Island is one of the most threatened agricultural regions in the United States. This event is a unique opportunity to support regional farmers and sample wine from Long Island and delicious food from New York farm communities. Co-hosted by Earth Pledge and the Long Island Wine Council, and made possible by the generous support of BOSCH, the 14th annual Windows on Long Island Wine benefits Earth Pledge's Farm To Table initiative helping us continue to promote healthy, eco-friendly, local and sustainable agriculture and cuisine.

The annual fundraising event will be held at Capitale, a magnificently restored Beaux-Arts bank building in SoHo, where 30 vineyards will pour wine and 26 top restaurants, including Blue Hill, Felidia, Four Seasons, and Toqueville, will offer tastings.

Grand Tasting tickets are $125, $150 at the door. Connoisseurs' Lounge tickets, which include the Grand Tasting as well as library and other private reserve wines, a VIP gift bag, and special guests, are $250.

Click here for more information and to purchase tickets or call Jon Klar at 212-725-6611 ext. 225
Viridian Green Roof Curriculum Development Begins

Earth Pledge is working with a number of schools throughout the New York metro area to develop a multidisciplinary curriculum that will bring green roofs into the classroom. This effort is part of our Viridian Project, which facilitates green roof construction on affordable housing and school buildings.

Our latest collaboration is with the School of the Future (SOF), a public middle and high school in Manhattan’s Grammercy Park, and the NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), a research partner in Earth Pledge’s New York Ecological Infrastructure Study. With help from GISS and Earth Pledge, SOF 10th graders will build green roof test plots in their school’s roof garden, and design experiments to test the green roof’s ability to retain stormwater and reduce building energy use.

At the project’s completion, we will develop a curriculum guide that will enable other schools to replicate the green roof research project.

Organic Farming Research Foundation Awards Earth Pledge With Research Grant

Earth Pledge's Farm To Table Initiative was one of only nine national recipients of a prestigious research grant from the Organic Farming Research Foundation. Our research, set to begin in April on Long Island, will study the effect of compost tea, a water-based extract of compost that contains many beneficial micro-organisms and soluble plant nutrients, on controlling disease in pumpkins.

The project is part of our Grow Greener program, which researches innovative agricultural technologies that promote crop and soil health while minimizing environmental damage. Recent research has suggested that compost tea has the potential to suppress plant disease, and our project will test this possibility on pumpkins, a popular cash crop for local farmers. Working in collaboration with Stephen Storch, an organic and biodynamic grower and compost tea expert, and Dr. Meg McGrath, a plant pathology specialist from Cornell, this grant puts us on the cutting edge of alternative agriculture research and furthers our mission to provide growers with practical field results and data about sustainable agriculture technologies.

Earth Pledge Introduces Two Sustainable Cuisine Cooking Classes this Spring

Earth Pledge and Institute for Culinary Education (ICE) continue our partnership to bring you two new exciting sustainable cuisine cooking classes, with proceeds benefiting Earth Pledge's Farm To Table program. The first, on April 4th is an evening with Amy Scherber, owner of Amy's Bread. Amy is known for her hand-made, traditional breads with the finest unbleached and unbromated flours, and organic whole grains and seeds. Under Amy's expert guidance, class participants will bake a variety of breads, including Organic Whole Wheat with Walnuts, Organic Rustic Italian, Homemade Pizza, and more.

On June 23rd, Ilene Rosen, chef at the perennial New York favorite, City Bakery, will be teaching a class on preparing her unique breed of seasonally influenced savory dishes. The selection of springtime dishes she will create with the class include Wasabi Green Pea Crusted Chicken; Jasmine Rice with Preserved Asian Beans, Ginger and Thai Basil; Cornbread Salad with Tomatoes, Pumpkin Seeds, Pepper Jack Cheese, Purslane and Mexican Oregano Vinaigrette, and other spontaneous vegetable combinations from the day's Greenmarket selection.

For more information or to register, click here.


Join Earth Pledge for a Suite of Cutting Edge Environmental Conferences This Spring

 Globe 2004 Conference held in Vancouver, March 31-April 2, brings together environmental leaders from six continents to tackle three themes: Climate Change & Energy, Corporate Sustainability and Building Better Cities.

Join William McDonough and Interface Chairman and CEO Ray Anderson for intimate "armchair dialogue" about selecting eco-effective materials, corporate reporting and transparency, the tremendous social impact of environmental changes, and financing the transition to clean technology. Hear from leading planners, architects, engineers, urban design specialists, and government officials from around the world as they share how cities are incorporating sustainability principles in the design and construction of buildings, energy and water systems, and public transportation. Learn about realistic strategies for emission reduction and credit trading initiatives, techniques for successful corporate implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, and British Columbia's exciting incorporation of hydrogen and fuel cell technology into the 2010 Winter Olympic Games as part of the first "Sustainability Olympics."

For more information, visit www.globe2004.com, or contact Gillian Moran at gillian.moran@globe.ca or by phone at 1.800.274.6097.

New Roofs for a New Century International Conference
On March 29th and 30th, Earth Pledge is co-hosting the third annual New Roofs for a New Century International Conference at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, which explores the roof as a platform for sustainability in the modern urban built environment. Presented in conjunction with Environmental Building Association of NY State and Go2Buildings, the New Roofs conference is unique in drawing together leaders in the fields of photovoltaic, reflective, metal and green, vegetated roofing. Keynotes by leaders in these fields will be followed by discussions highlighting case studies, technology research, and policy development. The agenda for the event and registration information can be found at http://www.eba-nys.org.

EnvironDesign 8
EnvironDesign 8, held in Minneapolis on April 21-23, is the premiere annual showcase for the best of sustainable development in both the public and private sectors. The event includes keynote addresses from biomimicry advocate Janine Benyus, Eileen Claussen, president of Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Bruce Babbitt, former Secretary of the interior, and Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart, authors of Cradle To Cradle. Network with business leaders while attending over forty workshop sessions on, eco-efficiency, product design, and strategies for sustainable changes in the market.

For more information, or to register, visit EnvironDesign.

Third Annual GreenTrading Summit: Emissions, Renewables & Negawatts
The interconnected fields of emissions reduction, cleaner and renewable energy, and energy efficient technologies come together in New York City at the third annual GreenTrading Summit: Emissions, Renewables & Negawatts on March 22-24. Presenters will address cutting edge issues in the "Triple Convergence" including sessions on Carbon Emission Reduction Credits, building the forward price curve for carbon, white (energy efficiency) certificate trading, and carbon and greenhouse gas transparency for market development.

To register or for more information, please visit www.greentradingsummit.com.