With the 40th anniversary of Earth Day just around the corner, MAS is supporting New York’s first “green” auction, which will promote awareness about conservation as well as raise funds for four prestigious environmental nonprofit organizations.

On April 22, Christie’s will hold The Green Auction: A Bid To Save The Earth, featuring top celebrities, industry leaders, philanthropists and conservationists from around the globe. Funds raised from this silent and live auction will benefit Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Conservation International, and New York’s own Central Park Conservancy. Continue Reading>>

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>>

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.

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>>

While the federal government has sat on the sidelines, local government has provided true leadership in response to global climate change in the United States. Last year, New York City joined a small but growing list of American municipalities such as Boston, Los Angeles, and Seattle in aligning planning and development goals with ambitions to reduce carbon emissions.

Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC2030 was designed to lay the groundwork for achieving and maintaining affordable housing, open space, comprehensive public transportation, and reliable energy, as well as clean air, water, and land. A year has passed and PlaNYC has seen both successes and failures. MAS set about this past year to address what we perceived to be a critical issue that is nonetheless often overlooked: sustainability planning is too important to be left solely to the experts. 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).

On June 11, 2007, MAS in conjunction with the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance hosted a groundbreaking expert panel focusing on the measure New York City should undertake in order to adapt to global climate change.

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.” Continue Reading>>

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>>