Green Options

Yesterday Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office annouced they will be promoting Sunday Streets again this year, the wildly successful citywide effort to get people to go outside that debuted last summer. The campaign closed a 4.5 mile stretch of roads between Bayview and Chinatown on several Sunday mornings to make more space for joggers, cyclists, walkers and even yoga practicioners. Former arterial roadway, transformed recreational asphalt.

Wednesday more sad news in the world of DIY publications: CRAFTzine, the cousin to MAKEzine, will stop issuing their epic how-to print volume after this, their 10th Issue. The magazine will continue to exist as an online-only publication at craftzine.com.

We knew SUV’s were an insensitive consumer response to climate change, but after reports today of one such driver striking and another dragging a pedestrian’s body 17 miles along New York City’s highways, the mobile monstrosities will likely face even more adversity.

City Room sums up the episode:

A pedestrian was struck by a sport utility vehicle on a street in Corona, Queens, on Wednesday morning, then immediately struck again by a cargo van that dragged the victim 17 miles through a web of city highways and to Coney Island in Brooklyn, the police said. The pedestrian, apparently a male, was killed.

The victim had not yet been identified, though some paperwork was found in the clothing on his body, which was wedged under the van’s chassis, the police said. The authorities said there did not appear to be any criminality involved.

Results of the 2007 Census released last week counted the 2,204,792 farms in the United States, a net increase of 75,810 farms since the last census in 2002. According to the results, farms started in the last five years have more diversified production, fewer acres, and younger operators who also work off-farm.

Organic, value-added, and specialty production in agriculture are also on the rise.

With the ever increasing number of craft brews hitting shelves in recent years, choosing an ale can be a difficult decision. Each crafty label seems coded somehow to project the underlying character traits of the person indulging. Unibroue, for swarthy Francophiles. Brooklyn, for the hip crowd harkening their home borrough. New Belgium for outdoorsy sorts who prefer to pedal and paddle. And Full Sail, for those beer enthusiasts who are simply paying attention.

This week, Oregon’s Full Sail Brewing Company received the Governor’s Sustainability Award for small business in recognition of the company’s ever increasing commitment to the community and the environment.

In a meeting to discuss food security, the head of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Jacques Diouf announced another 40 million people globally were pushed into hunger in 2008. As population estimates project there will be nine billion people on the planet in 2050, Diouf says food production must double in order to address current deficits and to prevent another billion people from starving.

Everyone knows the very tastiest tomatoes are homegrown, lovingly staked and watered at regular intervals until they’re big and red and ripe. Until recently, such simple pleasures were reserved for rural dwellers but the growing movement for urban farming is starting to change all that. While container gardens and green rooftops have made urban agriculture more common, a new system called a Portable Farm may take it a step further.

Too many old yogurt containers concealing ancient leftovers in your refrigerator? Seems that we all have a stack of them cluttering the cabinets in our kitchen–the price we pay for enjoying yogurt, sour cream or anything that comes sold in those shiny Number 5 plastic containers and also having a conscience.

Luckily Preserve, makers of 100% recycled personal care products, has started a new program to recycle the pesky plastics even when your municipality does not. They’ve partnered up with organic dairy producers, Stonyfield Farm and Organic Valley, to turn used plastic dairy containers into toothbrush handles. Consumers can return the plastic containers, along with used Brita water filters, into bins at any of the participating Whole Foods markets in the Midwest, Northeast and Northern California.

The city of Cincinatti joined the choir growing louder by the day, urging residents to consider eating less meat in an effort to combat climate change. As part of the Green Cincinatti Plan, the city’s Food Task Force met for the first time and discussed a campaign that would ask that residents replace some of the meat in their diet with fresh fruits and vegetables.

For nearly a month now, the feisty residents and independent retailers in the Mission District of San Francisco have been abuzz over the national retailer’s bid for a new space at 988 Valencia St. The hippest corner of San Francisco, most widely known for its incredible burritos, vibrant street scene and eclectic culture, has long prided itself on being free from stores like the Gap, Banana Republic and Starbucks. Instead they have the beloved Four Barrel Coffee company, taxidermist’s paradise Paxton Gate and veritable treasure trove of all things printed, Little Otsu. Shopping on Valencia Street is not like shopping in any other place, and the neighborhood’s residents intend to keep it that way. No formula stores, no chain stores, not even if it’s American Apparel.