Sunday, September 20, 2009

Gowanus Canal Storm Surges Meeting

Friday, September 25, 2009
6:30 -- 8:30 PM
Dr. Malcolm Bowman, SUNY Stony Brook
Long Island College Hospital, 339 Hicks Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201, Conference Rooms A & B
Organized by Brooklyn Community Board 6.

Dr. Malcolm Bowman will speak about risks from potential storm surges to the Gowanus Canal and surrounding areas. He is Professor of Physical Oceanography and a Distinguished Professor at the Marine Sciences Research Center, State University at Stony Brook. He is the Coordinator of the Stony Brook Storm Surge Research Group, which studies storm surges which threaten the New York Metropolitan area, and ways that the City can protect itself in an era of global climate change and sea level rise from flooding in extreme weather events.

http://stormy.msrc.sunysb.edu/sbss-Banner.htm.
Contact Information:
Sierra Club New York City
beyondoilnyc@yahoo.com

Friday, September 4, 2009

Sustainable Living for Sustainable Cities Lecture

Hello out there! I went to a great talk on Governor's Island about all the great stuff NYU is doing to make their campus more sustainable. Here are my notes. Inspiring stuff. - Kate!


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Governor's Island "Sustainable Living for Sustainable Cities" Speaker Series
Aug 29, 09
Speaker: Jeremy Friedman, NYU Sustainability Task Force

NYU is a member of AASHE (Assoc. for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) and ACUPCC (American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment)

There are green roofs at Columbia and Pace now.

NYU's initiative is 3 years old. Accomplishments:

2006-07:
Sustainability Task Force started
Cogeneration power plant
Environmental Studies Program started
Purchase of Renewable Energy

2007-08:
Green grants begin, which is competitive funding for faculty, student or staff-led projects. NY Unplugged is one example about unplugging electronics.
Sustainability Advocates Program

2008-2009:
Climate Action Plan
Green buildings are built, at least silver and some more

NYU Welcome Week includes info on biking, vegetarian cooking, green maps. This actually begins during tours of the college and the admissions process, green info is included.

NYU stopped selling bottled water in the meal plan. Still for sale in vending machines. They offer stainless steel bottle for cheap or free to students.

NYU is the largest composting entity in the city, other than Rikers. All NYU food waste is composted at an organic farm upstate.

http://www.nyu.edu/sustainability/ for power points and other resources.

The law school's enviro group is the Enviro. Law Society and their site is:http://www.law.nyu.edu/studentorganizations/els/index.htm . Aaron Jacobs-Smith is the contact Jeremy suggested we reach out to for any collaboroation, questions etc.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Waste Audit Redux




Here are some great photos of the event, including our illustrious friends from Queen Botanical Gardens....Daniel and Julia!

Waste Audit Spring '09 Results

Hey All! Just thought I'd re-post our results from the audit all of us greens pitched in and performed last semester. We calculated the results, and boy were they startling! (100+ lbs of paper were thrown out - not recycled - in 24 hrs!) We are planning on undertaking another one at the same time this year!

CUNY Law Green Coalition Waste Audit Results: Contents of Campus-Wide Garbage, 24-hr. period, April 14-15, 2009

WASTE in WEIGHT(lbs) or NUMBER (*):
Plastics
Recyclable Plastics (bottles) 52*
Non-recyclable plastics 78.1 lbs
(plastic bags, utensils,
food containers, etc.)

Paper
Recyclable Paper 100.4 lbs.
Non-recyclable paper 102.25 lbs.
(paper towels, napkins, etc.)
Beverage Cartons (milk, orange juice) 37*
Coffee Cups 316*

Organics
Meat/dairy/oils 49*
(industrially compostable materials)
Compostables (eggshells, fruit peelings) 65 lbs.

Metal
Recyclable metals (including cans) 2.5 lbs.
Non-recyclable metals (tinfoil, etc.) 1.5 lbs.

Glass
Recyclable glass (bottles) 19*
Non-recyclable glass ---

Appliances/Electronics 3*
Misc. Inorganics (trash) 59 lbs.
Household Hazardous (chemical bottles) 7*

Environmental Fellowship Alert!

The Environmental Leadership Program has a GREAT fellowship opportunity, and they're accepting applications now! It's not specifically legal but it's cool!

"The Fellowship Program targets emerging environmental and social change practitioners eager to connect their specialized work to larger environmental and social concerns. ELP is committed to selecting a class of Fellows that represents diversity of race and ethnicity, gender, sector, sexual orientation, education levels, professional background, values and traditions, and environmental issue expertise."

There are a lot of cool-looking retreats involved :)

http://www.elpnet.org/2010_applications.php

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

CUNY GC Alumni Mixer

CUNY Green Coalition is going to be having an alumni/student meet-n-greet this month. If you are an alumni or interested student, please contact greencoalition@mail.law.cuny.edu.

We're looking forward to meeting with alumni who have an interest in environmental issues and/or work in the environmental law field. We'll speak about what Green Coalition has accomplished over the past year and what we're planning for this coming year.

We're so excited to speak with our amazing alumni who represent CUNY so well in the legal professional. You have attained what we are working so hard now to achieve and we can't wait to reach your ranks. Students at CUNY are always eager to hear the ways in which the unique public interest lawyering education we are receiving has been utilized by alumni to craft their own individual careers. It will be extra inspirational for Green Coalition members to hear about how professionals working with environmental law and policy have kept the CUNY spirit alive post-graduation and integrated it into your practice.

We'll be meeting at a great bar in Manhattan in the next few weeks.

We're looking forward to seeing you there!

- CUNY School of Law Green Coalition