CUNY Appleseed

Interactive energy use maps are fun.

2012-02-06T15:36:00.002-08:00

Hey y'all, here's another way to procrastinate. Check out your block's energy usage, in oil, gas, hot water and electric, in this nifty interactive map...so many colors!

Says Treehugger.com:

The purpose of the map is to help urban planners and policy makers understand what the lay of the land is- how energy is used and where things can be improved. Even a casual perusal of the map shows that the dominant energy use in most of the city, outside the highest energy consumption areas (like the Financial District), goes to heating. Nearly all of that, Modi says, comes from oil and natural gas.

Beyond the Captain Obvious factor, pretty neat!

Interactive energy use maps are fun.

2012-02-06T15:36:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all, here's another way to procrastinate. Check out your block's energy usage, in oil, gas, electric in this nifty interactive map...so many colors!

Says Treehugger.com:

The purpose of the map is to help urban planners and policy makers understand what the lay of the land is- how energy is used and where things can be improved. Even a casual perusal of the map shows that the dominant energy use in most of the city, outside the highest energy consumption areas (like the Financial District), goes to heating. Nearly all of that, Modi says, comes from oil and natural gas.

Beyond the Captain Obvious factor, pretty neat!

Green Coalition/Food Fighters is back!

2011-10-03T06:22:00.000-07:00

The CUNY Law Green Coalition/Food Fighters is back in action! Last week several dozen students stopped by the GC's Bike Bonanza, a bike tune-up, safety and know-your-rights training and party. Trained bike mechanics stopped by to fix bikes, a rep. from Bike NYC presented (and passed out reflectors and other freebies), and the served samosas disappeared fast.

Thank you to our volunteers and all those who stopped by!

Food Fight!

2011-02-10T05:01:00.000-08:00

Care about fair wages and labor conditions? Health and nutrition policy? Poverty, racial justice, access, government subsidies and corporate power? Oh, and eating?

Awesome event alert: Food Fight! Countering Corporate Control of the Food Supply, a conversation among food justice and sustainability activists, at 6:30 p.m. March 1 in the CUNY Law auditorium, hosted by CUNY Law Review and CUNY Law Green Coalition Food Fighters.

Speakers on the panel, attorney-activist Michele Simon, New York City food and garden organizer Karen Washington, Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch will break down the struggle for control over our food environment and strategies to tackle that control. Anna Lappe, author of "Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It," will moderate.

The event is free with a reception to follow.

Go, go, Gowanus -- or not

2011-02-03T04:53:00.000-08:00

Maybe you've heard -- the Gowanus Canal is polluted? Here's solid proof, for those who've considered taking a swim there once (if?) summer rolls around.

The Environmental Protection Agency released results of its year-long study of the canal yesterday, concluding the 150-year-old waterway is a public health threat. For more than a century, numerous manufacturing, gas and chemical companies have dumped all kinds of waste into the canal, which for most of its life never emptied into any major body of water, resulting in insanely toxic levels of mercury, lead, copper, PCBs, human waste, and more. Meanwhile, 300 million gallons of sewage and waste continue to flow in each year. Ugh.

Last year the federal government declared the canal a SuperFund site, a status the city and some local residents opposed, though most are now on board. Officials estimate it'll take about 10 years to clean -- who'll pay? The EPA plans to get some of the original polluting companies that still exist today to pony up for much of the cleanup.

Meanwhile, stay out of the water. The water poses a health risk to those who eat any fish or crabs from the canal or those who frequently touch the sediment, says EPA offcials. Sightseeing, anyone?

Food Fighters meeting Monday!

2011-02-02T05:23:00.000-08:00

The Green Coalition Food Fighters will be meeting at 5 p.m. this coming Monday in the 2nd floor lounge. Anyone who cares about food sovereignty, farm worker rights, access to fresh, healthy food, and the future of our food supply should swing by!

Thanks, weather guy.

2011-01-18T07:54:00.000-08:00

Loving this "wintry mix"? Prepare for 21 inches more by the end of winter. Well, so says this guy.

All you see is torts.

When's spring break, again?

EPA, those moments when you do your job, clap clap clap.

2011-01-13T09:40:00.001-08:00

Breaking news: EPA vetoes Spruce Mine permit « Coal Tattoo

HA!

to summarize, this is one of the only times ever that the EPA has vetoed an already permitted mine. Politicians are pissed, business is flipping out, activists are all like 'phew'.

In light of the recent passing of Judy Bonds, longtime MTR activist and really amazing speaker, this is a somewhat appropriate tribute to her legacy (although there's a whole lot further to go).

Banjo politics

2010-11-17T05:19:00.001-08:00

The second floor lounge saw its most rockabilly time yesterday when local banjoist Morgan O'Kane, accompanying a crew of mountain top removal activists visiting from North Carolina, took over with an impromptu short set for extremely appreciative law students.

The activists had just led a lunchtime talk on their legal and direct action efforts to stop the environmental devastating, dangerous and illegal practice of mountain top removal, a preview of the discussion at last night's "Voters Over Donors: Uniting Against Plutocracy" panel to analyze the influence of money in politics especially in the wake of last year's Citizens United SCOTUS ruling.

Mountain top removal activists in action

Eight speakers, including Lanny Smith, founder of Doctors for Global Health, Joan Mandle, executive director of Democracy Matters, Jay Mandle, professor of economics Colgate University, spokesperson for Friends of the Congo, Charles Suggs, of Climate Ground Zero, and Tony Avella, Queens state senator and advocate for clean elections, gave a brief, riling overview of the influence of corporate donations and lobbying in various segments of policy, from health care to international investment and trade.

The New York Democracy Project, the Green Coalition, LALSA, BALSA, MELSA, Law Students for Reproductive Choice, the Labor Coalition, Democracy Matters, IALSA, the American Constitution Society and Voters for Clean Elections all sponsored the event.

Anyone interested in further work toward clean elections and restoring citizen power, contact Matthew Edge at democracymatt@gmail.com.

oops!

2010-11-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

Vermont Yankee and one reactor at Indian Point shut down due to some itty bitty fires and nuclear leaks AND

Radioactive leak from Knolls cleanup site also happened in the past two days.

Good thing the state can't afford regulators!

(this entry is sarcastic.)

Indian Point, so pretty, so close to home.

USDA wants you to eat more fast-food cheese

2010-11-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

So, cheese is delicious! But a USDA partnership with fast-food restaurants to develop and market crappy, cheese-crammed, heart-attack inducing foods? Something stinks and it ain't Limburger.

The New York Times published an investigation this weekend of the USDA's own Dairy Management, which pushes Americans to buy more cheese (in return for dairy industry lobbying funds) even as the department preaches healthy eating and funds anti-obesity initiatives. We eat more than three times the amount of cheese now than in the 1970s. Here it is, in case you missed it.

The USDA is behind such gems including Pizza Hut's Cheesy Bites pizza, Wendy's Double Melt, Burger King's Cheesy Angus Bacon cheeseburger and an extra cheesy Domino's pizza. All are packed with calories and saturated fat.

Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics, wrote on her blog today that we shouldn't be so shocked, as after all, the USDA has always worked hand in hand with the dairy industry -- that was its purpose. "Only in the 1970s, did the USDA pick up all those pesky food assistance programs and capture the 'lead federal agency' role in providing dietary advice to the public."

The USDA's double-dealing is hardly shocking, of course, given the flood of industry lobbying dollars within every federal nook. But the implications at the intersection of poverty, health, food access, nutrition and race (fast-food restaurants target low-income areas and those in low-income struggle most with obesity and access to affordable, healthy foods) makes this feel somewhat indicative of what food activists are up against.

texas, charming.

2010-11-08T09:18:00.000-08:00

Texas Battles E.P.A. Climate Regulation - NYTimes.com

Fail, Grist.org!

2010-11-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Hmm. If describing the connection of environmental degradation to breast cancer, what visual aid would best come to mind? How about an image of a healthy woman's breasts in a low-cut top, with no head, no body or legs, just the breasts? You got it!

In a response today to a reader's question about how environmental factors relate to breast cancer, typically awesome enviro magazine Grist.org has emphasized its incredibly important message with said image, which currently serves as dominant image on the homepage. (Page-traffic ploy? Of course not!) It's super disappointing for such a progressive environmental news source to fall back on a tired, problematic practice -- featuring a photo of only a highly sexualized part of a woman's body detached from the rest of it, rendering her identity-less, just a part, further concretizing woman's objectified, commodified status. It's unnecessary, disrespectful and frankly, inappropriate, considering the tenor and purpose of the piece. We're talking breast cancer, the leading cause of death for women in the United States in the middle of life, not happy-sexy-boob talk.

To be fair, Grist.org isn't any sort of specifically feminist or gender-related advocacy or news site, and maybe the photo was meant to lighten the gravity of the piece. But all of us working within various movements can't afford to be sexist, or racist, or classist, even if that's not our "issue" if we want to win our battles together, in mutual support. Not cool, Grist.org, not cool at all.

The Spill

2010-10-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

Haven't watched it yet over here, but it's probably awesome. CUNY Appleseed hearts PBS.

Race and food justice take root in Bronx, Brooklyn

2010-10-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

Over at Grist.org, writer Natasha Bowen has turned her attention to New York City's growing community of black and Latino farmers and organizers within the sustainable food movement here. In researching her piece, she met an impressive number of farmers and food organizers from organizations in every borough, including Just Food, the New York City Community Garden Coalition, the New School's Living Concrete/Carrot City series, the Brooklyn Rescue Mission, which runs a farm in Bed-Stuy, the Bronx's Tagwa Community Farm and La Finca del Sur, led by women of color, and finally, Dennis Darryck, who started a farmshare project for residents of the South Bronx and Harlem recently profile in the New York Times.

