Curious abt your daily efforts for the Earth!!!

This is a call to everyone reading this article and willing to give their testimonies about the daily good deeds they take for our dear planet.

As far as I'm concerned, my daily efforts consist of:

- when cooking or cleaning, I restrain myself from using hot water to favour cold water, and I never leave the water running uselessly even for a minute!

- when food shopping: I bring a big green plastic bag, so I don't need the supermarket's plastic bags--- all the more so supermarkets in the US put your items in 2 bags stacked up to one another (« so it doesn't break when you walk » which actually cannot be blamed at first sight but sometimes even for 1 or 2 light things they give two bags. It makes me crazy! What a waste!!! grrr!)

- when studying: I use daylight as much as possible.

- Otherwise, I recycle even though the building I live in doesn't recycle. I bring my recyclable items to recycle bins in the neighborhood.

So who can beat me?;) No seriously, if I'm sharing with you my experience, it's not to show off but it's because, sometimes, I feel lonely in this enterprise...

Especially since we all know our dear planet is in danger, I feel like doing these efforts should be standard, don't you???

So please tell me I'm not crazy or too optimistic (or whatever!), tell me you care and that you're also on the green move.

Anyone can participate: friends, family and of course internauts who fell on this page while going deeper in the ocean of blogs!

Earth Day

On the rainy day of Saturday 23rd of April 2011, I went to Grand Central to check out the Earth Day events. In Vanderbilt street, about 30 or more green friendly organizations were present and holding stalls, giving some samples of food and drinks. Unfortunately there were no many people there certainly because of the heavy rain.   I tasted no less than 10 kinds of tea and 4 or 5 some bars of cereals for free.
Inside Grand Central, in Vanderbilt Hall, there were also stalls, exhibitions, and the organizers of the event urging people to sign up petitions as well as talented performers.

Follow this event on my Youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/colomb2010?feature=mhee

Enjoy!

Get rid of your useless/broken electronic devices!

Prepare your armada of cables, old TVs, cell phones, and any other electronic device you're ready to throw away because on Sunday 3rd of April, the Ecology Center of New York is steadfastly waiting for you to feed their starving e-waste bins at Union Square, North Plaza from 10am to 4pm.

Please tell your friends, family, colleagues... anyone you want!

More info and directions can be found on this link:

Source: http://www.lesecologycenter.org/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=101&year=2011&month=4&day=3&Itemid=3

Earth Hour in NY

Earth Hour is an awareness day about Global Warming complementing Earth Day. It consists of switching off the light from 8.30pm to 9.30pm- local time- for all participants of the world.  This event is organized by WWF (World Wild Fund for Nature) and is always celebrated on the last Saturday of March annually. Everyone- households as well as businesses- are asked to « turn off the lights, the electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas. » (wikipedia)

 This global event was suggested by WWF and the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007. On that day, « 2.2 million Sydney residents turned off all non-essential lights.".  Since then, many countries have followed this example. 

How did it work in New York? Let's have a look on one- if not the only one- of the videos about the event I found on youtube.

Well...we can notice some efforts in the City of lights. But hopefully NY will do better for edition 2012... 

What do you think? 

Personally, I completely and shamefully missed it. There was probably not enough communication on the subject...:(

PSA about recycling

I just found a great PSA (Public Service Announcement) on Youtube that I'm sharing with you right below!

Onward to the trees, citizens!

Here is a song by Yannick Noah, a popular French singer, who used to be tennis champion, winner of Roland Garros in 1983. To my ears, it explains well exactly the urgency of the situation and invites people to take green actions.

I found a pretty good translation of the lyrics on: http://www.cucumis.org/translation_1_t/view-the-translation_v_54735.html (it sounds way better in French though)

Cement across the plains
Flows into the mountains
Poison in the fountains
Through our countrysides

Out of tornadoes
Our history is sinking
Our ideal remains
"To strut our stuff"

Buying air in blocks
Filling the balance:
Some petrodollars
In exchange for existence

From the equator to the poles
This weight on our transitory
squatters' shoulders...
It isn't funny anymore

Since we must change things
Onward to the trees, citizens!
It's time for us to propose
A world for tomorrow!

Onward to the trees, citizens!
Some slaps we are due
The watch is for tomorrow
Some slaps due in return

Making an army of reeds
Stand firm
No more people kneeling
Pass the word

It's true that the Earth is round
But who's to tell us
That it is for everyone...
And the ones to come...

