Green Options

NYPD’s Blue just got a little greener by adding 40 new Nissan Altima Hybrids to their fleet of patrol cars. Of the forty cars, 18 of them are marked and 22 are unmarked. And while they cost the city $25,391 per vehicle, they get double the gas mileage compared to the current fleet.

Just looking at this mock-up of a human-powered river gym makes me seasick, but architect Mitchell Joachim and personal trainer Douglas Joachim’s design won third place in New York Magazine’s “Create a Gym Contest”. The gym’s creators explain, “Often the average urbanite exercising at the gym performs controlled repetitive single plane movements using industrial fitness equipment. All of this energy is summarily dissipated and ultimately exhausted for the sake of a single individual’s wellbeing. Other potentials exist to harness this vast human expenditure of caloric energy. Why not have the simple transfer of this workout vigor supply New York with needed supplemental transport and amenities?”

A mere four centuries after the Dutch founded a little settlement in a far off land they named Nieuw Amsterdam; New York City could really use their expertize in dealing with sea levels. Even by the end of this century.

A federal judge has stopped Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt to clean up the air in New York City by using fuel-efficient hybrid taxis.

Throwback cocktails are all the rage these days, and drinking at home frees you from $8 drinks and designating a driver. What separates ordinary swill from killer cocktail recipes can be as simple as the addition of aromatic bitters.

If your bitters are made at home, you’ve got an ultimately customizable addition to any good drink. And you can re-use the container, and buy bulk spices. Sustainability in a bottle!

What are aromatic bitters you say? Why, saddle up to the bar and lend an ear. Bitters are indispensable additions to countless cocktails, and you may be familiar with a couple of house calls that beckon for bitters, including the Sazerac, Manhattan, and LLB (lemon, lime and bitters). Thing is, bitters were kind of an ol’ timey thing until a couple of years ago when the cocktail began to stage a bit of a comeback.

Bitters started out as “a tincture of any number of esoteric roots and herbs with an alcohol base“, and became a common addition to many cocktails. One of the first cocktails, the Sazerac, was invented by a Frenchman who popularized the drink in New Orleans. His drugstore, the Pharmacie Peychaud, served up drinks in a coquetier (that’s french for “egg cup”), which is where the name “cocktail” may have come from. Ok, enough history. Let’s drink!

New York City’s proposed congestion pricing plan may be in trouble.

As part of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s long term sustainability plan, PLANYC 2030, congestion pricing is intended to reduce the amount of cars coming into the city, thus reducing the amount of auto emissions contributing to air pollution. While many city council members like the idea of cleaner air, some are questioning the details of the plan.

A day before the rains hit NYC, an estimated 1500 people arrived at Battery Park wearing blue to form a human line around the southern tip of Manhattan to mark the new water line if sea levels rise due to climate change.

Activist and founder of Step It Up Bill McKibben (also in blue) spoke to the sea of people before he headed off to DC (via train) for the evening rally there.

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