Bowen also mentions the Community Vision Council, a group organizing the first annual Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference just a month from now, from Nov. 19 to 21 at Brooklyn College. The conference will explore how activists and workers can examine the intersections of food, race, poverty and social justice and tackle issues around hunger, access, food-related illnesses and more.

Critics of the food justice movement most commonly, and justifiably, decry it as Whole Foods-elitist, white, wealthy and largely oblivious to the realities of most Americans and unable (or unwilling) to address said issues. How great to see these much-needed conversations and activism take root here.

Anyone plan to attend the conference?

Photo credit: David Barrie via Flickr

NY's solution to under staffing?

2010-10-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

As blogged here a few days ago, apparently the solution is to just cut out the agency head. ProPublica (a constant source of excellent journalism) has been covering the enforcement, or lack thereof, of natural gas drilling for years now. They have a state-by-state breakdown site.

Here are some of the graphs for New York:

So if you click the image I think you can see it larger, but the important points to note: down to 16 people enforcing regulation of natural gas wells in NY State.

And look at this:

A nice steady increase of wells being drilled by year, with a dwindling staff. Note the number above the graph - 19 enforcement staff for 13,684 wells in 2008.

Hectic!

Good thing Paterson just sacked Grannis, for sure... Even though he was supporting hydrofracking, he internally spoke up about an inability to manage what we're already doing.

In light of these realities, Grannis' memo is quite grim:

Thanks to ProPublica!

LEED green building officials blue under new lawsuit

2010-10-25T07:13:00.000-07:00

Founders and members of the U.S. Green Building Council, who maintain the popular LEED rating system and guidelines for green building design and energy use, have been slapped with a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for allegedly fraudulently misleading consumers and misrepresenting energy performance of buildings with LEED certification.

The filing plaintiff, longtime outspoken LEED critic and engineer Henry Gifford, owner of Gifford Fuel Saving of Manhattan, is part of a class of plaintiffs consisting of business owners who paid for LEED certification and taxpayers who claim they helped subsidize LEED buildings. Gifford, deemed worthy of a New Yorker profile in 2003, not only claims he has been harmed by USGBC, but claims to represent the interests of the other plaintiffs who say they paid for LEED certification under false promises. Under the suit, they demand that USGBC pay $100 million in compensation and legal fees to victims, and stop their alleged deceptive practices.

But the case seems shaky, at best. Gifford cites his evidence of misrepresentation on his own analysis of data from the most thorough study done of LEED construction to date, a 2008 study from New Buildings Institute (NBI) and USGBC. Gifford claims that, under his own analysis, LEED buildings are, on average, 29 percent less efficient -- a sharp contrast to the findings from the NBI study (supported by the National Research Council Canada) which found LEED-certified building an average of 25 to 30 percent more efficient than the average building.

Gifford (EBN)

Meanwhile, the class action suit might fall apart, as each plaintiff's case varies widely and the lead plaintiffs may not be the best to represent the class. Then there's the question of whether Gifford specifically was truly harmed from the alleged fraud. Oh, and there's this statement:

"I'm afraid that in a few years somebody really evil will publicize the fact that green buildings don't save energy and argue that the only solution [to resource constraints] to more guns to shoot at the people who have oil underneath their sand," he told Environmental Building News.

Hmm. EBN interviewed several lawyers who explained that consumers have numerous opportunities to verify their energy consumption under LEED and that LEED design alone could not reduce energy use if residents do not also adjust other living factors. They're sure the suit won't get too far.

But if the suit succeeds, what could it mean for green building? Read more details to the debate here.

Gov. Paterson fires environmental leader over leaked memo

2010-10-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

Gov. David Paterson is doing his darn best to tick off environmental advocates just months before he leaves office.

After writing a completely legitimate memo critiquing budget cuts to already strapped state environmental programs, Pete Grannis, New York State's commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation was fired Thursday, prompting environmental activists and other politicians to call for his immediate rehiring.

Former commissioner Grannis

In his memo, published Tuesday by the Albany Times-Union, Grannis wrote that cuts to the state's environmental programs -- two offices' budgets were slashed about 12 percent from last year's totals -- have left them "hanging by a thread." About 209 people would lose jobs, bringing the total lay-offs to nearly 800 within the past few years, and leaving even fewer people to manage all the offices oversee.

Since when is critique of Albany's disastrous budgetary crisis worthy of firing? Perhaps if Grannis had been talking crazy -- instead, tons of Albany insiders back his concerns. So far, state Assemblyman Bob Sweeney, chairman of the Environmental Conservation Committee, Assembly member Kevin Cahill, head of the Energy Committee, and eight other Assembly members including Jim Brennan of NYC have all spoken up in favor of rehiring Grannis, writes Brian Nearing of the Times-Union. Leaders from more than a dozen environmental groups have spoken out Gov. David Paterson for the firing.

In its statement on the firing, the Sierra Club called it "the latest in a series of appalling assaults to the environment coming out of Governor’s office." "While we may have locked horns with Pete over gas drilling, he has 40 year record of protecting the environment and has fought to keep his decimated agency together – always doing more with an ever-shrinking pool of funding and staff." Others critique the suddennes and process of the firing, especially since the governor's office moved without consulting the Assembly or Grannis.

Grannin also wrote in his memo that the budget cuts, and future cuts, will not only devastate programs based in state parks, hunting, hiking, fishing and camping, but also weaken the state's efforts to reign in the corporate push for the uber dangerous, environmentally devastating natural gas drilling within the Marcellus Shale further upstate. (Check this video here).

Irked? Call or email the Governor's office at 518-474-8390 and governor@chamber.state.ny.us to call for Grannis's reinstatement.

Event: Campus Clothing Swap!

2010-10-19T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hold on to your socks! Well, actually, let 'em go, along with your shirts, pants, jackets, skirts, bowties, zoot suits, cowboy hats, whatever. Bring them all to the Green Coalition's Second Annual Clothing Swap, at SIT time (12:15 to 1:45 p.m.) Thursday, Nov. 4, location TBA!

(Something like that)

For those who have never attended a clothing swap, it's super fun, super simple, super cheap (i.e. free) and green, based on that good old theory of "one person's trash is another person's treasure," etc., etc. Drop off your gently-used clothes at the swap, sift through the pile of awesome used clothes donated by your classmates, and pick up new duds for yourself! If you hadn't noticed, CUNY Law students are an extremely well-dressed bunch. Trust us, you'll definitely go home happy!

Chevron Pranked (Probably) by the Yes Men

2010-10-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

compliments of GOOD magazine

Reduce your "forkprint"

2010-10-14T07:44:00.000-07:00

Stuck on campus all day, with the need to eat lunch (or dinner -- poor souls), one's likely to need some forks, knives, spoons at some point. Most of us scrounge up some plastic silverware from the cafeteria or a random seminar room. Of course, we throw out the plastic. It may be recycled but most likely ends up in a landfill or in our oceans, leeching chemicals into the ground, groundwater and ocean water, devastating to ecosystems over time and to our health.

Why not carry some resuable utensils? Why didn't we think of this before?

The Green Coalition is again selling some high-quality, convenient reusable silverware sets (above) for $10 in the cafeteria by Margie. The sets include a fork, knife, spoon and two chopsticks and come in a colored canvas case.

We've only a limited number of sets (for now). Get 'em while their hot!

Save the earth with adoption?

2010-10-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

While population arguments often pop up within environmental circles, NPR's "Weekend Edition Saturday" host Scott Simon raises more discussion of whether adoption could help assuage the much-debated effects of more babies on climate, waste, energy, production and consumption in an already crowded planet with millions of orphans.

After reviewing Simon's new book, "Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other, In Praise of Adoption," Grist.org's Lisa Hymas interviewed Simon and asked whether he felt parents should justify their adoption by environmental concerns.

Simon, rightfully, argues parents shouldn't be solely motivated by reducing their carbon footprint or eco-claim. Why? "Because I think you ought to have children out of joy, not out of sense of duty."

But nor should prospective parents be solely motivated by the fact they cannot conceive children themselves, which is often the case for parents who adopt children today.

"We've known people who have gone through so many rounds of assisted fertility, and that just strikes me as utterly useless when there are already children in the world," said Simon, who with his wife underwent fertility treatments before adopting. "If somehow you could connect the number of people in this world who want to have children and more of the youngsters out there who could use families, that's a kind of global warming we could all use."

The decision and act of raising children, of course, remains incredibly emotional, personal and difficult, thus it is tough to make many arguments in terms of any sort of public policy. Any thoughts on Simon's book and population arguments in terms of climate and environmental concerns?

Photo credit: BZO via Flickr

new goal for Green Coalition

2010-10-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

Our new goal is to tag along with this plan:

The Brooklyn Paper: Thar she blows! City wants windmills in Red Hook

let's get CUNY Central to commit to building a windmill on the new building too!

Just imagine....:

Lisa Jackson is an impervious, immune sovereign of all things green.

2010-10-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

Although we're most likely a bit past high noon of a Democratic White House, at least in that time frame executive branch can take some of the right action (editorial opinion, at least) and maybe even leave a lingering impact.

The Environmental Protection Agency's Lisa Jackson swings back at critics - Darren Samuelsohn - POLITICO.com

“It’s definitely anti-lobbyist rhetoric,” Jackson said. “It’s definitely meant to reflect the fact that, when I go around the country, people want clean air. They are as passionate about clean air and clean water as any of a number of issues; they want protection for their families and their children.”

Look at her getting all fierce.

This writer is currently in Public Institutions, so it's nice to see one of those acting as it should, at least in the public sphere. It's also unfortunate that the expansion of federal power doesn't run consistently through agencies drawing power through the APA. But why doesn't it? Shouldn't the EPA have sovereign immunity from individual suits brought by corporate polluters that challenge its authority to like, I dunno, grab em by the balls and throw them against the wall? Perhaps this blogger should study more before asking such questions in a public forum.

And oh yeah, the White House is doing Solar Panels.

From my tumblr.

