Brownfield remediation workshop this Thursday

The NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation (MOER)  is sponsoring a free workshop this Thursday on “Green Remediation and Sustainability.”  The workshop is the third in a series of events aimed at encouraging brownfield redevelopment and will include an introduction to MOER’s Local Brownfield Clean-up Program, quantitative tools for measuring sustainability at brownfield sites and presentations on remediation projects at both the local and national level.  Other program themes are “Energy Use Optimization,” “Waste and Fill Management,” “Concrete Recycling,” and “Sustainable Soil Preparation at Brownfields.”  Register online for the workshop by 5pm today; view the agenda here.

Thursday, December 17th
9:00 am – 1:30 pm, registration begins at 8:30 am
CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave (at 35th Street), Concourse Level
Registration and Lunch are FREE

Eli Cohen on sustainability and phytoremediation

Eli Cohen gave a terrific talk Monday night on his work, as director of Ayala Water and Ecology, using plants to remove pollutants and contaminants from water, soil and air.  We’re grateful to the huge crowd that poured into the Arsenal gallery for the event, to Laura Starr and Yamit Perez for putting us in touch with Eli and, of course, to Eli himself for sharing his work and his thoughts.

One of his bigger themes, telegraphed by the title of the talk, “Sustainability in Practice,” was his strong belief that “Natural Biological Systems”– systems constructed of plants, soil, rocks and other natural materials and supported by forces like gravity and sunlight–are not only just as effective as more expensive, technological solutions to environmental remediation, but also, literally, much more sustainable.  He walked through a number of Ayala’s Natural Biological Systems, which filtered and cleaned runoff and sewage from a variety of sites including private residences, a dairy farm, a landfill, a cosmetics plant and an entire city (Hyderabad, India).  His full slideshow is available as a PDF (6MB).

You can stream the entire audio of the talk, below, as you page through the slides.  You can also download that audio directly as an MP3 (71 minutes, 66MB).

James Corner at Cooper Union, tonight

James Corner, founder and director of landscape architecture and urban design firm Field Operations, will speak about the firm’s current projects this evening at Cooper Union, hosted by the Architectural League of New York.  In addition to designing the Freshkills Park master plan and first phase projects, Field Operations continues to tackle a number of diverse and high-profile projects including The High Line and the 4,500-acre Shelby Farms Park in Memphis.  Should be an inspiring talk.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009
7pm @ The Great Hall, The Cooper Union
7 East 7th Street in Manhattan
Free for Architectural League of New York members; $10 for non-members.

Discussion following the lecture with Corner and landscape architects Kate Orff and Ken Smith.

Next Freshkills Park Talk: Monday, December 7th

Part of the Natural Biological System designed by Ayala Water and Ecology for the Hiriya landfill site at Park Ariel Sharon in Tel-Aviv.

We’re excited to restart our Freshkills Park lecture series, Freshkills Park Talks, this coming Monday, December 7th.  Eli Cohen of Israel’s Ayala Water & Ecology will be speaking about his work designing naturally-based solutions to help remove contaminants from soil, air, and bodies of water and to rebuild ecosystems’ capacity for self-sustainability.  Mr. Cohen has consulted on stream rehabilitation projects, gray water reuse systems, and numerous constructed wetland systems to remove heavy metals, salts, hydrocarbons and pathogens from agricultural, industrial, and landfill sites.

Key within this work has been his involvement in the remediation of the Hiriya landfill in Tel-Aviv, formerly Israel’s largest landfill and soon to become part of Park Ariel Sharon, a 2000-acre park that shares a number of parallels with Freshkills Park. Mr. Cohen will present a variety of innovative projects implemented in Israel and around the world, with emphasis on urban solutions.

December 7th, 6:30-8pm at The Arsenal, 3rd floor Gallery
64th Street and 5th Avenue, Manhattan.
FREE.  No RSVP necessary.

