Summer Streets of NYC

Guest blogger May Joseph is the artistic director of Harmattan Theater, a group interested in water politics and urban ecology of New York City.

Picture Park Avenue South’s magisterial approach to Grand Central Station filled with human movement along its broad avenue. Picture the view from Grand Central looking uptown, all human scale movement in different states of propulsion. The image you conjure is the impossible scenario of Manhattan without cars. At least a portion of the center of Manhattan, Park Avenue, Lexington, Madison, without cars. The event is called Summer Streets, an experiment Mayor Michael Bloomberg initiated last year through the Department of Transportation.

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Free Refills on Your Water – TapIt

We all know that the use of disposable water bottles and coffee cups is on the rise and out of control. If you’re reading this, you probably already have a snazzy reusable water bottle and mug that you haul around to lessen your contribution to the landfill. Unfortunately, when we’re out and about, it can be difficult to find a place to refill your bottle. Some cafes and restaurants will turn you away from using their water if you’re not a paying customer.

And if you live in a big city, public restrooms and sanitary water can be a rarity. The TapIt water bottle refilling network is an attempt to make it easier to refill your water bottle so you don’t have to pay for water (something that used to be free!). Founded in 2008, TapIt is working with cities to map out places of businesses that have agreed to provide free tap water refills. Several businesses sign on as partners and these partners can be found on city maps. Have an iPhone? There’s an application to let you know the nearest TapIt partner location.

According to TapIt, they are “. . . not just about going bottle-less; less bottles, less recycling, less water privatization and extraction,A it’s about understanding why those things are a problem and finding new and sustainable 21st century solutions.” They also claim to be advocates for health, since sugary drink substitutes are often what people will succumb to if unable to find free fresh water.

So far, New York City is the only city available, but TapIt is working hard to coordinate with other cities to make the TapIt project a reality across the nation.

You can learn more at http://www.tapitwater.com/

Green Books for the Young and Young Adult

Guest blogger Jennifer Ochs is a freelance writer. She currently conducts book reviews and author interviews for her weblog NY Book Cafe. In addition she is a freelance manuscript reader, editor/proofreader.

“Generation Green: The Ultimate Teen Guide to Living an Eco-Friendly Life”, by Linda Sivertsen and Tosh Siversten – Simon & Schuster, August 2008

Generation Green is a practical guide for green living today. Particularly geared towards teens, this book provides various ways in which all of us can make small changes in our lifestyle which can lead to big changes and promote a better world. The theme of the book is that individual change can cause collective change for a brighter and better tomorrow.

This book provides many useful tips as well as resources. From recycling to marshland preservation, many environmental issues are discussed. Linda Sivertsen wrote this book along with her 18 year old son. Therefore, the information presented is very user friendly, promotes environmental consciousness and is overall a good read for all ages.

“Michael Recycle Meets Litterbug Doug”, by Ellie Bethel – Worthwhile Books, March 2009

In this addition to the Michael Recycle Books, Litterbug Doug lives in a green town. However, he leaves his garbage everywhere, he is lazy and doesn’t clean up after himself. Michael Recycle, the caped crusader, seeks to show Litterbug Doug a better way of living to promote a greener environment. In this installation to her Michael Recycle books, author Ellie Bethel conveys a good message to the young reader.

“Going Solar” Affordably

The focus of government programs encouraging the individual use of alternative energy sources focusing primarily on high end systems, particularly solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, although well-intentioned, may ultimately end up ineffective for the most part. Programs that result in significant numbers using at least some solar, geothermal or other alternative energy sources are infinitely more valuable than ones that are more expensive but are only utilized by a small “elite” of environmentally aware AND financially well off consumers.

While strong majorities of Americans believe that all new home construction ought to offer consumers a solar option, and most state that they would be willing to pay a premium of 10% more on a new home, very few Americans currently own solar home installations.

No doubt part of the reason for that lies in the fact that most people are only aware of PV and, to a somewhat lesser extent, solar hot water systems. PV systems are often out of reach for most Americans because of high initial costs. Solar hot water systems, while not as costly, are still out of the reach of a lot of consumers, and often have performance, maintenance and installation issues.

Fortunately there are a number of additional alternatives for “going solar,” all of which are significantly less costly than PV systems. Also many of these systems are passive and thus have no moving parts or major maintenance issues.
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