2010-10-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

Sigh.

]

10/10/10 wins this weekend!

2010-10-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

Take a break from midterm studying this weekend for this awesome event: 10/10/10 Global Work Party.

It's pretty fantastic: Organizers and everyday people in more than 150 countries will be building solar panels, working in community gardens, constructing wind turbines and running bike workshops and much more, all to fight climate change.

350.org, the main organizer of the day, says this: "We're getting to work--what about you?"

In Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Food Coalition is hosting a day of work at BKFarmyards to support the High School for Public Service Youth Farm with a pot luck communal dinner following from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Brooklyn Greenway Initiative will lead a cleanup along Columbia Street, part of a larger project to clean up the Greenway, a planned 14-mile, off-street, landscaped route for cyclists and pedestrians, from Greenpoint through Sunset Park. Here in Flushing, the Queens Botanical Gardens will host demonstrations of how to compost and how to turn items like old clothes into new things from 1 to 4 p.m., along with a cleanup of the Gardens, devastated from the recent tornado.

To join, or to find more events planned near you, visit:
http://www.350.org/en/map

New library food policy, just a little greener...

2010-10-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all, according to new small signs posted on library desks, the library has updated its food policy (since no one really followed the old "no snacks allowed" rule).

For the heck of it, let's just tack on a couple green edits, shall we?
- If possible, use spill-proof containers that are "perferably" reusable water bottles and thermoses, and..
-If possible, recycle or reuse small snacks packaging (recycle bins conveniently placed around the library).

Guess that'd be tough to get on a small sign...

11-year-old breaks down the broken food system

2010-10-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

What's wrong with the food system? Let this 11-year-old explain...

Green Coalition returns!

2010-10-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

Following up two super productive, whirlwind years on campus, the CUNY Law Green Coalition is back in business this semester, with a slate of events and campaigns already in the works for the fall and spring. At this group's first fall meeting Thursday, old and new members discussed upcoming projects including a continued sale of portable silverware in the cafeteria, logistics of school-wide composting system, a clothing swap sometime in October (date TBA), and a future panel discussion tentatively focused on the broad health implications of urban water and air pollution, particularly from a race and gender lens.

Last spring's clothing swap

Check back here regularly for updates and more details! If anyone has any questions or ideas for the Coalition, or would like to get involved, please contact greencoalition@mail.law.cuny.edu.

it's summer

2010-06-24T08:42:00.000-07:00

So it might be a little foolish posting things here, esp when the readers of this blog probably also read Prof. Robson's blog anyway, but this is worth it.

Regardless of the DP argument, the appleseeds should have a down and dirty discussion about how to establish a baseline legal argument that the Constitution does not compel the courts to rule in favor of economic expansion or else.

Constitutional Law Prof Blog: Preliminary Injunction on Deepwater Drilling Moratorium: Financial Investment in the Outcome?

also it's nice to show off the new layout.

a bit to be cautiously optimistic about...

2010-05-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

Grist claims that scotus nominee Elana Kagan might not suck about environmental issues. She might suck about other things, but hopefully she won't suck about ya know, the future of the survival of the human race.

Elena Kagan, climate realist | Grist

While the news media is busy gossiping about 'is she or isn't she' it would be nice if more people asked the question this article raises, illustrated here by the Green Coalition graphics department:

Save the world by shopping... urg.

2010-05-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

Benefits of corporate sponsorships, beginning with KFC’s partnership with the Susan Komen foundation: start watching at 01:15. Thanks Stephen Colbert.

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Tip/Wag - Scientists & KFC

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Fox News

put a big box on it.

2010-05-07T04:58:00.001-07:00

university's that compost: a brief google survey.

2010-05-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

Composting Food Waste : Recycling & Waste Management : University of Vermont

Vermont Law Composting

NYU Law School
(ya know, that place where we all take a pilgrimage to get jobs every year.)

Harvard Law School

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The point - it can be done.

Letter to Admin re: Composting

2010-05-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Sent April 29, 2010

Hi Greg and Michael:

Green Coalition would like to begin this email by thanking the Sustainability Council so much for all of your efforts this year with all of the projects we've collaborated with you on. We couldn't have done it without you! We wanted to write you an email, though, because it has come to our attention that there have been a number of complaints about the location of the composters in the vestibule and the smell creating a nuisance, and we thought it's important to have a discussion about it. Viable points have been made regarding environmental justice concerns because of how the security guards at the back desk are in the closest proximity to it, and are generally people of color.

Green Coalition thinks it's important to address this particular concern immediately, and on a larger level. The composting machines, the composting bucket, and the program in general needs more administrative support. Proper upkeep and maintenance of the composters will stave off the smell, but it has been difficult for students to sustain constant attention to our compost. The smell that people are complaining about is only an indicator of the inefficiency of this project and the necessity of stronger institutional support in order to fully incorporate composting into CUNY Law's custodial sustainability.

After having a discussion with Steve this afternoon, we reiterate our need for more administrative support for this program. We know that CUNY is committed to the above-mentioned sustainable goals and it seems apparent that the most clear way to evidence this is provide even a minimal amount of staff support for this program. The 3Ls (who have been highly involved with maintaining this program) will not be returning to the school, and because this has been an experimental project to jump-start a more concrete plan for composting at the Law School into the future, INCLUDING at the new building, we feel it is imperative that the Law School administration take on a portion of the responsibilities associated with composting. Green Coalition's strength in this plan has been and will continue to be educating the community, but because of the limited time students spend at the building, (and even have to devote when we ARE here), we're unable to completely administer the program.

We're glad to have the opportunity to introduce this concept and its technology into the community of students, faculty, and staff that will potentially be taking over. We recognize that through our efforts, more and more people have been composting. This is GREAT, and exactly what we wanted to effect!! However, the time has come to broaden our efforts if the school is to keep composting as an institution. Any of our members involved with composting would be happy to meet with staff to explain how to maintain the machines, even through the summer.

One of main reasons we thought it was important to institute this program at the school was because we wanted to get students involved and caring about their waste disposal patterns, and apprise them of the technologies available to improve them. We want to keep them enthusiastic about their ability to change and to also participate hands-on in the process, and at this point there just isn't as much student involvement as desired. As evidenced in the above email, we fully recognize that the program can neither be run solely by you or by us. However, at this point, the administration must provide a modicum of support to us in this effort in order for the program to continue at all. We'd love to hear back from you on ways you think this can be best accomplished.

Thank you so much for your time, we know it's valuable! We sincerely appreciate all the effort and dedication the administration has shown thus far, both for the composting program and for the waste audit. We all feel this has been an amazingly successful year.

Yours in a successful continuing composting program,
Green Coalition

finals are upon us BUT

2010-05-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

this blog needs to say something about the increasingly horrendous disaster in the Gulf.

Obama shelves new drilling as oil hits La. - Environment- msnbc.com

This is a particularly bitter use of the political winds. Do massive environmental disasters have staying power in the American memory? Will the push for new drilling in the Gulf start at the end of his first term, or will he hold off till the Democrats need a pick up in the midterms of his second term?

The pictures of the ducks still stand out in our memory from the Exxon Valdez spill and now they're back in the media. Look, the NYtimes at least remembers that for some reason concern for the birds is at the top of the list 'things we need to feature because because people care about it':

here's the link to that article.

It doesn't need to be said, but CUNY Law Green Coaltion is going to say it anyway: Wind turbines don't spill.

Meanwhile in school land: Where do we put the compost machines???

Monsanto.

2010-04-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

JURIST - Paper Chase: Supreme Court hears arguments on genetically modified crop injunction

Some green minded public interest lawyers editing this blog might think that Monsanto is a dark and mysterious force of environmental control, destruction, and possibly one of the epitomes of evil corporations. Some might not! It's a fun debate.

Michael Pollan and the CEO of Monsanto talked a couple years ago. Some editors of this blog might not have actually watched this conversation, but will share it anyway.

Regardless, keep an eye on these guys. It's also worth noting that Monsanto is now an underwriter of the PBS Newshour, and within the past few years started advertising in mainstream media.

Food, Inc.

2010-04-27T13:47:00.001-07:00

Hey Appleseeds,

let's just say, you're stressin, you're dragging your feet, you're overloaded, and you can't sleep?

Well, you could try streaming Food, Inc. from PBS fora limited time only!

The PBS stream works on crappy internet signals, and on older computers. And if you didn't read Omnivore's Dilema, the film is quite nice, but even if you did, it's nice to see some of the points illustrated in the film.

Enjoy.

Good luck.

Waste Audit photos!

2010-04-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

Results of the waste audit are soon to be released.

Here we have some Appleseeds clawing through trash.

24 hours. So much garbage.

Below you will notice 3L Laura Mott finding all sorts of treasures.

the clothing swap!

2010-04-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

Earth week, Earth Day, so much GC activity.

Here are some photos from the swap, and this writer asks the readers to recognize that he arrived well after it was over and he assumes there was much more than we can witness in the photos here.

Many thanks to Paula Segal and Laura Mott for hauling it all into the car before the terrential downpour!

Donations ended up going to Beacon's Closet. Hipsters shop there, yes, but they also donate all the clothing they pass on to "Dominick’s mobile ministry – a not-for-profit mobile service established in 1995, which distributes customer clothing to the needy, homeless, and to churches throughout new york and pennsylvania." taken from the Beacon's Closet website.

They also donate financial proceeds to a nice list of charities. So WAY TO GO CUNY COMMUNITY. Sharing with your community and donating.

CUNY Law loves clothing swaps. Many thanks to all those who brought in, swapped out, and stopped by and considered the joy of sharing rather than consuming.

waste audit result:

2010-04-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

whoa.

Way to go Carmen Rana! Green Coalition loves you! And we think the whole Cunity is grateful for this contribution of beauty at the build up to finals.

FYI: this is 24 hour's worth of disposal cups transformed into art. 451 cups.

