It’s one thing city living lacks: big backyards, perfect for summer barbeques and wet ‘n wild slip ‘n slide parties with your friends. But stop your fretting because a backyard is coming to you, right here in the city. In an effort to bring suburban lawns

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New Yorkers have been growing urban farms for quite some time, but it finally looks like the city government is officially supporting urban farming efforts. City Council passed two bills last week in an effort to support consumption and production of local

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We’ve extensively covered NYC’s ancient sewage system, and its chronic storm water and sewage overflow problems. Just last week, a fire accident at a treatment center added to the mess as raw sewage started flowing into the Hudson river. The EPA, however,

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While we sit here twiddling our thumbs waiting for the Manhattan and Brooklyn bike share programs to get rolling, our suburban neighbors will be cruising away. Two municipalities, one in Long Beach, Long Island and the other in Simsbury, Connecticut are working

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If you’ve visited the Central Park loop lately, you might of noticed a few automated traffic counters along the loop near Tavern on the Green. After much controversy over the Central Park car ban, Manhattan DOT Commissioner Margaret Forgione confirmed earlier

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An unfortunate consequence of living in an urban environment is that city folk tend to forget about nature. But for a group of field biologists working with the city parks department, New York City offers some of the most interesting and diverse environmental

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The record breaking heat wasn’t the only thing making NYC rather miserable last week. A fire breakout at the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Harlem caused more than 360 million gallons of raw sewage to spew out into the Hudson River. Luckily, for

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We haven’t heard much lately about the continuing battle to have PCB-tainted light fixtures removed from city schools, but on Wednesday, NYC parents filed a federal lawsuit in response to the city’s refusal to replace PCB laden light fixtures within a shorter

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It’s a shocking upset for environmental activists and all New Yorkers. A new set of proposed guidelines for fracking in New York State would allow drilling within 1,000 feet of underground tunnels that carry 1.2 billion gallons of water a day to NYC. Despite

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Brooklyn is home to almost 50 percent of New York City’s community gardens, and it looks like that number is about to go up! The Brooklyn Community Foundation, in support of Brooklyn gardeners and environmentalists, is offering micro grants to fund the creation

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While New Yorkers struggle to install solar panels because of our city’s complex bureaucracy, our neighbors across the Hudson River are upping the ante in the solar power game. New Jersey has broken the record, which was set by itself, for the largest solar

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Despite NYC’s solar policy, incentive programs, and the numerous economic and environmental benefits that come with it, only a few homeowners in NYC have been able to install solar panels. It seems that the main obstacle to installing solar panels in residential

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Have any green ideas that you think would help improve the city? Change by Us NYC, an innovative website created by Local Projects, is exactly what you need to get your voice heard. The site, dubbed “a social network for civic activity,” officially launched

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The Brooklyn Children’s Museum, New York City’s first ever LEED certified museum, just keeps getting better. The institution is expanding its space, and they recently unveiled plans for a new transparent rooftop canopy, made out of a heat-resistant ETFE skin

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Back in March, we reported that the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, a mere 24 miles away from NYC, houses one of the most dangerous reactors in the country. Closing it down, however, might be a double edged sword. The DEP released a report stating that shutting

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Late last month, Community Board 3 approved the “Urban Design Principles,” a set of guidelines for the development of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA) in the Lower East Side. The agreement was finally reached after 40 years of the land being

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The geese saga continues as the New York City Department of Environmental Protection announced last week an expected round up of 700 to 800 Canada geese from parks in and around the city. The City, however, refuses to comment on when or where the roundup will

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Just last week, we reported that the Theater for a New Audience began construction on a new LEED-seeking theater, and now we’ve learned that another green performing arts center in the borough is also in the works. Brooklyn College broke ground this May on

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In a surprising move, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that he is looking to remove a statewide ban on fracking, much to the dismay of many New Yorkers and environmental groups. Officials are discussing keeping the ban inside NYC’s upstate watershed,

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Eco-friendly New Yorkers, take a moment and pat yourselves on the back. In a new survey on the sustainability practices and policies of American and Canadian cities, New York was named the third greenest city, just behind the historically top ranked cities

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Who doesn’t love a good concert? We certainly do, but we hate the fact that live shows need massive amounts of electricity. So does Pedal Power NYC, and they have creates a solution for this very problem: swap grid-hogging generators with pedal-power! The

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Our favorite turkey-shaped farm is bursting with fresh produce! This week, the student gardeners at the Battery Park Urban Farm reaped the “vegetables of their labor” after two months of tending to lettuce, radishes, peas, kale, collard greens, and other delicious herbs and veggies. The one acre farm is sponsored by the Battery Park Conservancy, and over the last few months, it has brought together hundreds of downtown students and residents who planted and cared for the crops.

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In a huge victory for environmental advocacy and green activism, four environmental groups, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reached a legal settlement that guarantees significant improvements to restore and preserve Jamaica Bay. Jamaica

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The ‘Floating Pool Lady’ was commissioned in 1999 by The Neptune Foundation, and donated to the New York City Parks Department in 2008. The 260′ long barge was purchased and refitted in Louisiana in 2006, and was finally tugged to New York in 2007. It spent

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The Trust for Public Land, in an exciting effort to promote a greener city, is turning over one of the largest network of community gardens in the nation to local residents across the five boroughs. In total, 69 parcels of land, encompassing about eight acres

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