If you're wondering about what to do for St. Patrick's Day this Sunday in NYC, we've got a bevy of fun, green activities that are blessed with the luck o' the Irish. From pub crawls to celtic-themed workouts, there are plenty of ways you can take part in the festivities while minimizing your footprint. Click through our gallery to discover six low-impact ways to enjoy a high-energy St. Patty’s Day in NYC.
Image via NYC Mayor’s Office Flickr
Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg announced that New York City’s population is the highest it’s been in over 60 years, with more people moving in than moving out for the first time in decades. According to data derived from the US Census Bureau, 161,000 more people have begun calling the city home in the past two years (an increase of 2 percent). So what does this mean for NYC’s economy, resources and housing situation? Read on to find out.
Recycling in New York City just got a little easier today with the launch of the city’s largest public space recycling initiative. Mayor Bloomberg joined the Times Square Alliance, BigBelly Solar and the Alcoa Foundation this morning to announce the debut of the Times Square Public Space Recycling Pilot program and 30 new BigBelly solar-powered waste and recycling stations. With over 500,000 visitors a day, Times Square sees more garbage than any other nabe in the city (approximately 900 bags daily), so it is hoped that the new stations will help both tourists and locals recycle all of that trash properly.
Image Credit MyFoxNY.com
Joggers out on their morning run were surprised to spot a dolphin swimming in the the East River yesterday. The bottlenose dolphin, which appeared to be uninjured, was seen in the waters between East 96th Street and East 106th Street. Biologists who were on the scene yesterday are still evaluating the health of the dolphin, which ended up alone after it was disconnected from its family pod.
Image via Shutterstock
If you thought the collection of fungi housed in your own fridge was impressive, wait ’til you hear what was found on NYC’s green roofs. Researchers from Barnard College, Columbia University, Fordham and the University of Colorado recently conducted tests on planted roofs in all five boroughs and discovered that they harbor thriving colonies of various types of fungi. While creepy crawlies like these tend to have a bad rep, these newly discovered “fungal communities” could actually be beneficial in their ability to remove pollutants from the air and assist with stormwater runoff.
Photo from Shutterstock
Despite the current controversy about hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in New York, a group of scientists from Stanford believe that even a city as large as the Big Apple could be powered by alternative means by the year 2050. In their study, which is scheduled for publication in the journal Energy Policy, the researchers state that it is “economically feasible to convert New York’s all-purpose energy infrastructure to one powered by wind, water and sunlight (WWS)“. Not just that, but they also feel that their strategy would create a host of jobs and save the state billions of dollars in pollution-related costs.
Image via NYC Recycles Facebook
The New York City Department of Sanitation is calling on the city’s youth to conceive, design, and implement innovative cleanup, beautification, or reclamation projects in their boroughs. Citywide schools (both public and private) from grades K-12 can compete for a shot at winning cash prizes by submitting their sustainability initiatives to the 2013 Golden Apple Awards competition from now until May 1st. Now in its 11th year, the contest continues to further its mission to reward both students and schools for their exemplary commitment to environmental education projects.
When Hurricane Sandy wiped out the lifeguard stations and public bathrooms on many of New York City’s beaches, the city found itself in a bind. How could it rebuild these necessary facilities in time for the summer of 2013? To answer that question, officials turned to architect Jim Garrison, who has been designing buildings for the city for over three decades, and luckily, his firm was ready to jump into the fray and design more than 50 beach structures for a scheduled opening on Memorial Day. The resulting facilities will be flood-resistant, sustainably-built, modular and prefab (not to mention nifty-looking).
Photo via Shutterstock
Mayor Bloomberg’s ambitious plan to ban sugary beverages larger than 16 ounces in food and beverage establishments throughout New York City has been overturned, Reuters reports. NYC’s health-conscious Mayor introduced the ban last year after failing to implement a soda tax, but the American Beverage Association sued the city. Just one day before the ban was due to take effect, State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling ruled it invalid on the basis that it is “arbitrary and capricious.”
Image © NYC Mayor’s Office
Adding some clout to NYC’s highly controversial soda ban, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, along with Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Linda I. Gibbs and Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley, released new data showing the correlation between sugary drink consumption and obesity today. The study was conducted by the New York City Community Health Survey, which surveyed 9,000 adults over the age of 18 across the city. The findings showed that in each of the five boroughs, neighborhoods that consumed a higher rate of sugary drinks also had higher rates of obesity.
An entry in Tablet Hotel’s Rethink Hotels competition, the Allotment is a totally new concept in hospitality: A hotel centered around food, rather than sleep. Dreamed up by Dean Moran, the prospective NYC hotel is all about the process of growing, selling and cooking fresh food, while also giving guests the opportunity to engage in the process. The proposal also calls for cultivating farm fresh produce in and on the hotel itself!
When NYC’s city-wide soda ban goes into effect next Tuesday, coffee-drinking New Yorkers might find themselves feeling burned as well. Macchiatos, lattes, frappes and other sweet beverages will also fall under the ban, which could mean that customers at food
In the second episode of StreetEasy’s NYC brownstone renovation video series, Demo to Decor, local architect and historic NYC townhouse expert Brendan Coburn walks us through the renovation of a Park Slope brownstone and highlights several recent developments
For homeowners left devastated after Hurricane Sandy, financial relief may be on the way. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing to buy homes from Sandy flood victims in a program that will offer the purchased lands to potential real estate developers while
Community groups and star chefs are banding together to prevent developers from tearing down the old Fulton Fish Market at the South Street Seaport. In a video encouraging the public to sign a petition to preserve the space as a public market where both
A group of children from the Hewitt School’s Earth Committee are making waves in the city, calling for a plastic bag ban and working with leaders to make New York City a greener place to live. Through Change.org, the students have collected 1,616 signatures
