Here's an interesting rundown of the polluters in Brooklyn from the Josh Skaller for City Council website. The worst polluters in Brooklyn are (not in order): Con Edison - Hudson Ave Station, Gowanus Generating Station, Kings Plaza Total Energy Plant, American Sugar Refining Inc, Brooklyn Navy Yard Cogeneration Plant. These people are poisoning our air and water. Just a reminder of how bad pollution in Brooklyn can be, let me remind you of what the Gowanus Canal looks like: (two out of five lovely pictures of the canal taken by my wife July 26th, 2008)

See the lovely phase change between the solid slick and the water? Here's what it looked like on the opposite bank:

Yes...that is a glass bottle embedded and suspended by the muck.

I think the fact that our air and water are being poisoned mostly by the energy generating stations in our neighborhoods shows how important conservation on our part and alternative energy solutions are to our own health and the quality of our neighborhoods. Our energy consumption contributes to the pollution of our neighborhoods. This is not to excuse the big companies that generate the pollution, but it does mean you and I can actually DO something to reduce pollution in Brooklyn. You can help by choosing to buy YOUR energy from all wind and small hydroelectric power through Con Ed. You will get your same Con Ed bill, and it costs only 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) more, which is partly offset by an elimination of the sales tax on the delivery portion of your utility bill. Joy and I have been doing it for at least three years now and we didn't really notice the slight increase. We saved far, far more money when we switched to compact fluorescent light bulbs, so the combination made us far less polluting and saved us money.

Sometimes there are simple solutions to problems. Buying your energy from hydroelectric and wind generating companies won't immediately eliminate the pollution from our local energy generating plants. But it will be a step in the right direction and if enough people do it it can actually make a difference. Switch to clean energy for the sake of your own health!