CUNY Law: meet the reusable mug:

come to the pool party, help us hit our goal.

2010-04-20T18:38:00.001-07:00

People's Climate Conference in Bolivia

2010-04-20T06:32:00.000-07:00

Law students don't have much time to give Earth Day its due, but in case you're kicking back, we're embedding a livestream to the People's Climate Conference beginning in Bolivia this week:
Your browser does not support iframes.

And if you want to get some more info about it, this Indypendent article has some more info about it and events that are going on in NY in response.

Further, Democracy Now is broadcasting from Bolivia all week and I just watched Monday's episode. Quite stimulating.

Pool Party too!

Pool Party!

2010-04-19T12:25:00.001-07:00

Get Wet!
Thurs April 22nd, 2010 · 7:00pm - 11:00pm
at the Grace Hotel
125 West 45th St bet 6th and 7th Ave, Manhattan
$10 for student pool passes · $10+ suggested donations for everyone else!

Everybody In! It is time to break out your bathing suits and join Green Coalition on Earth Day in support of the inaugural BLSA-Green Coalition summer fellowship. Yes, it's an indoor pool party! We'll play Marco Polo and have a drink at the bar all in honor of Earth Day!

The fellowship will enable a law student to volunteer their summer at an organization that works to promote environmental justice. The award will go to a student who demonstrates an interest in environmental law and the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, culture, education, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Tickets can be purchased here or from a Green Coalition member during tabling next week. Tickets must be purchased in advance! Visit the Grace Hotel Website here.

i'd rather read about this

2010-04-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

Agriculture is the New Golf: Rethinking Suburban Communities - The Neighborhoods Issue - GOOD

instead of finishing my Motion. But if anybody reading the blog has time, please read this and summarize in the comments.

thank you Good.

Heather Rogers (Green Gone Wrong) & Jim Hansen (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies)

2010-04-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

CUNY Graduate Center book launch, “Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution” (Simon & Schuster, 2010) by Heather Rogers

On April 30th, 2010, the CUNY Graduate Center will be sponsoring a book launch for “Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution” (Simon & Schuster, 2010) by journalist and author, Heather Rogers. Heather is the author of "Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage"(New Press, 2006) which addresses the issues of waste and garbage accumulation in our society. In Green Gone Wrong, she blasts through the marketing buzz of big corporations and asks the simple questions: can earth-friendly products really save the planet? Do today's much-touted "green" products -carbon offsets, organic food, biofuels, and eco-friendly cars and homes- really work? This far-reaching, riveting narrative explores how the most readily available solutions to environmental crisis may be disastrously off the mark. At this event there will be a discussion with Jim Hansen, Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and author of "Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity," (Bloomsbury, 2009). The discussion will be moderated by Ashley Dawson, Faculty Fellow, the Center for Place,
Culture and Politics, CUNY Graduate Center.

Books will be on sale.

Friday, April 30th, 2010
7 - 8.30 pm; Reception to follow
Proshansky Auditorium
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue @ 34th Street
Free and open to the public

Pool Party!

2010-04-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

Purchase your tix by clicking here! Thanks.

bike lanes and community often conflict updated

2010-04-13T06:25:00.000-07:00

But this one doesn't really seem like it is more than just drivers asserting their privelege.

The Brooklyn Paper: Prospect Park West’s two-way bike lane is on a roll

Blogger's note: I try to resist posting too much bike stuff. It's not always explicitly environmental. I think this one is pushing the limit of things relevant to this blog. But I think it's neat.

Streetsblog made a video of interviews at the Community Board Meeting, including newly elected Councilman Brad Lander. The video is boring. Click through it, you'll get the idea.

UPROSE bus tour

2010-04-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

At the Law Review Panel:

back in February, Elizabeth Yeampierre talked about the work of UPROSE and the video shows the bus they use for the EJ Bus Tour. Here's a media spot from a REALLY awesome project, Brooklyn Independent Television, with a piece about it.

Can we take that tour sometime soon?

tech savvy

2010-04-09T08:25:00.001-07:00

Look at our brilliantly designed new compost bin!

Appleseeds, so capable in law and labor.

Toxic Colonialism: U.S. Military Policy and Vieques

2010-04-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

GC co-sponsored a CLORE/LALSA Panel today.

Here is the video that was played at the beginning if you're interested:

Please participate in the conversation over at the CLORE blog where they have posted the things that didn't get fleshed out.

Here are some scattered notes I took during the conversation
-History of Navy base in Vieques pollution. 62 years of bombing. Puerto Rico is the oldest colony in the world.

Javier Cuebas: Speaking about primary strategy of civil disobedience and other tactics. Vieques is a reflection of PR diaspora, has different meanings to people living on the island. Vieques known as 'little sister' - reflection of PR experience.
-with the exception of nuclear bombs, all other weapons tested there
-extremely sick population as a result.
on stateside - two camps - deniers and those who are aware of it.
majority of people IN PR are in agreement that vieques is a problem. galvanizes people on the mainland.

at one point navy propoosed transfer of population of vieques to the mainland.
dracula plan.

John Arthur Eaves - how did a gringo mississippi lawyer end up on this case? former mayor called him up, due to publicity from another case.
why did it begin as a case and become a mission?
1-faith
2-modern day civil rights movt - would not have happened anywhere else in the US
3-explains full cost of war
4-health of the people there
5-vieques best opportunity I have had to make a difference
the case - began w/administrative claim. took 4-5 years to collect medical records. doctors didn't even know teh illness the ppl were facing
told by politicians that the votes were not enough,
case dismissed, no evidence that navy's activities
relied on faulty ATSDR conclusions.
all sorts of procedural issues, eventually moved to San Juan ct, govt moved to dismss for sovereign immunity
discovered through FOIA that USNavy knew of problems in 1978
this is where it is now.

Vieques is now a superfund site.

ATSDR

JC - ADOVACY AND ALLIANCES TO BRING people w/ different ideologies together
PR senate passed unanimous resolutions about Vieques
casapueblo - community organizing in PR
everything connected for advocacy through regulations
"politicians, they like to be in office"
identify commonalities among the actors. develop political alliances

questions

community focus needed for a real 'break'

2010-04-07T06:53:00.000-07:00

The Indypendent » Greenpeace Indirectly Pits Itself Against Indonesian Farm Workers

The Indypendent Blog posted this brief article about the effects of Greenpeace's recent big campaign against Nestle. Greenpeace has really started to nail down how to wage a successful campaign with cutting viral videos and aggressive pushes against well-known corporations. It's the kinda stuff that makes environmentalists go "oo yeah, you get 'em Greenpeace". And it seems that the campaign is having rapid success, but not without a drawback, pushback from Indonesian palm oil farmers.

At CUNY Law we speak often about organizing and advocacy and the role of the law within that, and I think this issue raises these questions on a big scale. Specifically - how can large environmental groups wage effective campaigns without sacrificing community needs? Can this be done on a large scale or is a smaller community focus required to preserve the lives of workers when one corporation holds all the economic power in a region? Are viral video campaigns inherently exploitive?

And so on.

At the International Law Society's event a few weeks ago "Blood and Capital: Holding Corporations Accountable for Human Rights Violations" we did see some great legal work utilizing the Alient Tort Statute that seems to allow for this type of work. Is there a way that Greenpeace and the other gigantic environmental groups can integrate some of CCR's and EarthRights strategies?

Much to consider, and it's important for all of us to consider these questions in our summer work and beyond.

Regardless, here is the somewhat stomach turning Greenpeace video, in case you haven't seen it.

How to strangle a climate skeptic [VIDEO] | Grist

2010-04-01T04:13:00.000-07:00

How to strangle a climate skeptic [VIDEO] | Grist

Bottled Water blows.

2010-03-29T05:46:00.000-07:00

I know I'm a little behind posting this, but Appleseeds probably are too wrapped up in studies to have spent 8 minutes on this yet.

Annie Leonard is using Youtube really really well.

Anecdotally, I do notice that CUNY students seem to use a their own bottles of tab or coffee or tea more than plastic bottles. Any thoughts?

Perhaps we can stream this at our Freecycle event?

BeeTeeDubs, this is the scariest part, around 4:55 onward.

NYCDOT releases new stats (via Streetsblog)

2010-03-27T06:31:00.000-07:00

Streetsblog New York City

Do any 3Ls remember or know that only in 2008 did Jewel Avenue get a bike lane?

"A 2007-2008 redesign of Jewel Avenue in Queens added a buffered bike lane, introduced some traffic calming measures and gave pedestrians longer crossing times. Afterward, bike volume along the corridor increased fivefold, and 91 percent of cars now travel at or below the speed limit. Before implementation, local politicians protested the removal of traffic lanes, but the data show that congestion hasn't increased at all."

Check out the link that shares some of the recent stats from the NYCDOT for other great little facts about how much transportation improved as a result of more bike lanes, more bus lanes, etc.

American Enterprise Institute accidentally makes the case for climate legislation | Grist

2010-03-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

American Enterprise Institute accidentally makes the case for climate legislation | Grist

So I'm trying to share things here that relate to the environmental law with a focus on NYC, or just NY. This is neither, but it is funny AND interesting. Conservative think tank attempting to claim that just a growth in prosperity is the result of a decline in greenhouse gas emissions, when in reality, it is environmental regulation. CO2 of course is not regulated and has increased where the other significant emissions have decreased in the past 30 years.

Let's pass more laws.

another link to share from Grist.

2010-03-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

This is a nicely written piece. Environmental Justice <-> Immigration Reform. The author doesn't specifically call it EJ, but I think it makes sense to draw that connection out.

good thing to tie into our freecycle event?

2010-03-10T05:40:00.000-08:00

Ask Umbra, a series producted by Grist just posted this vid about the Fixers Collective in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn:

It's a pretty rad idea. and while law students are generally strapped for time (I think the Appleseeds generally are each overcommitted as it is) the ethic is still something we could incorporate into our FreeCycle event... which still needs to get officially declared and promoted. Earth Day? Thursday after break...March 25th?

