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.

November 15th--L.I.V.E. World Summit 2008

The L.I.V.E. World Summit 2008 will take place at the Millennium Broadway in New York City on Saturday, November 15, 2008, from 8:00am-6:00pm. The L.I.V.E. World Summit offers industry leaders, innovators, social entrepreneurs, and student leaders with an opportunity to focus on solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing America and the world today: climate change and the environment, poverty and sustainable development, economic growth and stability, global health, energy and power, food and water crises, empowering women, and education.

Join SSBx's Executive Director, Miquela Craytor for her panel on Green Development: Best Practices in Sustainability Around the World

Other speakers include:
Alexandra Cousteau, Founder, Blue Legacy; Co-Founder, EarthEcho, National Geographic Emerging Explorer

Bruce Wrobel, Chairman & CEO, Sithe Global; CEO, Seacom and Global Alumina, Founder & Chairman, All for Africa

Connie Duckworth, Founder & President, Arzu, Inc.; Former Partner, Goldman Sachs.

Dina Powell, Managing Director & Global Head of Corporate Engagement Goldman Sachs

This comes from Sustainable South Bronx:

November 12th--'GREEN-COLLAR' JOBS: A Solution to NYC's Environmental and Workforce Ills?

Join SSBx's Executive Director Miquela Craytor on Wednesday, November 12, 2008, from 10 am to 12 pm for a seminar on green collar jobs in New York City.

Across the U.S., labor and political leaders advocate investment in a green economic recovery to boost employment and address climate change. Last year, Congress passed the Green Jobs Act which, if fully funded, would allocate $125 million to train workers in green trades. The Presidential candidates have sought even greater investments in green infrastructure.

What exactly are 'green-collar' jobs--and how can New York City create them?

Location: Theresa Lang Community & Student Center, Arnhold Hall
55 West 13th Street bet, 5th & 6 Aves, 2nd fl., Manhattan

SPEAKERS:
Echo Cartwright, Assistant Secretary for Energy and Environment, State of New York;
Miquela Craytor, Executive Director, Sustainable South Bronx;
Ramón Cruz, Vice President for Energy and Environment, Partnership for NYC;
Ed Ott, Executive Director, New York City Central Labor Council

This was passed on to me by a neighbor:

“Greening Libraries ==>Greener Communities”

Co-Sponsored by the Library Association of the City University of New York & the New York Public Library

DATE: Friday, October 31, 2008

WHERE: Bronx Library Center
310 East Kingsbridge Road
Bronx, NY 10458.
http://www.nypl.org/branch/local/bx/fdc.cfm

WHEN: 9:00 A.M. to 4:15 P.M.

Featuring Keynote Speaker:

Majora Carter, Founder, Sustainable South Bronx
http://www.majoracartergroup.com/

A MacArthur Genius Fellow, one of Essence Magazine’s 25 Most Influential African-Americans in 2007, one of the NY Post’s Most Influential NYC Women for the past two years, and a board member of the Wilderness Society

Also participating:
Raz Godernik, Ecolibris
Shannon Binns, Green Press Initiative
Andrew Van Der Laan,
Director, Senior Project Manager Publishing Operations Projects Group, Random House, Inc.
Daniel Heuberger AIA, Dattner Architects
Jim Lloyd, Assistant Vice President of Campus Operations, Baruch College
John Denham, DenhamWolf
Ines Sucre, Reference Librarian, Foundation Center

Afternoon Keynote:
Frederick W. Stoss

(Re-posted from Huffington Post)

I became an environmental activist in the early 1970s just as I was completing my doctorate in ecology at the University of British Columbia. It was the height of the Cold War and the height of the Viet Nam War and we were compelled to take a very public stand against activities we thought to be catastrophic both for people and for the planet.

I joined a small committee that was meeting in the basement of the Unitarian Church. We organized a protest voyage against U.S. hydrogen bomb testing in Alaska and had tens of thousands marching in the streets. When that H-bomb was set off at Amchitka Island in November 1971, it was the last hydrogen bomb the U.S. ever detonated.

It was the birth of Greenpeace, the organization I co-founded, spending 15 years in its top committee, helping to lead environmental campaigns around the world.

Global warming is hitting us already. It is no coincidence that some of the biggest storms and an unexpected number of storms are hitting us now. Nor are food shortages coincidence...nor are they caused primarily by biofuels. Extreme weather, an expected part of global warming, is hitting us hard, damaging crops around the world. Crops are established based on a particular climate. That climate has changed and it will take time for agriculture to adapt and infrastructure to be put into place. Time and money.

Global warming isn't our future. It is our now.

Earlier this week, Senate Republicans put forth legislation (S.7594-B) which would create a gas tax "holiday" from Memorial Day to Labor Day. I and many of my Democratic colleagues voted against this legislation because it is bad fiscal and environmental policy that will only result in windfall profits for oil companies and no real relief for consumers. My colleagues and I understand New Yorkers have been hit hard by rising fuel costs. However, what we need are not gimmicks, but carefully thought out policies that will create long-term solutions to the growing energy crisis facing our state and decrease our dependence on foreign oil.

S.7594-B, introduced by Senator Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island), would exempt gasoline and diesel from the State's excise tax, Sales Tax, and Petroleum Business Tax, from May 23, 2008 to September 2, 2008. These taxes are currently used to provide funds for highways, roads, bridges, and mass transit. By suspending the taxes the Senate Republicans will create an estimated $600 million budget gap for these necessary services.

SIBRO CIVIC & SOUTH BEACH CIVIC

are hosting a SPEAK OUT AGAINST CONGESTION PRICING event

SUNDAY, April 6th at 7:00 PM

Xavarian High School
7100 Shore Road
Brooklyn, NY 11209

Please come and speak out so that our elected officials in Albany can know how New Yorker's REALLY feel about this plan before they vote.

Steve Harrison is having a press conference tomorrow at 2pm at the Staten Island Ferry (Staten Island side) to discuss his position on congestion pricing. Steve has stated that he does not oppose congestion pricing, but he does oppose THIS congestion pricing plan. You can read more about his position on our website: www.steveharrisonforcongress.com.

Please support us by attending this conference and telling your friends and neighbors to join us as well.

Interested in a discussion online about carbon emissions and real, science-based solutions to global warming? This comes from the Union of Concerned Scientists:

A Target for U.S. Emissions Reduction

Join Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel for free web seminar on the analysis for determining “A Target for U.S. Emissions Reductions.” Following a presentation on the findings, will be a Q&A session.

Date: February 20, 2008
Time: 2:00 pm (EST)
Click here to RSVP. Directions on how to join will be emailed to you.

Substantial scientific evidence indicates that an increase in the global average temperature of more than two degrees Celsius (°C) above pre-industrial average (i.e., prior to 1860) poses severe risks to natural systems and human health and well-being. The European Union as well as climate legislation moving through the U.S. Congress both employ 2°C as a guide for policy goals.