will.i.am and EKOCYCLE Announce $200,000 Grant to Spur Household Recycling in the South Bronx

will.i.am and EKOCYCLE Announce $200,000 Grant to Spur Household Recycling in the South Bronx

Photo: Eric Cheng

The South Bronx is known for many things - its role in hip hop history, being the home of the Yankees and notable natives like Al Pacino, Colin Powell and Jennifer Lopez - but unfortunately, recycling is not one of them. According to city surveys, the South Bronx has the lowest recycling rate in all of NYC, but musician will.i.am and Coca Cola are hoping to change that through their joint venture, EKOCYCLE. This morning, EKOCYCLE announced their $200,000 grant to Sustainable South Bronx to create a new pilot program to help make it easier for area residents to get into the habit of recycling.

 

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Ideas City Festival Livens Up the Bowery With Green Installations and Sustainable Fun

Ideas City Festival Livens Up the Bowery With Green Installations and Sustainable Fun

Last weekend, the New Museum's Ideas City Festival brought an action packed array of sustainable events and exhibitions to the Bowery. Visitors marveled as treetops and skyscrapers were brought within arm’s reach by Davidson Rafailidis’ Mirror Mirror installation, while others hung out inside Raumlabor’s inflatable bubble pavilion. Inhabitat joined the hundreds of New Yorkers who enjoyed the sustainable art installations, forums, and creative recycling initiatives - click through our gallery to see what we saw!
 

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Garrison Architects’ Flood-Proof, Modular Beach Buildings Are Coming to NYC This Summer

Garrison Architects’ Flood-Proof, Modular Beach Buildings Are Coming to NYC This Summer

This summer, some of the NYC beaches hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy will get a new start with the opening of 37 flood-proof, prefab lifeguard stations, comfort stations and offices designed by Garrison Architects. After the superstorm, Rockaway Beach, Coney Island, Midland Beach, Wolfe's Pond Park and Cedar Grove were left with just the tattered shambles of what used to be their restrooms and other beach structures. The city knew that it had to rebuild in order to open these popular beaches back to their communities for summer 2013, but fast-tracking the design and construction of these buildings to a matter of months proved to be a challenge. Architect Jim Garrison and his firm were called in to tackle the task, and we're happy to say that they're making impressive progress towards their Memorial Day deadline. We stopped by the Garrison booth yesterday at BKLYN Designs and got to see some 3D models of the modular beach buildings in person. Click through our gallery to see the photos we snapped as well as renderings of the final designs.
 

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DIY VIDEO: Model Summer Rayne Oakes Shows You How to Make a Mason Jar Herb Garden for Your Kitchen Wall

DIY VIDEO: Model Summer Rayne Oakes Shows You How to Make a Mason Jar Herb Garden for Your Kitchen Wall

Picking up fresh herbs at a local farmers market is definitely a foodie luxury, but it doesn't hold a candle to harvesting fragrant, just-plucked seasonings right from your own kitchen. If you've always wanted to create an indoor herb garden but weren't sure how, our favorite eco-model Summer Rayne Oakes has got a wonderfully useful DIY project for you. Summer and her handy dad recently created a beautiful herb garden right on her kitchen wall using just a few mason jars, recycled wood pieces and other inexpensive materials, and we're really impressed by the result. Click through our gallery for a step-by-step tutorial showing you how to make a similar garden in your home, or read on for Summer's fun video documenting the process.
 

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VIDEO INTERVIEW: Model Summer Rayne Oakes Turns Her Brooklyn Apartment into a Greenhouse Filled with 200+ Plants

VIDEO INTERVIEW: Model Summer Rayne Oakes Turns Her Brooklyn Apartment into a Greenhouse Filled with 200+ Plants

When she's not busy enacting change in the garment industry or making the latest sustainable fashions look amazing, model Summer Rayne Oakes likes to get back to her roots - literally. The Brooklyn resident and self-proclaimed plantlover recently told us that she transformed her apartment into a verdant oasis filled with over 200 plants. Click through our photo gallery to take a tour of this veritable urban greenhouse, and check out this inspiring video showing how Mingo Design helped Summer create a flourishing vertical garden wall right in her living room.
 