How freaking rad would it be to really throw a wrench into the hectic law school life...by giving people a wrench.

NYCHA is maybe pulling an early April Fool's joke?

2010-03-04T13:57:00.000-08:00

Now that the Gowanus is officially Superfunded, lots of low-income people can still live there.

Nasty Gowanus.

2010-03-03T07:27:00.000-08:00

If you keep rolling down from the Park Slope Co-Op, you can now take a dip in an official Superfund site!

Hooray!

Thanks NYTimes.

Also, here's a cumbersome but interesting map of all Superfund sites.

community benefits agreements and grid improvements in NY?

2010-03-01T07:02:00.000-08:00

Streetsblog posted about newly elected Comptroller John Liu examining the effectiveness of Community Benefit Agreements

Also, has anybody heard about this '45 in 15' campaign in NY?

I haven't. Apparently NY wants to be meeting 45% of its energy needs through improvement of grid efficiency and renewable energy

EJ into law?

2010-02-22T18:38:00.000-08:00

I am suspicious but impressed at the sentiment.

The grossly ineffective NY state senate has just passed an "Environmental Equality" bill.

And here is Senator Schneiderman talking about Environmental Justice.

albeit cramped into a statement about being a democrat, and it's unclear how closely Democrat and EJ can be linked.

2010-02-18T20:52:00.001-08:00

Tip of the Week #2

2009-11-24T20:34:00.000-08:00

Tissues (and Handkerchiefs)

As anybody who sits through class with me is well aware, I have year-round, persistent allergies. I decided a while ago that the trees no longer needed my snot. Here's somethings to consider.

Environmental Impact

Tissues, whatever brand you buy, are made of paper. The largest producer of pulp for tissues is Kimberly-Clark, owner of the Kleenex® brand. Greenpeace waged an aggressive Kleercut campaign to get them to stop logging in old-growth forests that officially ended in 2009 due to a commitment from the company to protect Canada's Boreal Forest. Regardless, according to the NRDC the "virgin timber-based pulp and paper industry is the third greatest industrial emitter of global warming pollution. Its carbon dioxide emissions are projected to double by 2020."

Social Impact

The Kleenex® website provides a lovely history of its product. The company initially marketed it as a make-up remover, until some savvy employee noted how useful it was to deal with his hay-fever. And hence, a large contribution to the disposable culture pervasive throughout our society was born. For a great description of the breadth of this problem Green Coalition recommends the informative and entertaining Story of Stuff.

Americans have always been particularly germ phobic, and there may be some correlation between the fear of mucus and the tendency to want to throw it out as if it was toxic waste. But just FYI, you touch a lot more mucus than you think.

The Law

It's a big issue, so just focusing on the stance of the current administration protecting national forests: "No logging or road project on tens of millions of forested acres will proceed without personal approval by the Agriculture Department's secretary for at least a year while the Obama administration decides how to handle a controversial Clinton-era roadless rule, officials said today." -NYtimes May 28, 2009.

To learn more about the roadless rule, check out this timeline and website. Suffice to say, the current White House is more of a friend of forests than the previous, but it is NOT enough to rest on.

What can you do?

Number 1:
Use a handkerchief. I promise cloth is softer than any tissue you have ever wiped under your nose. This article> suggests a different hanky for each day of the week.

My personal strategy has been to cut up old t-shirts. Especially if it's a shirt that's too tattered/small to keep wearing but you really love it, it's a very special way to keep that shirt as a loving presence in your life.

Number 2:
Follow this guide published by the NRDC and purchase the most responsible disposable tissue product possible. Some composts can take your dirty tissues. Then you can think about eating your snotty tissue when you chomp into a beautiful homegrown tomato next August!

Tip of the Week #1

2009-11-15T10:22:00.000-08:00

Recycle your Batteries

Environmental Impact

Batteries contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and nickel, which can contaminate the environment if not recycled properly. When incinerated, certain metals might be released into the air or can concentrate in the ash produced by the combustion process.

Currently, most batteries collected through household battery collection programs are disposed of in hazardous waste landfills. In landfills, heavy metals have the potential to leach slowly into soil, groundwater or surface water. Dry cell batteries contribute about 88 percent of the total mercury and 50 percent of the cadmium in the municipal solid waste stream. In the past, batteries accounted for nearly half of the mercury used in the United States and over half of the mercury and cadmium in the municipal solid waste stream. When burned, some heavy metals such as mercury may vaporize and escape into the air, and cadmium and lead may end up in the ash.*

Social Impact

Landfills can leak. Toxic chemicals leaking from landfills are bad for people. Its almost that simple. Its gets more complicated when you start looking at who is most affected by leaking landfills.

Communities that live close to landfills are disproportionately endangered by the toxic chemicals that may leach from them. Historically, poor and minority communities have been located in close proximity to landfills and therefore have been burdened by a large share of the environmental impacts caused by toxins in landfills. These communities have looked to the law for remedies

The Law

Many states have regulations in place requiring some form of battery recycling. California mandates recycling for almost all battery types The U.S. Congress passed the Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act in 1996 to make it easier for rechargeable battery and product manufacturers to collect and recycle Ni-CD batteries and certain small sealed lead-acid batteries.*

When government doesn't have the correct mechanisms or fails to enforce them citizens suits are also an avenue for redress. The case of the Dickson County Landfill in Tennessee is a prime example of how communities have been damaged by toxic landfill leaks. In March 2008 the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and two residents of Dickson, Tennessee, filed a lawsuit against the Dickson County and City governments. The Complaint alleges that an industrial chemical disposed at the Dickson Landfill that has been linked to neurological and developmental harm and cancer, poses an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment.**

Remedial Measures

One way to prevent personally generated toxins from reaching landfills is to not use them. If you do, then recycle those batteries. The NYC Department of Sanitation operates Self Help Special Waste Drop-Off Sites in every borough for the collection and recycling (or proper disposal) of batteries. Check out NYDOS site for more info.

If you want to get involved in working with communities that are adversely impacted by the sorts of issues that toxic chemicals in landfills pose as a good place to start would be to check out organizations like WeAct, the Environmental Justice Resource Center and Green For All.

Information from this Tip of the Week retrieved from:
*EHSO
**NRDC
Written by Patrick Foster

Gowanus Canal Storm Surges Meeting

2009-09-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

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

Sustainable Living for Sustainable Cities Lecture

2009-09-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

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!

---
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.

Waste Audit Redux

2009-09-03T17:02:00.001-07:00

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

Waste Audit Spring '09 Results

2009-09-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-03T15:03:00.000-07:00

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

CUNY GC Alumni Mixer

2009-09-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

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

Sustainable City!

2009-08-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, August 29, 2009, the CUNY Law Green Coalition will be taking a field trip to an island. Join us. We are going to Governor's Island in the middle of New York Harbor to have a picnic, get inspired about green possibilities, and plan green initiatives for CUNY Law in the coming year.

We will meet at the ferry terminal in lower Manhattan at 11:20am and take the 11:30am ferry to the isle of possibilities and eat a picnic lunch on the grass. Directions to the ferry terminal are pasted at the bottom of this message and can be found here: http://www.govisland.com/Visit_the_Island/directions.asp. Note that it is NOT the Staten Island ferry terminal but just east of it.

At 12:30pm, Jeremy Friedman from the NYU Sustainability Task Force will be giving a talk entitled "Green NYU, Green City, Green World" at 12:30pm. Learn how NYU is greening their campus and office space and how the exciting changes made there can be made everywhere. http://www.cunysustainablecities.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=10&Itemid=25

After the talk, we will have a planning meeting for Green initiatives at CUNY Law for the coming year. This is a great opportunity for us to brainstorm about how to make CUNY Law greener.

Join us, even if you've never met us. If you care about our impact on our planet, our city, and our neighborhood, we want to know you. For more about the CUNY Law Green Coalition, check out our blog at http://cunyappleseed.blogspot.com/ or email us at greencoalition@mail.law.cuny.edu. Feel free to email us for a cell phone number on the day of the event in case you can't find us on Saturday.

------
------
The CUNY Law Green Coalition was born last year. In ta year, we have initiated a composting program, done a 24-hour waste audit, raised awareness of recycling, taken a tour of the farm at the high school next door, participated in the CUNY Law Sustainability Council with faculty and administrators, started forming an alumi network of those working in "green" legal jobs, initiated an online rideshare in partnership with Queens College, learned about worms and the waste stream from Master Composters at the Queens Botanical Garden, and really made CUNY Law a little bit greener.

---
The Governors Island Ferry departs from the Battery Maritime Building located 10 South Street, adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry in Lower Manhattan. The ferry terminal is accessible as follows:

By Subway
1 – South Ferry Station
4, 5 (weekdays) to Bowling Green
W (weekdays only), R (weekdays and weekends) – Whitehall St. Station

Know before you go. Rebuilding efforts are ongoing and may affect subway service. Visit www.mta.info for service advisories, updated every Friday, or call 718-330-1234.

By Bus
M1 (weekdays only), M6, M9 and M15

Know before you go. Rebuilding efforts are ongoing and may affect subway service. Visit www.mta.info for service advisories, updated every Friday, or call 718-330-1234.

By Car
There is no public parking at the Governors Island ferry building.

Driving from the East Side:
Take the FDR Drive to Exit 1, South Ferry. As you exit, stay in the left lane and turn left around the (left) u-turn at the end of the street in front of the Staten Island Ferry terminal. The Battery Maritime Building is the historic ferry terminal just to the northeast of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. The Governors Island ferry departs from the northernmost slip of the Battery Maritime Building.

