A new report ranks ten leading world cities on their greenhouse gas emissions. It also examines how and why the emissions differ.

As the report says, over 50% of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Leading cities of the world, global cities, are the places where greenhouse gas emissions really need to be cut. The greenest city from the study is Barcelona and the worst is Denver.

Read more of this story »

Climate Action Will Pay for Itself, and More.

The United Nations (UN) stated earlier this month that the cost of avoiding climate change was at least 1% of global GDP — $500-600 billion dollars. Despite this major cost, Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the UK, and The Climate Group, presented a report to the UN yesterday saying that a strong climate deal will “boost growth in all major economies & create millions of new jobs.”

Read more of this story »

The Candle Cafe was established more than 25 years ago. Now located on 307 Third Avenue Between 74th & 75th, shown on the map here, it’s an organic and vegetarian cafe that was once a natural foods store.

If you live in New York, then check out the fine dining too at Candle Cafe’s sister restaurant Candle 79 on 79th and Lexington. It is one of NYC’s premiere vegan dining spots on the upper east side.

Read more of this story »

There is a brilliant sustainability series on urban gardening (Alive Structures and roof garden tutorials will be featured) in New York City this summer put on by a non-profit called New York Restoration Project. There will be four talks, every other Thursday from 7 pm to 8 pm, in NYPC’s Toyota Children’s Learning Garden. All of them are open to the public. 

Where? Toyota Sustainable Summer Series Toyota Children’s Learning Garden 603 East 11th Street, New York, NY

When?  July 30, 2009 from 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

What? Sarah Seigal, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.  She will give a short garden tour and speak about the garden design, specifically the shade tolerant planting palette she created for this garden. 

What else? Refreshments at the end of each event.

NYRP works exclusively in New York City managing community gardens to help ensure their liveliness in each community. Keep reading for more details on the series in August and beyond…

Read more of this story »

NYPD’s Blue just got a little greener by adding 40 new Nissan Altima Hybrids to their fleet.

Announced by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, the Altimas are the first set of of alternative-fuel patrol cars to help with the goals set by PlaNYC. Announced back in 2006, PlaNYC aims to reduce Manhattan’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30% come 2017.

“These new patrol cars will help fulfill the PlaNYC goal of reducing City government’s carbon footprint,” said Mayor Bloomberg.

The hybrids will be divvied amongst precincts with large coverage areas and smaller precincts prone to heavy stop-n-go traffic: essentially where their fuel efficiency provides the greatest economic and environmental impact.

Read more of this story »

Read more of this story »

My moon, my man’s a changeable land...

Former actor and survival instructor, creative writer and a recovering Type A, Mark Gerow is the founder of Lunarythms Yoga™, a combination of polarity-therapy, Ayurveda, Yin and Hatha Yoga that tailors asanas to complement specific chakras associated with the position of the moon. He likes McDonald’s French Fries, drinks one cup of coffee a day and does not relate to black and white photographs of women in leotards.

When I describe the idea behind Lunarythms, people look at me like I’m a crystal wielding nutcase. But every time I take your class, the pace feels just right. What led you to organize your practice around the lunar cycles?

My background in the metaphysical began with Polarity Therapy training.  My partner at the time had grown up with a mother who was into astrology and I would hear them speak to each other through astrology references– usually about a person’s personality or a general analogy about a situation.  I began to notice the effects and rituals that go along with the new and full moons (setting intentions, conserving or putting forth energy), and one day it dawned on me that if most everything in this world is changing to include the moon’s cycles and our own human cycles, that our yoga practice could reflect these ever changing tides of life.

Read more of this story »

My expectations attending this, the first annual awards show were low, but I was surprised how professional and well attended the awards turned out to be. Though, my account @greenmoms was the winner in the #green category, we weren’t the only green company at the awards. @pawluxury, an entrepreneurial, organic dog food and accessories company won in the #business category. I wrote about how they successfully use social media at A Green Social Media Story – Paw Luxury.

I first started using Twitter, as @mcmilker, in 2007, slowly at first and then, as I discovered the power of this short messaging service, with more frequency. I’ve added feeds from blogs for which I write and wrote about the Top 10 in Green You Should follow on Twitter. This list, of course tends to be a bit fluid, so I suppose I’ll be writing about it again.