No time left to know who's to blame
to count the chances or the others
Now we should fight
With you I do believe

A big Apple flooded with garbage

One of the other main striking points in New York is the amount of garbage. It is frequent to see mountains of garbage in the streets of Manhattan. New Yorkers like heights and it seems that sometimes they want to build skyscrapers of trash. 

Skyscrapers of trash used to be brought to New York City's Fresh Kills. Have you ever heard these words “Fresh Kills”? These words should make you shudder... It was the largest  landfill in the world located in Staten Island. After being closed for several years, it was temporarily reopened in the aftermath of the 9/11 bombing attacks. To our great relief, this environmental cataclysm closed since then and is currently being transformed into a park. The construction of the park is expected to last 30 years. It will be 3 times the size of Central Park. Can you imagine? 3 times 341 hectares!!! It will facilitate multitude activities such as «  nature trails, horseback riding, mountain biking, community events, outdoor dining, sports fields and canoeing."

This is how it will be supposed to be like...

Video about how and what to recycle in NYC

Like many other places, NYC recycling bags have 2 colors: blue and green.

In order to use our good intentions and efforts in the proper manner, I beleive helpful to provide a reminder list of what we can put in each category of bags. 

RECYCLING: MIXED PAPER (green decal)

newspapers, magazines, catalogs

white and colored paper (lined, copier, computer, staples OK)

mail and envelopes (any color, window envelopes OK)

paper bags

wrapping paper

soft-cover books, telephone books (paperbacks, comics, etc.; no spiral bindings)

cardboard egg cartons and trays

smooth cardboard (food and shoes boxes, tubes, file folders, cardboard from product 

packaging)

corrugated cardboard boxes (flattened and tied)

RECYCLING: BOTTLES, CANS & FOIL (blue decal)

milk cartons & juice boxes (or any such cartons and aseptic packaging for drinks: ice tea, soy milk, soup, etc.)

plastic bottles & jugs only

glass bottles & jars only

metal cans (soup, pet food, empty aerosol cans, dried-out paint cans, etc.)

aluminum foil wrap & trays

household metal (wire hangers, pots, tools, curtain rods, knives, small appliances that are mostly metal, certain vehicle license plates, etc.)

bulk metal (large metal items, such as furniture, cabinets, large appliances, etc.)

source: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/recycling/recycle_what.shtml

Think veggie!!!

Last year, for a class I created an advertising campaign promoting vegetarianism.

I wanted to show the link between the fact to eat a veggie diet, the better health of the earth and of ourselves (animals), and the fact it helps in the struggle against food starvation in the world!

I recognize the fact we need to eat meat to become stronger, to have a certain provision of proteins but isn't it enough to eat meat twice a week? Is it absolutely necessary to eat more than that?

From this perpective, one must change his daily habbits, or contribute to make positively evolve the national traditions. For example, we should make veggie hamburgers, or veggie chili on Sunday for the Super Bowl intead of the traditional meat!

Together, let's go greener!!!!!

Useless lights to bring to light

Nowadays, for some reason, NYC is one of the hottest spots of the world in the media and in most people's minds.


Is it because it is considered as the capital of the extremes and of the possibles?


Probably. 


This time, I would like to focus on one of its extremes. At first, one of the most striking points of NY is all its lights. Last year, I took a picture to show the extreme of all its lights, turned on sometimes at very wrong moments as this picture, taken on a sunny afternoon late August 2009, can attest it.

I know that a lot of other cities are doing the same as NY so NY is not the only city to be blamed but shouldn't the Big Apple take advantage of the granted attentions to be a reference in the environmental realm? As a world leading city, shouldn't it take this responsibility?

What this blog is about

In this blog, I will post every week an article covering an environmental issue or an exemplary green initiative in New York. I will add my French spice by presenting some green initiatives taken in different countries (but mostly in France seeing I know this country better). 

The aim of this blog is to inform people of the green side of New York, present new green ideas, and highlight the issues in order to help the City to be a better place and not to rest on its laurels. 

Occasionally, I will post images and videos as well as some advertising campaigns I find interesting. Above all, I will peel the green news in online or paper-based newspaper’s articles, magazines and of course blogs. 

To a greening and greener Apple in 2011!