Driving from the West Side:
Take the West Highway around the tip of Lower Manhattan and go through the Battery Underpass. When you emerge from the Underpass, take the first exit, Exit 1, Staten Island Ferry. Stay left, and make a left-hand u-turn onto South Street going south. Stay to your turn left and make the (left) u-turn at the end of the street in front of the Staten Island Ferry terminal. The Battery Maritime Building is the historic ferry terminal just to the northeast of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. The Governors Island ferry departs from the northernmost slip of the Battery Maritime Building.

Driving: Local Streets:
Take Broadway south onto Whitehall Street. Turn left onto Water Street. Go one block and turn right onto Broad Street. Go one block and turn right onto South Street. Go to the left land, and make the (left) u-turn at the end of the street in front of the Staten Island Ferry terminal. The Battery Maritime Building is the historic ferry terminal just to the northeast of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. The Governors Island ferry departs from the northernmost slip of the Battery Maritime Building.

Share Your Ride/Get A Ride

2009-08-26T08:04:00.001-07:00

The CUNY Law Green Coalition, Queens College, and the CUNY Law Sustainability Council invite you to join CommuterLink - a New York based rideshare service. It's free. And it will help us reduce our impact on the earth by minimizing the number of cars we bring to campus every day. Students at Queens College and CUNY Law who drive to school or need a ride - this webpage will help you find others to share with.

The registration page for CUNY Law students is here: https://www.rideproweb.com/nylink/service.asp?rp3Action=Register&FormName=NewRegisterAgreed&Short=True&CompanyCode=LAW113

Direct from CommuterLink:

CommuterLink is now offering students, faculty, and staff of the CUNY School of Law a new way to travel. Through CommuterLink's carpooling match program, commuters can now easily find someone to travel with to and from work.

CommuterLink's FREE Ride Matching service, which will match you with carpool or vanpool partners who live or work near you, and work or study similar hours.

Guaranteed Ride Home ( GRH ): If you carpool and have to stay late unexpectedly or leave early in the event of an emergency, CommuterLink will reimburse you for a taxi or transit up to$40.00 per ride $200.00 per year .

Save Money: Save Money by splitting the cost of driving, from gas to parking to maintenence.

Reduce Stress: Having someone else drive means some days you can relax, read, or take a nap. (Check out our useful tips on car pooling etiquette!)

Enjoy the Ride: Working students of a commuter college don't have much time to spend with fellow students. Share the ride and blow off steam after class.

Earn money and form a Vanpool: CommuterLink makes it easy to start a vanpool. In fact, we do more of the work for you, from contacting prospects to making lease arrangments. While some vanpools use a vehicle owned by a member of the groups, most lease their van from a third-party provider with CommuterLink's assistance. The lease includes all maintenance costs and insurance, and requires no long-term financial obligation.

Save the Environment: Taking transit, carpooling or being part of a vanpool instead of driving alone can cut harmful auto emissions up to 85%. That means the air we breathe will be cleaner and there will be less health risks to ourselves and our families.

Mass Transit Route: Our expert staff will plot out a door to door itinerary for you complete with transfers and times, showing you the most convenient way to work. Give it a try!

For more about the CUNY Law Green Coalition, check out our blog: http://cunyappleseed.blogspot.com/

The Story of Stuff

2009-05-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

Spare 20 minutes for this awesome animated film about all the stuff we use. It's making the rounds of the classrooms - hurrah!
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Food Conference Report Back

2009-05-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

It was really really really great (and I was really really really tired). The text of Raj Patel's planery speech is here: http://brooklynfoodconference.org/2009/05/morning-forum-raj-patels-speech/ Totally worth taking a minute away from the books.

BIke Maps!

2009-04-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

The Department of Transportation has made the 2009 Bike map available. You can download it here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/bikemaps.shtml or pick it up at any bike shop. Remember your helmet and enjoy the breeze!

If you are a driver or need a ride, remember to use http://cunylaw.erideshare.com/ to offer or request rides. The group password is 'whereareyou' .

Trees, Trees, Everywhere!

2009-04-12T12:41:00.000-07:00

If only that were true, or at least a lot more true in New York. Want to do a little bit to help with making this a reality?

There are (at least) two similar initiatives that are pushing for more trees:

The One Million Trees Project is being supported by the ABA. So, if you're reading this and you're out of law school get in touch with them and pick up a shovel.

CUNY is part of the Million Tree NYC campaign, which is part of PlaNYC. Multiple CUNY campuses are the sites of organized plantings on May 1st.

If you want to get involved, sign up here:

http://milliontreesnyc.org/html/involved/cuny_registration.shtml

The Kissena Corridor plantings are relatively close to the law school.

Green Coalition - Let's plant! If you sign up at the link above, you can chose Queens College as your college (I know, I know) and put "CUNY School of Law - Green Coalition" in the Student Club/Organization field. May 1st is our last day of classes! Let's celebrate in the dirt. Before returning to the library for the next two weeks of finals prep.

CUNY Law Invades Green Drinks Brooklyn on TAX DAY 2009

2009-04-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

Maybe invasion is a little wishful thinking. However, I just finished my taxes (read: 'celebration necessary') and after Professor Goldsheid tells us about her experience arguing before the Supreme Court in U.S. v. Morrison & VAWA at CUNY Law on Wednesday, a green drink will surely be in order. Probably not an appletini, though.

-----

Next BKLYN Green Drinks:
Wednesday 4/15 at Oulu in Williamsburg,
Brooklyn, NY

Celebrate getting your taxes done at a Williburg favorite. This eco-friendly and stylish bar is also Uber-green. The lights are set at optimum energy conservation levels and the walls are made of 100% recycled sheetrock.

First 100 green appletinis are half priced--that's $5.
The Green Appletinis are to celebrate Green Apple Cleaner's new Brooklyn location.
http://www.greenapplecleaners.com/Store_Brooklyn_7thAve.html

All guests get a $10 first time customer or referral gift card.

WHEN:
Wednesday, April 15, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

WHERE:
Oulu
170 North Fourth Street (between Bedford and Driggs)
Williamsburg 11211
718 233 1340

Directions:
Please visit www.hopstop.com for detailed directions from any location

HOSTS:
Judy Sandford, Marco Carag and Eugene Lee

WHAT:
Every month, people who work in the environmental field, or simply have an interest in it, meet up for a beer at informal sessions known as Green Drinks.

It's your chance to mix with other like-minded folks, network, share info and make friends. Attendees have found employment, developed new ideas and even done deals! So join us-many report making great contacts every time!

It's a international concept--read more on the web site: www.greendrinks.org
Feel free to forward this invite to interested friends!

Market Fundamentalist Globalization in One City

2009-04-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

This is from the last section of an incredibly article about how the global economy has boiled up in all its ugliness in Dubai:

Perhaps Dubai disturbed me so much, I am thinking, because here, the entire global supply chain is condensed. Many of my goods are made by semi-enslaved populations desperate for a chance 2,000 miles away; is the only difference that here, they are merely two miles away, and you sometimes get to glimpse their faces? Dubai is Market Fundamentalist Globalisation in One City.

Read the rest here: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

Thanks Patrick!

Brooklyn Food Conference - Go!

2009-04-08T06:11:00.000-07:00

It sounds great. It's free. Awesome community orgs are behind it.

http://brooklynfoodconference.org/

Questions for the Public Advocate

2009-03-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

The candidates for Public Advocate will be coming to CUNY Law this Tuesday. The Green Coalition has some questions for them (we sent these to the moderator; maybe they will get asked):

How can the public advocate connect the progressive local, sustainable food campaigns, cooperatives, CSAs, etc. and the city government to make the most nutritious and sustainable food options available for all of New Yorkers?

How can you as Public Advocate help to ensure that stimulus plan money, which is being directed at state and local governments, will be utilized effectively and in the service of the poor and minority communities of New York?

Can you comment on how stimulus funds for green jobs training would best be utilized to ensure that desperately needed pathways out of poverty are created?

Where are your economic development priorities and how can you connect them to the sustainability movement that is changing priorities within our federal, state and local governments such that long term ecological and social considerations share parity with economic planning?

Food Supply Chain Untraceable!

2009-03-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

This article starts:
Most food manufacturers and distributors cannot identify the suppliers or recipients of their products despite federal rules that require them to do so, federal health investigators have found.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/health/policy/26fda.html?_r=1

Let's get busy!

Left Hook

2009-03-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

Here's the lineup of 'green' panels for this year's Left Forum, which will be held at Pace University. I've been for the past couple years - its an eclectic mix of activists, intellectuals and concerned citizens looking to dialogue on contemporary issues from a left perspective - and that definitely means different things to pretty much everyone there.

ecology and environment

Capitalist Crisis, Energy and the Commons
The Debate Over Green Capitalism, Technofixes and Reforms
Reclaiming Life
Money, Barrels, and Change
Science for the People
Convergences and Strategies from the Emerging Global Climate Justice Movement
Building Sustainable Communities, Beyond Green and Into Social Sustainability
Overcoming Capitalist Ecological Degradation through Ecosocialism
Global Warming and Society- What changes should students fight for?
The Case Against Centralized Thermal (Nuclear and Coal) Power
Strategies for Addressing the Climate Change Crisis: A Challenge to the American Left
Withering Energies? Oil and the Financial Crisis
Yes We Will!: Organizing to Bring Real and Lasting Social and Environmental Justice

food

Political Economy of the Globalized Food System
Grow It, Sell It, Cook It, Serve It, Eat It: Sustainable Alternatives in Food Production, Preparation and Distribution
Food Sovereignty: Indigenous and People’s Control Over Their Own Food Production
The Food Democracy Movement: Organizing fo a Healthy, Sustainable, and Socially Just Food System

Queens Farm!

2009-03-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

Can we take a field trip?
It's really close to school.

http://www.queensfarm.org/

Mr. Jones Goes to Washington

2009-03-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

A heap of Appleseeds went to Reblaw this year at Yale and listened to Van Jones give the opening keynote address.

