As a result of Greenpoint’s rich industrial and manufacturing history, significant contamination of the local soil with toxins such as lead remains a problem.
A soil safety workshop from the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund will help you learn “what lead (and other contaminants) in soils – and their soil test results – mean” on Saturday, April 20th, at Kingsland Wildflowers (520 Kingsland Ave.) from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Experts on soil contaminants will answer your questions and help interpret soil test results; a 40-pound bag of compost will be available to take home for free.
Attendees should be at least 18 years old and must have completed the GCEF Soil Safety Basics workshop in advance. Contact workshop organizer, Lael Goodman ([email protected]), for permission to enroll if you have not taken the Soil Safety Basics workshop.
Preparing the NCA curriculum, via Newtown Creek Alliance
Happy first day of school, Greenpoint! This year, the local conservationists at Newtown Creek Alliance are bringing the creek to the curriculum as part of the National Wildlife Federation’s Greenpoint EcoSchools initiative.
NCA will pioneer its new STEM Urban Ecology curriculum in the four Greenpoint Public schools: PS 31, PS 34, PS 110, and MS 126. The learning modules and field trips, designed for elementary and middle school students, cover Flora and Fauna relationships, invasive and native species, topography, water and soil quality, ecological health and legacy and ongoing pollution sources.
Each lesson will culminate in a “design based applied learning project,” and NCA staff will serve as expert guides, leading classes through related activities and offering guest lecturers in the classroom. Continue reading →
A rendering of the Monitor Museum restored shoreline, via Brooklyn Paper in 2015
The USS Monitor, built here in Greenpoint by Continental Ironworks in 1862, was one of the first iron-clad battle ships in the US Navy. During the Civil War, the Monitor took part in the “Battle of the Ironclads,” and money from the building of the Monitor contributed to the building of the Church of the Ascension (127 Kent Street).
Given The Monitor’s deep role in the industrial, naval and ecclesiastical history of Greenpoint, and the United States itself, lifelong Greenpoint residents George and Janice Weinmann have been advocating for a museum dedicated to the boat since 1996.
The couple secured land for the museum on Quay Street at the Monitor’s construction site in 2003, and scored a grant from GCEF to fund the museum in 2015. The project requires a restoration of the ecological shoreline at the Quay Street property, and the museum has been working with design and engineering firm AECOM to make it happen. On Wednesday, June 13, friends of the Monitor Museum teamed up with AECOM to host a public info meeting about the current status of the project. Continue reading →
Here’s info about all the flower types offered, and here’s where you can sign up online. You must agree to plant the flowers in Greenpoint, and tend to them. Let’s help make Greenpoint greener!
And your project could be next! GCEF is calling for grant proposals, and has $1.2 Million to award in grants ranging from $25,000 – $100,000.
GCEF grants are Greenpoint specific, awarded to projects carried out within the bounds of the 11222 zip code, and the entirety of McCarren Park. The funding supports “projects that address community environmental improvement priorities, such as improving water quality, groundwater, open space, toxic pollution, and air quality.” Non-profit organizations, local government, academic and educational institutions are all welcome to apply, but individuals and for-profit businesses are not eligible.
Think you’ve got the greenest project in Greenpoint? Click here for in depth information about submitting a grant application. Proposals are due 3/15/2018!
Breaking ground on the new Greenpoint Library and Education Center. Photo by Lucie Levine
The Greenpoint community, including students from PS 34, joined Brooklyn Public Library President and CEO Linda Johnson and a host of local elected officials, to break ground on Greenpoint’s new Library and Environmental Education Center this Monday afternoon, October 23rd. The new library will stand on the site of the recently demolished Greenpoint Library (107 Norman Avenue). That location has been home to a library since 1906. The original Greenpoint Library, torn down due to structural damage in the 1970s, was one of Brooklyn’s first Carnegie Libraries, a group of institutions founded “to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.” The new Library and Environmental Education Center will help further that mission in the 21st century. The new library, designed to exceed the standards for LEED Silver Green Building Certification, will be double the size of the old Greenpoint Library, provide over 300 hours of environmental education per year, and sport a variety of exciting features including an accessible green roof and a public plaza with flexible meeting and event spaces. Continue reading →
If the current Columbia study on lead levels in Greenpoint’s soil has you steering clear of all things growing, community gardens could help you find a safer place to try out your green thumb: the study finds that public park spaces have significantly lower concentrations of lead than private yards. Further, based on Cornell’s 2014 study of New York City community garden soils, NYC Parks GreenThumb (which administers the city’s community gardens) prioritized clean soil deliveries to affected gardens.
So, ready to pull a Joni Mitchell and get yourself back to the garden? With over 600 community gardens throughout all five boroughs, New York City has the largest community gardening program in the nation. This handy NYC Parks GreenThumb Community Garden Guide lets you search by zip code or address to find the ones closest to you. Read on for a roundup of local community gardens. Continue reading →
WHAT: OpenHouseGCEF!
WHERE: McGolrick/Winthrop Park, Russell St. and Driggs Ave.
WHEN: Saturday, October 14, 11am-3pm (NOTE: If heavy rain the 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. event will be cancelled!)
If you haven’t heard about the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund, it’s the silver lining resulting from our neighborhood’s heavily industrious past—the disastrous Exxon oil spill, which leaked between 17-30 million gallons of oil into Newtown Creek over the course of several decades. The state was awarded millions of dollars ($19.5 mill to be exact), to be earmarked toward grants for Greenpoint-based environmental organizations. Since the GCEF was established in 2011, 46 grants totaling $16.8 million have been awarded to 40 projects, and the fund has leveraged an additional $37.6 million in matching contributions from grantees.
We might live in the concrete jungle, but according to this fantastic interactive tree map made by the New York City Parks department, Greenpoint is blessed with arboreal abundance. Our lovely neighborhood trees benefit from the care of volunteer environmental stewards, known as Citizen Pruners.
The Citizen Pruner course trains and certifies New Yorkers in “tree care, biology, identification and pruning.” Sarah explains that all of these skills and areas of knowledge are intertwined when it comes to properly caring for New York’s Trees, because knowing about a tree’s species, and the specific challenges that species has with weather or growth, helps inform how you prune it.
Trees New York is the only organization in the city that trains and certifies Citizen Pruners, and only certified Citizen Pruners can legally prune street trees in New York. Trees New York certifies about 200 Citizen Pruners every year, but Greenpoint residents are particularly lucky. Anyone who lives in zip code 11222 is eligible for the Greening Greenpoint Scholarship, and can take the course for just $15, thanks to funding from the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund!Continue reading →
