Dr. Dickson Despommier, panelist at the upcoming 2nd Annual Jane Jacobs Forum Re-Imagining New York: Designing Urban Farms to Feed our City, recently spoke to Tamara Coombs of MAS about why he sees urban “vertical farms” as key to the future, not just of cities, but of the planet.

Ten years ago, Columbia University microbiology professor Despommier began investigating different approaches to agriculture that would feed the additional 3 billion people that are estimated to be born in the next 50 years. This research project, which he conducted with the help of his students, has grown into a popular website The Vertical Farm Project, an op-ed in The New York Times and a new book coming out next year, and garnered attention from municipalities (Newark, NJ), architecture and engineering companies, and the Obama administration along the way. Continue Reading>>

On September 24th, an intrepid group of Richard Morris Hunt patrons gathered for a private boat tour of the Gowanus Canal. The tour was a rare opportunity to visit a historic waterway and see some of Brooklyn’s most interesting historic industrial buildings and travel through the “museum” of historic draw bridges still in operation on the canal.

The discussion on the boat focused on the fact that the canal and the adjacent manufacturing area is currently at the center of a debate about how to best clean New York’s polluted waterways and sensitively develop in its manufacturing zones. The tour leaders, Lisa Kersavage, Senior Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at MAS, Dan Wiley, Community Coordinator for US Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, and Josh Verleun, Staff Attorney/Investigator of Riverkeeper, a NY-based nonprofit that advocates for clean water, all brought different perspectives to those issues. Continue Reading>>

In honor of Earth Day, MAS has released a study that details a suggested framework for analyzing climate change, and enables New York State to evaluate and address the potential climate change impact of different actions in land-use, energy and industrial transportation, and other issues. In order to fight climate change, it is critical that we reduce green house gases (GHG). Just last week, the Environmental Protection Agency formally declared six green house gasses to be pollutants that endanger public health and welfare. 

The MAS study concludes that the state has the ability to require far-reaching environmental review that can substantially advance efforts to reduce GHG. Meaningful environmental review can greatly assist governmental agencies and the public in understanding the climate change consequences of an action, while helping to address the resulting impacts. 

“Climate change is a global challenge and New Yorkers have the responsibility to aggressively reduce GHG emissions and prepare for the changes in air temperature, sea level, and precipitation, and the massive implications of those changes, to human and natural environments,” said Vin Cipolla, President of the Municipal Art Society. “New York is making great strides to reduce the state’s GHG emissions, but more solutions can and should be pursued to drastically reduce its contribution to global climate change.”  Continue Reading>>

At tomorrow night’s book program and panel discussion Growing Greener Cities – Urban Sustainability in the 21st Century, Alexander Garvin of Alexander Garvin & Associates, will join book editors Eugenie L. Birch and Susan Wachter, to talk about the urban green movement. The speakers will discuss concrete methods of addressing some of the most challenging issues facing cities today, ranging from public transit and infrastructure improvement, to aquifer protection and urban agriculture.

Editors Eugenie L. Birch and Susan Wachter will be available to sign copies of their new book during the reception that follows the program. Growing Greener Cities – Urban Sustainability in the 21st Century, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008.

Growing Greener Cities – Urban Sustainability in the 21st Century
Tuesday, October 28, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
$12 MAS members/students, $15 non-members. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075.

MillionTreesNYC was launched last year by the Parks Department and New York Restoration Project as a PlaNYC initiative.  This citywide, public-private program has an ambitious goal: to plant and care for one million new trees across the City’s five boroughs over the next decade. By planting one million trees, New York City can increase its urban forest by 20%, offering considerable environmental benefits to New Yorkers. The City of New York plans to plant 60% of these trees in parks and other public spaces. The remaining 40% will come from private organizations, homeowners, and community organizations. MAS is one of many non-profit groups that have agreed to help achieve this lofty goal.

MAS became involved because of our concern that the average street tree has a ten-year life cycle, and we believe it is as important to keep the million trees alive, as it is to plant them. So we are encouraged by the news that the MillionTreesNYC is seriously addressing the maintenance issue and has already put in place tree stewards at all New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) projects, where a large number of the new trees have been planted. Continue Reading>>

MAS testified before the City Council’s Committee on Waterfronts yesterday in support of Intro. No. 809, a bill that would require the City Planning Commission to create a comprehensive waterfront plan every ten years. We believe that planning for the waterfront is of great importance to the future of the city, and that engaging communities in the planning process is critical to the success of a waterfront plan.

Intro. No. 809 offers an opportunity to balance the diversity of uses on the city’s waterfront and waterways so that our maritime industry prospers, waterfront development is appropriate and based on established priorities, maritime habitats are protected and improved, long term and irreversible environmental harm due to the effects of climate change are mitigated or prevented, and that through increased use of waterborne transportation, our carbon footprint is reduced. Continue Reading>>

MAS In the Press: MAS weighs in on the City’s fight to remove illegal advertising from billboards (Village Voice). The Village Voice also picks up on part of MAS’ New Penn Station advocacy campaign to reopen the network of pedestrian tunnels underneath and around Penn Station (New Penn Station).

Issues in the Press:
- Another searing letter was sent from several City Council Members to the Planning Commission stating their opposition to the current Willets Point rezoning in anticipation of its public hearing with the Commission today (Crain’s New York Business, New York Sun). The last three major projects of the Bloomberg administration – Willets Point, Hunters Point, and Coney Island – mark a shift toward increased government intervention than earlier projects such as the Far West Side (New York Observer). Continue Reading>>

Monday, April 14, 6:00 p.m.

Panelists Tom Angotti of Hunter College, Miquela Craytor of Sustainable South Bronx, Jeanne DuPont of Rockaway Waterfront Alliance, Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives, Yolanda Gonzalez of Nos Quedamos and moderator Amy Zimmer of Metro New York will discuss using community plans to achieve a sustainable city no matter who is in the Mayor’s Office.

This program is free, but seating is limited and reservations are encouraged. RSVP to rsvp@mas.org or 212-935-2075.

In announcing his PlaNYC 2030 sustainability goals for the city on Earth Day last year, Mayor Bloomberg committed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30% by 2030, placing New York at the vanguard of the fight to combat climate change. In his statement, the mayor said:

“…you can’t formulate a land use plan… without thinking about global warming.”

But, almost one year later, development projects are still going ahead in New York with little analysis of how they impact climate change.

To help address this problem, MAS is drafting guidelines that would require developers to analyze and disclose their impacts on climate change — including a project’s greenhouse gas emissions and vulnerability to the effects of climate change — in environmental impact statements (EIS) under the state and city Environmental Quality Review Acts (SEQRA and CEQR).

Monday, June 11, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
According to Columbia University’s Center for Climate Systems Research, the sea level around New York City may rise more than two feet by the year 2080. In addition, “flooding by major storms would inundate many low-lying neighborhoods and shut down the metropolitan transportation system with much greater frequency.” Increases in average temperature in the same period are predicted to be between 4 and 10 degrees. The impact on the city’s infrastructure will be profound. We invite you to join an expert panel moderated by Michael Gerrard as they explore how New York City should prepare itself. Continue Reading>>