Van Jones has been a social justice advocate in the San Francisco Bay area for years and most recently focused his attention on supporting the green jobs movement as a pathway out of poverty for low-income people and minorities.

Now Mr. Jones is heading to the White House to work in the Obama administration.

You can check out commentary on the announcement here, here and here.

GMO seeds in Afghanistan and Iraq

2009-03-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

Directing your attention to a brief up today at http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=217

The soils of war

The real agenda behind agricultural reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq

GRAIN

In this Briefing, we look at how the US’s agricultural reconstruction work in Afghanistan and Iraq not only gives easy entry to US agribusiness and pushes neoliberal policies, something that has always been a primary function of US development assistance, but is also an intrinsic part of the US military campaign in these countries and the surrounding regions. Seen together with the growing clout that the US and its corporate allies exercise over donor agencies and global bodies – such as the World Bank, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centres, which influence the food and farm policies adopted by the recipient countries – this is an alarming development. These are not unique cases born from unusual circumstances, but constitute a likely template for US activities overseas, as it continues to expand its “war on terror” and pursue US corporate interests.

Compost! Worms! At CUNY Law! In the Lounge!

2009-03-10T16:14:00.001-07:00

Calling all composters!

Want to do something to minimize the amount of garbage you produce in your apartment? Come to the Green Coalition's Composting Workshop and find out how to compost right at home in NYC - Queens Botanical Gardens will even be selling the bins and materials you need to do this! And hear more about CUNY Law's composting program, beginning right after spring break, and find out how you can help.

When/Where: Thurs. March 12, SIT time (1-2:30), in the 2nd Floor Lounge

Feel free to pop in and out. See you there!

Lovely and Official

2009-03-05T10:54:00.001-08:00

The Green Coalition was just listed on the CUNY School of Law website - and there's a link to this blog from there. CAUTION: This means that you can follow this link: http://www.law.cuny.edu/student/StudentLife/StudentOrganizations.html and link back to this blog and do that over and over and over until the end of life on this planet, which the Green Coalition is hoping to help extend for as long as ecologically possible. So, really, don't get trapped in the never ending hyperlink loop. Its just not healthy for you or the planet. That's free (completely non-legal) advice. You're welcome.

Re-post: March 3 @ 7 p.m.: FREE Sneak-Preview Screening of FUEL; PLEASE RSVP

2009-02-27T16:51:00.000-08:00

I originally posted a listing for a showing of this film, but it was for a limited audience (due to space) so I took the post down.

Now the film is showing for the general public, so RSVP and come to discus, critique and maybe be entertained.

You can learn about the film beforehand here.

--------

Council Member James F. Gennaro
Chair, Environmental Protection Committee
&
Queens College

invite you to a FREE sneak preview of the
Sundance Film Festival Best Documentary Audience Award-winning

Tuesday, March 3 @ 7:00 p.m.
Queens College – LeFrak Concert Hall
Corner of Kissena Blvd. & Horace Harding Expwy., Flushing, NY

- 6 p.m. Reception Followed by 7 p.m. Screening and Q & A -

Come see Councilman James F. Gennaro, Chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee and author of New York City's landmark bioheat mandate legislation, in FUEL: an insightful portrait of America’s addiction to oil and an uplifting testament to the immediacy of new energy solutions.

Director Josh Tickell, a young activist, shuttles us on a whirlwind journey to track the rising domination of the petrochemical industry and reveals a gamut of available solutions to "repower America" — from vertical farms that occupy skyscrapers to algae facilities that turn wastewater into fuel. This film illuminates a hopeful, achievable future, where decentralized, sustainable living is not only possible, it’s imperative.

Limited Tickets While Supplies Last
Open to Public, but you must RSVP to be guaranteed seating.
Email jgennaro@council.nyc.gov or call (718) 217-4969

Very limited parking is available on premises and street. Please take public transportation if possible

Nation's largest green roof atop Bronx water plant doubles as driving range!

2009-02-27T09:37:00.000-08:00

Mosholu Golf Course in the Bronx is one of a dozen run by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Its compact layout is typical of New York’s urban courses—nine holes, tree-lined fairways, the odd sand bunker—save for one highly unusual obstacle: the $2.1 billion drinking water treatment facility under construction on what used to be the driving range.
When this heavily secured compound is completed in 2012, it’s due to be topped by far more than just new turf. Grimshaw and landscape architect Ken Smith have designed one of the largest and most intensive green roofs to date, which is also a fully functioning driving range. And an irrigation system for the golf course. And an integrated security program for the facility below. Think Pebble Beach meets the Biosphere meets Rikers.
“The distinction here is it’s not just a green roof, but a performative green roof that needs to provide all these functions,” Smith said in an interview. “I think we’re pushing both the design of the green roof and the design of the golf course in new directions. We’re working to see how far we can push the diversity of the ecology and still adhere to the constraints of the golf course.”
This quietly radical project is the result of more than a decade of debate over whether or not water from the Croton Reservoir, the smallest of the city’s three, needed treatment after more than a century of going without. That was followed by battles with Bronx residents over which and even whether the borough’s parks would be torn up to make way for the new plant. The city finally broke ground on the facility in 2004, and the driving range has moved to a temporary site while the complex roofscape takes shape.

The engineering challenges are formidable. At nine acres, the $95 million driving range is the largest contiguous green roof in the country. So when it rains at the range, it pours, which creates a paradoxical hazard for the plant below. “It’s of paramount importance to the City of New York that this building stay dry, despite being full of water,” said David Burke, the project architect at Grimshaw. So to handle the millions of gallons that can accumulate on the green roof during a storm, the design team has devised a natural filtration system to collect, process, and store the runoff.
The range’s unique topography not only provides green-like targets for golfers, who tee off from the perimeter of the circular structure, but helps channel rainwater into the collection basins, where it meets groundwater pumped in from the plant’s four sump pumps. The water then travels through a series of ten cells that ring the range, each one modeled on a different native ecosystem to serve different filtration purposes. It takes up to eight days for water to travel through the cells, at which point it’s collected and used to irrigate the golf course.
“We’re not just dumping it in the sewer,” said Mark Laska, president of Great Ecology & Environments, one of two ecological designers on the project. “It’s a true display of sustainable green design in an urban environment.”
The design team wanted to convey such sustainable lessons to the public, especially the kids enrolled in the First Tee outreach program at Mosholu, and so the cells were left in plain view. Furthermore, because they are sunk ten feet below grade, they serve as a moat of sorts that helps protect the city’s water supply, which is seen as a potential target for terrorists.
To that end, Grimshaw has also designed the guardhouse and screening buildings that security constraints required, in addition to the new clubhouse and tee boxes on the range. (Grimshaw is not designing the plant, however, which is the work of a specialized engineering firm.)
It's an unlikely commission, to be sure, but one the architects embraced. “It’s very fitting for Grimshaw,” as Burke put it. “We tend to gravitate toward these oddball projects.”

http://archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=3231

Don't kiss me with THOSE lips.

2009-02-24T17:57:00.000-08:00

Today's Democracy Now features Mark Shapiro, who wrote a book (just out in paperback) called Exposed, which talks about, among other things, the lack of regulation in the makeup industry and all the chemical nasties that get put into lipstick and other 'beauty' products in the U.S. His arguments are broad and talk about how the EU is becoming the market that sets the standard for ecologically friendly manufactured products. This is occurring because of the increasingly toothless environmental standards of the U.S. and the lack of regulation in certain markets, i.e. electronics manufacturing/importing. He argues that the U.S. market has become the dumping ground of environmentally insensitive goods that flow into our borders from China (primarily). These same goods often times have European counterparts which are made to conform to the EU's higher environmental standards. He also writes about the efforts of American lobbying firms working in Brussels to try and loosen the EU's environmental laws.

You can check out the Democracy Now episode here.

NPR also ran a story on the book in November of 2007. You can check that out here.

Farm Shares/Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in New York - Many Accepting Applications for new members March 1

2009-02-22T10:54:00.001-08:00

The Green Coalition supports efforts to connect CUNY students with the local food economy. One way students can do that is by joining a CSA/Farm Share in their local neighborhood. A farm share is usually a subscription to the season's harvest - you pay the farmer up front and then enjoy fresh local seasonal vegetables (and sometimes fruit, eggs, meat and/or flowers) every week, approximately June to November. Joining a farm share/CSA is much cheaper than shopping at the farmers' markets around the city and helps farmers by providing capital before the growing season begins.

There are many many farm shares/csa's in the city but they tend to fill up early. This year, many will be inviting new members to join on March 1, 2009. There is a list of CSA's by borough and neighborhood here: http://www.justfood.org/csa/locations/ .

Support your local farmers and eat delicious food all spring, summer and fall (there are a few winter CSA's available in the city, too).

Food Sovereignty in Ecuador

2009-02-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

Ecuador Congress approves law on food sovereignty
Xinhua. February 18, 2009
Text from:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/18/content_10839816.htm

QUITO, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador's temporary Congress approved on Tuesday
the Organic Law on Food Sovereignty aimed at boosting
domestic production.

The law to guarantee "the self-sufficiency of healthy, nutritive and
culturally appropriate food" was approved with 49 votes in favor, two
against, three blank and 11 abstentions.

Prompted by the approval, other laws to promote food independence and
recover the country's agriculture are likely to gain acknowledgment.

The Organic Law on Food Sovereignty provides a framework to connect the
agricultural, forest, underwater and fishing sectors.

The law highlights the establishment of scientific research and development
on agro-food issues, incentives for small- and medium-sized
producers, creation of an agro-food insurance, and promotion for the
consumption of domestic products.

Under the law, the Consultant Council for food Sovereignty, consisting of
six representatives from the government and six from the civil
society, will be formed.

The law is now be reviewed by President Rafael Correa. He may either ratify
it within 30 days, or send it back to the Legislative Commission for
further discussion.