Gotham and its Garbage, tomorrow

NYU’s Robin Nagle, Anthropologist-in-Residence of the NYC Department of Sanitation, will be giving a talk tomorrow evening called Gotham and its Garbage: What it Was, What it Is and What It Might Become, at the Bloomingdale Library on the Upper West Side and sponsored by the Park West Neighborhood History Group.  Robin is a terrific speaker and knows an enormous amount about New York City’s waste management system.  Should be a great talk.

Tuesday, November 17, 6:00pm
Bloomingdale Library
150 West 100th St, bet Columbus & Amsterdam, 2nd floor

NYC Environmental Transformations Conference

On Monday, the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities is holding a one-day conference called In the Wake of the Half Moon: Environmental Transformation of the New York Metropolitan Region: 1609-2109.  The discussion will center on current, former and future transformation of the City’s environment and the challenges to that transformation.  Some very accomplished and interesting folks in the realm of New York City development, environment and infrastructure are slated to speak–Eric Sanderson, Robert Sullivan and Rohit Aggarwala, to name a few.

Monday, November 16th, 2009, 9am-5pm, on the Hunter College campus.  Tickets are $25.

This Sunday is America Recycles Day

In honor of America Recycles Day this Sunday, Brokelyn offers a Brooklynite’s guide to responsibly ridding yourself of stuff–through swaps, donations and recycling.  Lots of New York City-wide non-landfill options in the other boroughs here, too; this is a rich, comprehensive resource.  Some highlights and additions:

• The NYC Stuff Exchange, run by the NYC Department of Sanitation, offers a borough-by-borough directory of places where you can buy and sell used or second-hand items, large and small; they also have a list of other sites you can use to sell or exchange specific types of items.
• Materials for the Arts collects surplus or used material from a variety of commercial and non-profit organizations for free distribution to non-profit arts groups and schools.
• The Department of Sanitation offers a list of electronic recyclers and dismantlers that do business in New York State.  The Lower East Side Ecology Center also e-cycling drop-off days with some frequency.
• You can  drop off up to four car tires at any nearby NYC Department of Sanitation garage between 8 am and 4 pm, Monday through Saturday.
• Clothes and textiles can be donated, to Goodwill or Salvation Army, for example, but they can also be recycled.  The Council on the Environment of New York City, for one, hosts clothing and textile recycling events, including this Saturday, the 14th, from 8am-4pm at the Staten Island Mall.

Wrestling with Moses

This Friday, journalist and land policy expert Anthony Flint will be discussing and signing his new book, Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took on New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City at the Greenbelt Nature Center on Staten Island.  The book recounts how urban activist Jacobs helped prevent the construction of an elevated highway through her West Village neighborhood.

Robert Moses was a key player in the development of Staten Island’s highways and bridges, as he was in the rest of New York City.  He was also influential in the opening of the Fresh Kills Landfill.  Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, was an influential urbanist and vocal critic of Moses’ ambitious urban renewal plans.   Should be a fun event and a lively discussion.

Friday, November 6, 7:30 pm at the Greenbelt Nature Center, at the intersection of Brielle and Rockland Avenues on Staten Island.  Light refreshments will be served.  Tickets are $15.  Call (718) 351-3450 to reserve.

The Infrastructure of Urban Ecologies, tomorrow

Wednesday the 28th, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) will host a discussion called The Infrastructure of Urban Ecologies.  Speakers will include William Morrish, Dean of the School of Constructed Environments at Parsons, and Kazys Varnelis, Director of Network Architecture Lab at GSAPP.  Morrish is an urban designer focused on community-based projects, and Varnelis is the co-founder of the experimental architectural collaborative AUDC.  October 28th, 6:30PM to 8:30PM in Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall, 1172 Amsterdam Avenue.

Recycling, composting and worms, this Saturday

The Council on the Environment of New York City and the Staten Island Compost Project will be co-hosting a recycling and home composting workshop this Saturday afternoon at the St. George Library on Staten Island.  Tin can tricks and live worm bins, fun for all ages.  October 24th, 1-3pm, 5 Central Avenue, Staten Island, just a block from the ferry terminal.