Interested in herbs? Come out and help Natural Areas Volunteers (NAV) plant herbs at Clearview Park in Queens. You’ll be beautifying the space and you might learn a thing or two to boot! Come dressed in closed-toe shoes, long pants and clothing that can get dirty. Please bring a sack lunch.
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Imagine being a student at New York City’s Queens College, and being able to pick a ripe, organic apple right off the tree on your way to your morning biology class. Nice, right? This past Arbor Day (in New York State, it’s the last Friday in April), a dozen student volunteers planted a whole orchard of 70 heirloom-variety apples on their own campus, with the help and guidance of Long Island City resident Erik Baard (who recently was awarded the Greenest NYer prize by the state’s I Love NY program) and his Newtown Pippin Restoration-Gotham Orchards program. Queens College senior Grace Magee had the idea and suggested it to the college’s administration only last month, and four days later, they had trees!
A 1.5 acre area of Long Island City has been transformed from a commuter parking lot into an eco-friendly green space. Dutch Kills Green, officially opened by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on April 4, features a wetlands park of 489 native trees and grasses which will naturally filter pollutants from storm water. The mini-park sits alongside pedestrian walkways and bike paths to create a usable, peaceful green space in the rapidly evolving post-industrial Queens waterfront neighborhood.
Aerial view of the area where the Brooklyn-Queens pipeline would run
Brooklyn and Queens homes may soon be powered by natural gas instead of heavily polluting number 4 and number 6 heating oils. On February 7, a bill for construction of a new three-mile pipeline sailed through the House of Representatives. The pipeline would traverse under Jacob Riis Park and the Gateway National Recreation Area in Queens and through a small part of southern Brooklyn. The plan has been met with little criticism, and NY1 reports that it is part of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC initiative for a more sustainable city powered by cleaner energy. However, we can’t help but be ticked off by this, as natural gas is not a sustainable resource nor is it a source of clean, renewable energy.
The New York Hospital Queens (NYHQ), located in Flushing and serving a community of about 115,000 people each year, is upgrading its 55-year-old infrastructure as part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC ‘s green energy initiative. The hospital aims to find new ways to conserve its resources, preserve the environment, and cut costs through innovative retrofitting, while taking part in a citywide initiative to reduce hospital carbon emissions. As of September 2011, the NYHQ reported a 28% reduction in carbon emissions.
image © gsz via Flickr Creative Commons
Back in September, Inhabitat took a tour of Long Island City’s art and cultural centers, which are part of the 72 Hour Urban Action initiative to save LIC from expanding gentrification through artistic and economic development. But for one of these historic cultural landmarks, it may already be too late. 5 Pointz, a sprawling graffiti mecca, is set to be torn down in 2013 in order to make room for some not-so-cultural and not-so-historic high-rise luxury condos. Demolishing the building would not only destroy a cherished landmark that attracts artists from around the world, but it could also have serious social consequences for the neighborhood.
The Queens Library Foundation announced this week that it is partnering with the Community Environmental Center (CEC) of Long Island City to retrofit five branches of the Queens Library and create green education programs for the community. The $250,000 project is funded by the Greening Western Queens Fund of North Star Fund and is set to begin by the end of the month.
If you haven’t gotten rid of your tree yet, we know just the place to drop it off — in fact, we know of 70 places! The New York Department of Parks and Recreation, along with the New York Department of Sanitation and GreeNYC, is hosting its annual Mulchfest in parks all over the city this weekend where you can recycle your old tree into wood chips. Last year over 17,000 trees were recycled throughout the city, and the team is looking forward to beating that record this year.
A group of park activists and city board members are hard at work on bringing the concept of the High Line to Queens. The group recently met with representatives from the city about a proposed plan to turn the defunct Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, which has been abandoned for 50 years, into a long green way much like its Manhattan counterpart. The leaders have already garnered the support of Community Board 9, but some people in the neighborhood think that the park isn’t such a great idea.
Local honey is good for all that ails you– allergies, sore throats, colds, not to mention that it’s delicious! The Brooklyn Grange rooftop farm and Rockaway Beach Club have teamed up to host New York City’s first ever Honey Festival, a celebration of local beekeepers. Enjoy honey related concessions, live music, costume parades and fun for the whole family. Plus, the event is free, so be sure to see what the buzz is all about!