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6 Fun, Green Ways to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in NYC!

6 Fun, Green Ways to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in NYC!

Lead image modified from Shutterstock photos found here and here.

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.

 

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Mayor Bloomberg Launches NYC’s Largest Public Space Recycling Initiative in Times Square

Mayor Bloomberg Launches NYC’s Largest Public Space Recycling Initiative in Times Square

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

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See Pics of the New Flood-Proof, Prefab Beach Buildings NYC Plans to Roll Out This Summer

See Pics of the New Flood-Proof, Prefab Beach Buildings NYC Plans to Roll Out This Summer

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

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The Allotment Concept Proposes Growing Farm-Fresh Food In and On an NYC Hotel

The Allotment Concept Proposes Growing Farm-Fresh Food In and On an NYC Hotel

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

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7 Gorgeous Vertical Gardens That Bring Living, Growing Art to the Walls of New York City

7 Gorgeous Vertical Gardens That Bring Living, Growing Art to the Walls of New York City

Those of us who've ogled spectacular vertical gardens in other cities may feel that New York City is a bit lacking when it comes to great green walls - but the truth is that you just have to look for them. From a dazzling vegetated display at Lincoln Center to a dynamic planted wall at one of our favorite restaurants, we recently spied 7 living walls by plant wall design right here in the Big Apple. Click through our gallery to see them all, but don't forget to visit them in person as well. Except for the residential ones (that might be weird).
 

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Study Shows Daylight Harvesting Could Save NYC Office Buildings $70 Million a Year

Study Shows Daylight Harvesting Could Save NYC Office Buildings $70 Million a Year

Green Light New York wants to lower your office’s electricity bill in a big way. Their new study estimates that retrofitting office buildings with daylight harvesting systems that amp up the use of daylight could save a whopping $70 million per year (thats

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Get Your Free Tree at the New York Restoration Project’s Upcoming Tree Giveaways

Get Your Free Tree at the New York Restoration Project’s Upcoming Tree Giveaways

Beginning on March 9th, the New York Restoration Project – a nonprofit organization founded by actress and environmentalist Bette Midler – will kick off their annual spring tree giveaways. Thanks to a sponsorship by Toyota, 4,500 trees will be free for the

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New Report Shows How NYC Could Cut 90% of Its Carbon Footprint by 2050

New Report Shows How NYC Could Cut 90% of Its Carbon Footprint by 2050

With all the dire predictions about climate change in the news, it’s easy to start thinking that the problem is too large to even begin to untangle. But a new report released by the Urban Green Council, the New York Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, says

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Mayor Bloomberg Announces Plans for 10,000 More EV Charging Stations in NYC

Mayor Bloomberg Announces Plans for 10,000 More EV Charging Stations in NYC

In his State of the City address yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg announced new plans that he explained could create “up to 10,000 parking spots for electric vehicles over the next seven years.” This massive expansion of electric vehicle (EV) charging capacity

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Mayor Bloomberg Stresses Greening of New York City in Final State of the City Address

Mayor Bloomberg Stresses Greening of New York City in Final State of the City Address

Yesterday Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered his final State of the City address, and not surprisingly, the focus of his talk was on making NYC an even greener place than it is now. In the speech, Bloomberg spoke prophetically of a reduced carbon footprint,

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10-Foot-Tall Washington Heights Snowman Refuses to Melt!

10-Foot-Tall Washington Heights Snowman Refuses to Melt!