Read more of this story »

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?”

Read more of this story »

>> Read the rest of this article on Gas 2.0

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that BMW is giving the city a fleet of MINI Es as part of a feasibility test. In fact, BMW will be testing 500 electric MINIs worldwide. Other cities included in the program are Los Angeles, London and Berlin.

MINI E is the first product from BMW’s Project i program. Project i takes aim at vehicle and transportation strategies for the world’s mega-cities. The cars will be loaned to both customers and the cities for a full year.

Read more of this story »

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is considering a green MetroCard program where riders can donate towards environmentally sustainable operations. The idea is one of many made in a million dollar proposal on how the MTA could lessen the environmental impact of its operations.

Read more of this story »

New York’s Environmental Board adopted stricter air pollution rules that limit how much pollution power plants and factories can release into the air.

Under these regulations, new industrial plants — as well as existing ones — will have to install new pollution regulators. The rules are set to go in effect in March. Not surprisingly, they are stricter than those of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Um, duh!

Read more of this story »

A lobster, thought to be up to 140 years old, is to be released into the Atlantic Ocean, after briefly becoming an unconventional mascot at a New York City restaurant.

PETA found out about the plight of the 20 pound crustacean when a diner at NYC’s City Crab & Seafood called to say it was being kept in the diner’s tank. PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk praised the restaurant, saying, “We applaud the folks at City Crab and Seafood for their compassionate decision to allow this noble old-timer to live out his days in freedom and peace.”

Read more of this story »

This January 8th from 7:30-10pm, Nigel Barker and the Milk gallery in NYC will present Haiti: Hunger & Hope, which is an exhibition of photos and film taken during the food riots.

The cost to attend is a $25 donation and the goal of the event is to raise funds for Edeyo, an organization working in Haiti to educate and feed the poor children suffering there.

Read more of this story »

New York City’s Department of Transportation has tapped the Office for Visual Interaction for testing LED street lighting around the Big Apple. If successful, all of the city’s 300,000 street lamps could one day be made up of LEDs.

Of course, LEDs are just plain awesome! Their power consumption is much lower than that of standard bulbs. Heck, even lower than that of CFLs.

Read more of this story »

Most scientists are now in agreement that global warming is happening, and that, in the not too distant future, we may all have to get used to living in a world of mass species exctinctions, population explosion, resource scarcity and rising oceans. The question on many people’s lips is, how will mankind adapt to this drastically different future world?

One possible solution to this dilemma has come from a collective of New York based artists, who have proposed a mass shift towards a waterborne, nomadic existence. In May 2009, the team will launch a new work called Waterpod, a floating eco-habitat designed to support a fully sustainable community (more pics after the jump).

Read more of this story »

As part of our Behind the Burner food series, I had the unbelievable opportunity to chat with John DeLucie, Executive Chef and Partner of one of New York City’s top celebrity hang outs, The Waverly Inn, a spot so exclusive, the dining is by invitation only.

Needless to say, this gastronomic gem has catered to the highest of high profile crowds, making it a venue to see and be seen while serving up some of the most extraordinary cuisine this side of Eden.  But thanks to the passion of Divya Gugnani, chef, foodie and founder of Behind The Burner, a website that brings the most coveted tips and trends in the culinary scene to the masses, dining like a star is as close as this blog post.

So, read on as we literally go Behind the Burner of the Waverly Inn and inside the creative mastermind that has turned dining into a red carpet event.  

Read more of this story »

The judge, Paul A. Crotty, of Federal District Court in Manhattan, issued a 26-page ruling (PDF) to stop the city from enforcing the rule because, he said in a written order, the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in a key legal argument — that only the federal government has the right to set fuel efficiency standards under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, which bars state and local governments from setting their own, competing standards.

Read more of this story »

Recently featured on MSNBC, model and student of art & cosmetology, Spirit Demerson has long been concerned about the environment and interested in beauty.  She used to concoct her own natural fragrances, lotions & scrubs in her kitchen and she’s been the “go-to” beauty girl in her circle of friends, family & colleagues for years.  Frusterated about having to send them in a dozen different directions, she decided to open up shop online.  After years of research (and obsession) her dream of opening her very own “beauty lounge” came to fruition last month. 

Read more of this story »