Global Responses to Eco-migration and Environmental Disasters

2009-02-20T07:58:00.000-08:00

This conference is going on on Monday at Fordham. Its during the day, so 1L's can't go, but maybe some 2L's can attend.

http://law.fordham.edu/ihtml/eventitemPP.ihtml?id=37&idc=9579&template=cle

New York Budget Cuts

2009-02-19T21:08:00.000-08:00

From Environmental Advocates:

Governor Paterson is taking an axe to chop down the state’s Environmental Protection Fund and cut staff at state agencies such as New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation.

A million here, $50 million there, and suddenly the Governor’s budget axe has cut through environmental protections for New York’s children and families.

Environmental Advocates of New York needs your help to tell Governor Paterson and all of our state leaders to protect our natural resources.

Tell Governor Paterson and state lawmakers in Albany that cutting green to stay in the black makes you see red!

Check out Environmental Advocates here.

Are you a rider or a driver?

2009-02-18T08:37:00.000-08:00

In the shadow of MTA fare hikes, bus route cuts and our ever-shrinking parking lot – lets ride together! The CUNY Law Green Coalition has set up a CUNY Law Rideshare site and we encourage you to use it.

GO TO THE CUNY LAW RIDESHARE SITE
Go to http://cunylaw.erideshare.com/
Enter the group password: “whereareyou”

You will be taken to a screen with a table listing all the rides offered or requested by people in the CUNY Law community and a map.

THE TABLE: In the last column of the table, you can see whether the entry is for an offer or a request. You can sort the table by clicking on “offer or request” in the column heading. You can also sort by any of the other headings. The “entry date” in the last column will tell you how recently the posting was updated.

THE MAP: You can click on the red and green points on the map to see who has a destination or origin near you and when they are driving or wanting a ride.

Get in touch with people using the contact information they have provided in the last column or by clicking on the link in the “Contact/Member ID” column (if you are logged in, you will be taken to a screen where you can send a message that will be delivered to the person’s email).

TO POST YOUR OWN OFFER OR REQUEST:
1. Create an erideshare account (click on the link at the top of the page).
2. Return to http://cunylaw.erideshare.com/
3. Click on “Click here to place a listing.”
4. Fill out the Form:
In the “Destination – City” field, put in your borough.
In the “Destination – Street” field, put in your address (or use both Street fields to enter an intersection).
Use the “Days of the Week” field to enter your regular weekly schedule (e.g. “M-F 8:30am”) or to enter your schedule for a given day (e.g. Thurs 12/17 3pm) or a weekly ride (Every Thurs 3pm).
In the “Other Information” field, put in your contact information – phone, email, etc. Remember that unless you choose to share your posting, only members of the CUNY Law community will be able to see your listing.
When you’re done, click the button labeled “click only once.”

If you are offering or requesting BOTH a ride and a request (roundtrip), the site will work better if you post two separate listings.

Take 30 seconds to update your schedule every day to keep the listings fresh and your car full. RIDERS - chip in for gas!

St.John's University Sustainability Initiative

2009-01-30T19:48:00.000-08:00

What the other Queens law school is doing:

http://www.stjohns.edu/campuses/enhancements/stjsi

Carpool/Ride Share Advocacy

2009-01-29T08:59:00.000-08:00

Hey Green-ers!

Thanks to Patrick's superior googling skills, I just set this up:

Dedicated URL for your group: http://cunylaw.erideshare.com
group password: whereareyou

It's a RideShare webpage dedicated to getting folks to CUNY law. It can't be a widget on our webpage, but it does have a great map feature. When you register, the destination will automatically be CUNY Law (though you can change it) and the page is only open to people who have the password. We can use this to encourage people to ride-share with other people in the CUNY Law community. Individuals can choose to make their posting available to people outside the community if they choose, but they don't need to. It will work better the more people from our community join it (I am having visions of ridesharing with Robson).

Click on the link, register and add yourself.

Let's try it out, for real.

Proposed next steps:
1. Feedback from us about whether we want to endorse this. If we do --

2. Posting directing people to this page from forum, with directions on how to use it.
3. Student Events and ALL FACULTY email directing people to this page, with directions on how to use it.
4. Fliers around the building/Flier to include in First Year Orientation packet.
5. Getting a link on CUNY's homepage to this page
6. A survey of driving/carpooling habits in the community a month after we roll this out (advocacy tool for preferred parking)
7. Advocate for preferred parking for ride-sharers (with results of the survey)

Feedback? I am also posting this to the blog. Let's use the comments section and get sign-off from everyone (assuming that the 7 of us are the stake-holders for this initiative) by Feb. 6 (the date we set before).

Paula Z. Segal

Green Additions to the 1L Orientation Packet

2009-01-29T08:15:00.000-08:00

This goes in the category of "changing the culture"...

Do we as the Green Coaliton advocate for including some green initiatives in the folder that 1Ls get during orientation?

Specifically:

A bike map (they're free from the Dept of Transportation)
Directions for RideSharing
A list of LOCALLY owned food establishments (the list we got included McDonalds???)
Composting/Recycling instructions

Clearly its a bit early in the year to be thinking about this, but let's build a list anyways.

USDA - business as usual?

2009-01-19T08:56:00.000-08:00

Follow this link to analysis and actions you can take to try to force the new admin into at least some change in USDA policy by not appointing lobbyists and Giant-Food Industry supporters to key USDA positions. Rumor has it, that's exactly what's coming next.

http://www.ethicurean.com/2009/01/17/usda-rumors/

At ethicurean's suggestion, I modified her email and sent it to the Obama's transition team:

Subject: USDA appointments
From: paula.segal@mail.law.cuny.edu
Date: January 19, 2009 11:55:49 AM EST
To: BChilton@cftc.gov, jettwoman@gmail.com

Dear Mr. Chilton and Ms. Jett:

I am writing to you as the heads of President Obama’s transition team for the Department of Agriculture. I can’t find contact info for Secretary Vilsack, or I’d copy him too.

Rumors on the sustainable food blogosphere have it that people with very clear ties to the industrial meat industry are on the short list for under-secretary and Deputy Secretary positions in the new administration. I have read that Joy Philippi, the formerly of the National Pork Council, and Dennis Wolfe, who opposed consumers’ right to milk labeling by farms that don’t use artificial bovine hormones, are on the short list.

I hope that the rumors are just that. In a country plagued by CAFO pollution, childhood diabetes, and other crises whose root is a broken food system, these candidates represent the interests of corporate food giants and are NOT THE CHANGE THAT I VOTED FOR in November.

We need reformers in the USDA, not agribusiness-as-usual men or women. I am proud to be among the 73,000 and counting Americans who have signed Food Democracy Now’s letter urging the consideration of 12 people who are not only qualified to serve, but who might just begin to make the USDA once again the “people’s Department,” as Lincoln once called it.

I urge you to stand against the appointment of industry representatives and lobbyists to key posts inside the USDA, but instead to consider people like Chuck Hassebrook, Fred Kirschenmann, and Kathleen Merrigan listed here: http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/

Thank you for your time.

Paula Z. Segal
J.D. Candidate 2011
CUNY School of Law

CUNY Appleseed

Interactive energy use maps are fun.

Interactive energy use maps are fun.

Green Coalition/Food Fighters is back!

Food Fight!

Go, go, Gowanus -- or not

Food Fighters meeting Monday!

Thanks, weather guy.

EPA, those moments when you do your job, clap clap clap.

Banjo politics

oops!

USDA wants you to eat more fast-food cheese

texas, charming.

Fail, Grist.org!

The Spill

Race and food justice take root in Bronx, Brooklyn

NY's solution to under staffing?

LEED green building officials blue under new lawsuit

Gov. Paterson fires environmental leader over leaked memo

Event: Campus Clothing Swap!

Chevron Pranked (Probably) by the Yes Men

Reduce your "forkprint"

Save the earth with adoption?

new goal for Green Coalition

Lisa Jackson is an impervious, immune sovereign of all things green.

From my tumblr.

10/10/10 wins this weekend!

New library food policy, just a little greener...

11-year-old breaks down the broken food system

Green Coalition returns!

it's summer

a bit to be cautiously optimistic about...

Save the world by shopping... urg.

put a big box on it.

university's that compost: a brief google survey.

Letter to Admin re: Composting

finals are upon us BUT

Monsanto.

Food, Inc.

Waste Audit photos!

the clothing swap!

waste audit result:

come to the pool party, help us hit our goal.

People's Climate Conference in Bolivia

Pool Party!

i'd rather read about this

Heather Rogers (Green Gone Wrong) & Jim Hansen (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies)

CUNY Graduate Center book launch, “Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution” (Simon & Schuster, 2010) by Heather Rogers

Pool Party!

bike lanes and community often conflict *updated*

UPROSE bus tour

tech savvy

Toxic Colonialism: U.S. Military Policy and Vieques

community focus needed for a real 'break'

How to strangle a climate skeptic [VIDEO] | Grist

Bottled Water blows.

NYCDOT releases new stats (via Streetsblog)

American Enterprise Institute accidentally makes the case for climate legislation | Grist

another link to share from Grist.

good thing to tie into our freecycle event?

NYCHA is maybe pulling an early April Fool's joke?

Nasty Gowanus.

community benefits agreements and grid improvements in NY?

EJ into law?

Tip of the Week #2

Tip of the Week #1

Gowanus Canal Storm Surges Meeting

Sustainable Living for Sustainable Cities Lecture

Waste Audit Redux

Waste Audit Spring '09 Results

Environmental Fellowship Alert!

CUNY GC Alumni Mixer

Sustainable City!

Share Your Ride/Get A Ride

The Story of Stuff

Food Conference Report Back

BIke Maps!

Trees, Trees, Everywhere!

CUNY Law Invades Green Drinks Brooklyn on TAX DAY 2009

Market Fundamentalist Globalization in One City

bike lanes and community often conflict updated