Image ©TheClookie

The snow from last weekend’s winter storm Nemo has mostly melted, but one resilient snowman in Washington Heights simply refuses to melt! The ten-foot-tall Frosty has kept its shape, eyes, arms and hat, even after Monday’s warmer

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NYC Considers Banning Styrofoam at All Food-Service Facilities

NYC Considers Banning Styrofoam at All Food-Service Facilities

Photo credit: Flickr/dotpolka

New York City is continuing its war against trash, this time with a possible styrofoam ban. The legislation is being proposed by Ron Gonen, the city’s Deputy Commissioner for Recycling and Sustainability and it would prohibit

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Need Cheap Paint? Get Surplus Cans from the Brooklyn Bridge for a Few Bucks a Pop

Need Cheap Paint? Get Surplus Cans from the Brooklyn Bridge for a Few Bucks a Pop

NYC is giving those of us doing home improvements a reason to paint the town red (or brown or green) by offering up surplus colors from the Brooklyn Bridge and other projects for cheap. The NY Times’ Sam Roberts reports that New York’s Department of Citywide

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Upper West Side’s First BigBelly Solar Trash Can Hits the Streets

Upper West Side’s First BigBelly Solar Trash Can Hits the Streets

The Upper West Side recently got a new BigBelly Solar trash at the corner of West 77th and Columbus Avenue. It’s the first solar-powered trash can on the Upper West Side and chances are that it won’t be the last, as the City Council has already begun gathering

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Top 6 Inhabitat NYC Stories of 2012 – Vote for Your Favorite!

Top 6 Inhabitat NYC Stories of 2012 – Vote for Your Favorite!

As we get ready to ring in 2013, we took a look back at our most popular NYC stories from the past 12 months. We saw everything from the good (phone booths repurposed into miniature libraries) to the bad (Hurricane Sandy crippling our city) to the just plain

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Recycle Your Christmas Tree at Mulchfest 2013!

Recycle Your Christmas Tree at Mulchfest 2013!

Now that Christmas has come and gone, many New Yorkers will begin discarding their holiday trees. If you’re wondering how to dispose of your tree, we know just the place to drop it off — in fact, we know of 70 places! The New York Department of Parks and

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Vine Line: Architect Wants to Blanket West Side Highway in Leafy Trellises and Waterfalls

Vine Line: Architect Wants to Blanket West Side Highway in Leafy Trellises and Waterfalls

Laurence Tamaccio's tale is one that many New Yorkers will be able to relate to. The architect lives near Riverside Park South, which he feels is a generally aesthetically pleasing area except for the unsightly figure of the West Side Highway slicing between the neighborhood and the Hudson River. Tamaccio, whose firm, Design Destinations, specializes in facade renovations and aesthetic revamps, has come up with a novel solution that he feels would turn the eyesore into a source of pride for the whole community. Called the Vine Line, the proposal entails blanketing the side of the highway with leafy vertical ivy gardens and waterfalls to unite it with the adjacent park. Read on to see a video sent in by Shannon Ayala about how others in the community feel about the possibility of creating the Vine Line.
 

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Louis I. Kahn’s FDR Four Freedoms Park Opens to the Public Today

Louis I. Kahn’s FDR Four Freedoms Park Opens to the Public Today

Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park © Paul Warchol

After 40 long years of waiting, New Yorkers will finally see legendary architect Louis I. Kahn's vision for the FDR Four Freedoms Park come to life on Roosevelt Island. The monument and new green space is set to open to the public this morning. If you can't make it today to see this powerful memorial to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, fear not. We snapped some sneak peek photos to tide you over, so read on!

 

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PHOTOS: Fifth Street Farm Unveils New Rooftop Farm Classroom Designed by Michael Arad

PHOTOS: Fifth Street Farm Unveils New Rooftop Farm Classroom Designed by Michael Arad

The Fifth Street Farm recently unveiled its 3rd rooftop farm classroom atop the Earth School on Avenue B, and we were on hand for the momentous event. Designed by architect and Earth School parent Michael Arad, the gorgeous rooftop farm will have students growing everything from kale to basil and teach them about sustainable agriculture. After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, we took a tour of the new urban farm with the students. Flip through our photos for all of the delicious deets.
 

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6 Can’t-Miss Green Activities to Do This Fall in NYC

6 Can’t-Miss Green Activities to Do This Fall in NYC

We're not exactly sure where summer went, but there are so many fun fall activities to do in NYC that we hardly miss the muggy weather. This autumn, there's a cornucopia of green things to do in all five boroughs, from a spooky haunted pumpkin garden to Oktoberfest on a mountaintop to a labyrinth of corn. Read on to see all of our top picks!
 

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