Community Gardens Divert Leaves from the Trash Bin to the Compost Bin

NYCLeaves: Project LeafDrop, a new coalition of community gardens and greening groups dedicated to diverting fallen leaves from the trash bin to the compost bin, is building a growing network of community gardens that will take in some of the 20,000 tons of residential leaves that would otherwise go to landfills and is turning them into beautiful, rich compost or mulch for garden beds and street trees. Community gardens participating in “Project LeafDrop” are inviting neighborhood residents to bring their bagged leaves (in paper or clear plastic bags without twigs or trash) to their gardens on specific dates in November and early December. The gardeners will use these “browns” to improve the balance of their compostable materials or share them with other groups working to enrich undernourished urban open spaces.

Master Composters will be available at many of the participating gardens with information about how to make nutritious “brown gold” compost in your own garden, yard or apartment and the convenience and importance of recycling.

Garden groups wishing to join Project LeafDrop and register as drop-off sites, to find specific drop-off dates at a participating garden near you, or for more information about Project LeafDrop, see the group's website: http://www.NYCLeaves.org or email them at compost@nycleaves.org.

Gas Drilling Yields Radioactive Wastewater

Yesterday the investigative journalism website ProPublica reported on a disturbing phenomenon about gas drilling: that the wastewater created by the process is radioactive. It also seems that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and New York State's Department of Health have known about naturally occurring underground radiation in general since the mid-1980's and have been concerned with the specific problem of radiation in the Marcellus Shale's drilling wastewater since at least April of this year.

The article states that, "[w]hat scientists call naturally occurring radioactive materials...are common in oil and gas drilling waste, and especially in brine, the dirty water that has been soaking in the shale for centuries...[T]ests taken so far suggest the amount of radioactive material measured in New York is far higher than in many other places."

The DEC has issued draft guidelines for drilling in the Marcellus Shale, the underground rock formation extending from Southern New York all the way to West Virginia, and which encompasses New York City's watershed. You can submit comments through the online submission system or via email to dmnsgeis@gw.dec.state.ny.us until December 31, 2009. And a petition to sign has been created by an alliance of New York state-based environmental, political and citizen groups to ban gas drilling in New York State.

There is a public hearing tonight, Tuesday, November 10th at 6:30PM at the Stuyvesant High School Auditorium, 345 Chambers Street, Manhattan.

For more background, see our previous posts on this topic and/or Damascus Citizens for Sustainability or the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter.

Are Genetically Modified Organisms in Your Food?

Q: Can You Tell If There Are Genetically Modified Organisms in the Food You're Eating?

A: Not really because of the absence of food labeling laws governing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

What are genetically modified organisms and why should you want to know?

Come to the panel discussion to find out!

When: Friday, November 13th at 7pm

Where: Park Slope Food Coop
782 Union St., Brooklyn (btw 6th & 7th Av.)

Image courtesy of U. of Michigan

Compost-O-Rama !

Date: Sunday, November 8, 2009
1pm - 5pm

Location: MS 51 & the Old Stone House
5th Ave @ 4th St in Park Slope, Brooklyn


Bring your old Jack - O - Lantern!

We will supply the shredded leaves.

This is a pilot program at MS 51 to demonstrate how simple waste materials - leaves and pumpkins - can be turn into benefit. Thanks to BBG and Jon Pope, a master composter and carpenter, we have 3 giant rodent-proof bins to fill with material. Finished compost will be distributed in the spring to our historically referenced gardens of useful plants.

Please pass the information on and come on down to see the fun.

Good beer is available right across the street!

Volunteers are welcome to contact Claudia at permie@earthlink.net

For more information: 718-768-3195 or info@theoldstonehouse.org

NY Watershed/Drilling Update

In response to public pressure:

• The comment period, which began Sept. 30 with the release of the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS), now extends through Dec. 31, 2009. You can submit comments through the online submission system or via email to dmnsgeis@gw.dec.state.ny.us



• The second public hearing on the environmental review, which will be held Tuesday, November 10 at Stuyvesant High School, 345 Chambers St. in Manhattan. Doors for the hearing will now open at 5:30 p.m. for individual questions and speaker sign-up and the hearing will begin at 6:30 p.m.



• Please add to the over 1400 signatures on the petition created by an alliance of New York state-based environmental, political and citizens groups to ban gas drilling in NYS.

For more background, see our previous posts on this topic and/or Damascus Citizens for Sustainability.

E-Waste Recycling This Month

As we mentioned last week, the city has suspended their electronics recycling events because of budget cuts. But the Council on the Environment of New York City is sponsoring two collections of electronic waste in November:

Tuesday, November 10, 11am-7pm
Church of the Heavenly Rest
90th St and 5th Ave, Manhattan

Sunday, November 22, 8am-3pm
Isaacs/Holmes Parking Lot, 93rd St and 1st Ave, Manhattan

Bring cell phones, computers, laptops, copiers, fax machines, IPods and PDAs, modems, monitors, keyboards, mice, printers, stereo and radio equipment, telephones and telephone equipment, televisions, typewriters, speakers, digital cameras, VCRs, DVD players. All E-Waste collected will be recycled in an environmentally responsible manner in the U.S.

For more information, download this flyer from the CENYC.

Image from vision63's Flickr pool.

Gas Drilling near NY’s Drinking Water Supply

November 4 at 7pm:
Panel Discussion on
Natural Gas Drilling near
NY’s Drinking Water Supply



Featuring
• Kylie Harper, Founder, TapIt
• Deborah Goldberg, Managing Attorney, Earth Justice
• Kate Sinding, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council
• Moderated by The Sierra Club Watershed Committee

Location:
Columbia Law School, Jerome Greene Hall
435 W 116th St., rm. 107
(between Amsterdam Ave. & Morningside Dr.)

Why should you – New Yorkers – care?

Large-scale gas drilling in the Catskill area could result in the irreversible pollution of our water supply and cost us billions of dollars in the process.

Hydraulic Fracturing is the suspected cause of impaired or polluted drinking water in western Pennsylvania, Colorado, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Kansas, Montana, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

If it is allowed to occur without strong restriction in the Catskill watershed area, it is only a matter of time before our water is affected as well. Once the watershed becomes polluted, New York will have to cough up ~$10 billion for a water processing plant to treat the water.

Panelists wil discuss the risks and benefits of hydrofracking, the environmental impacts, alternatives to drilling, the current policies and DEC rules concerning this industry in New York State, and what we can do to protect our precious water supply.

Learn more about the issue at Damascus Citizens for Sustainability.

Sign the petition to ban hydraulic fracture drilling in New York State.