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
It is bad enough that people steal iPhones on street corners and snatch wallets on the subway – do they really have to steal away a summer of green transportation from kids in Queens? A soulless thief — or a herd of them — reportedly just stole 35 bikes,
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
Here at Inhabitat, we’ve long praised the environmental benefits of composting, but we understand that the thought of rotting food or a worm bin in your kitchen can be a turn-off. But fear no more, eco-friends, Vokashi, a new Brooklyn composting company, is here to clean up your kitchen waste in an easy, green, smell-free way.
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
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
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday the addition of 70 new electric vehicles to the official New York City transportation fleet. The addition is made up of 50 Chevy Volts, 10 Ford Transit Connect Electric cargo vans and 10 Navi-star “E-star”
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
New York’s waterways are under a constant influx of raw sewage, often causing Combined Sewage Overflow or CSO. One ambitious start up, called DontFlushMe, seeks to implement a hyper intelligent CSO detection system that will notify New Yorkers when water
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
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
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
As many of our faithful readers know, Inhabitat’s office is located in New York’s Lower East Side — and we wouldn’t have it any other way. The neighborhood is chock-full of tasty vegan cafes and awesome eco shops, but it’s also packed with historic, decades-old
The fight for a ban on cars in Central Park has been a back and forth debate between Manhattan Community Boards and the Department of Transportation, but it’s looking like arguments for a trial ban have fallen on deaf ears. For months now, half a dozen Community
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,
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
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
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
Brooklyn’s budding cultural district will soon raise the curtain on a new classic theater. Just Last Friday, construction started on the Theater for a New Audience, a Hugh Hardy designed flexible theater created specifically for the performance of Shakespeare
It’s no secret that stormwater runoff is a serious contributor to pollution in NYC waterways, especially in areas in southern Brooklyn and Queens. In East New York, a lower-income neighborhood in Brooklyn, old and overburdened sewers release foul odors and
Despite Mayor Bloomberg’s resistance to banning cars from Central Park, the Community Boards surrounding the park are all in favor of implementing a trial ban this summer. Just yesterday, Community Board 11 voted unanimously in favor of a car-free park. Park
The Gowanus Canal may be a Superfund site, but that hasn’t kept the surrounding neighborhood from having somewhat of a renaissance over the last few years. New apartment buildings, restaurants, and galleries continue to pop up, and just this week, the new
