Tag: urban-agriculture

September 22, 2020

Urban Gardners Get Ready for the Fall Harvest

By Tamanna Mohapatra and Pamela Berns   After a long spring and summer of streaming and one too many Zooms, many city dwellers started craving something three-dimensional, organic and more nurturing to the body and soul. One therapy that emerged was growing our own herbs and vegetables at home—or at least trying to. We’ve used whatever spaces we’ve had—unused corners in small apartments, windowsills, kitchen counters, balconies (for those lucky enough to have one), and whatever little patches of lawn we could possibly cultivate. One Upper West Sider even appropriated a former city street tree planter to sprout corn stalks. (more…)

April 24, 2016

March Forum Recap: Urban Agriculture

By Katya Guletsky   The term urban agriculture – growing food in an urban environment – can refer to anything from a few tomato plants in the backyard, to a community garden on a vacant lot, to an educational farm in a public park, to a for-profit enterprise.   New York City with its dense population and high real estate values may seem like a strange choice for agriculture. Yet, it is a city full of entrepreneurs and people who make smart connections. Which is enough to make NYC a leader in the practice of urban agriculture. At GreenHomeNYC’s March Forum, four individuals engaged in urban agriculture spoke about their farming projects:   Jason Green, CEO + Cofounder, Edenworks jasongreenJason started by talking about entrepreneurial opportunities in the local food market. The local food market is currently worth $7 billion and growing at 24%. NYC alone has unmet demand for local food worth $600 thousand annually. Yet, sourcing locally in NYC is challenging for stores and restaurants because of the limited growing season, and limited arable land. There lies a big opportunity for farmers who can figure out how to grow a year-round, reliable supply of fresh local produce.   Edenworks’ solution was to develop and build a vertical indoor aquaponics farm. An Aquaponics farm is a symbiotic system that combines conventional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals, such as fish, in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water). The wastewater from the tanks, which is high in ammonia, is processed through a bio filter to convert ammonia into nitrate fertilizer, to be used for growing beds. Solid waste from fish is processed through a mineralizer, composting it into rich fertilizer. The aquaponics fertilizer delivers all 16 macro + micro nutrients, along with trace elements and mineralized organic compounds, which normally can be found only in the best soil environments. Thus, this system recreates the natural ecology of the soil system and allows produce growth with a well-rounded flavor profile. (more…)

June 18, 2015

July Forum: Spotlight on Staten Island

What do the world’s largest landfill restoration project and New York City’s first net-zero energy school building have in common? They are just two of the notable projects currently in development on the borough of Staten Island. Join us at our July forum to learn more about the exciting green initiatives taking place in the borough as our speakers present a snapshot of the endless possibilities of sustainable projects underway in New York City.  
Freshkills Park

Freshkills Park, Staten Island

This forum is free and open to the public!   Date: Wednesday, July 15, 2015 Time: 6:30-8:00pm Place: Hafele America, 25 East 26th Street, New York, NY 10010   Click here to register!   Our speakers will include: Mariel Villeré, Manager for Programs, Arts and Grants, Freshkills Park, NYC Parks Jon Cicconi, Associate Director, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP Adrian Wilton, Project Director, Living Restoration, The Living Roof   (more…)

October 1, 2013

The Green Spotlight: Jordan Bonomo

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAJordan Bonomo is a Multifamily Energy Auditor at Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (NMIC), a long time GreenHomenNYC volunteer, head of the Green Building Tours,  and a  Student in Columbia University’s Sustainability Management graduate program   GreenHomeNYC’s blog mentions that your interest in the environment was sparked while working on a climate change campaign for MASSPIRG.  Please recount this experience as well as others that have contributed to your interest in the environment and sustainable building. After college I was living in Boston for the summer.  MASSPIRG, the state public interest research group there, was working on a climate change campaign to get Massachusetts to ratify the RGGI Bill.  The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a carbon cap-and-trade system for the Northeast states.  I helped fundraise for that where I learned about the issue and the politics involved.  It was also the summer that the Al Gore Movie, An Inconvenient Truth, came out.  It was a very hot topic at the time.  The initiative eventually went through in Massachusetts . Living in New York City, obviously there are a lot of buildings.  I know that buildings are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the city and a lot of the city’s energy use is from buildings.  I thought that would be a great starting point for focusing on being more efficient and more sustainable.   Please describe how you became involved in GreenHomeNYC. I randomly googled green buildings in NYC and came across GreenHomeNYC.  I shot them an email and went to meetings and met other people that were interested in the topics.  I didn’t know anything about it at all at the time but I started volunteering so that I would learn.  One of my first assignments was to make informational note cards that we would post on the website.  I did one about passive houses.  I researched passive houses, passive lighting, and passive heating systems.  This was a good way to learn about one aspect of green building and now it’s a pretty hot topic everywhere.  It was cool, a good way to get my feet wet. (more…)

October 7, 2010

October forum: Urban Agriculture

Join GreenhomeNYC’s monthly forum as we learn about urban agriculture. What if NYC could grow food in un-used spaces within the city, with social benefits for older New Yorkers? Wednesday, October 20th, 2010. 6:30 to 8:00pm New York City Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy (NYC ACRE), 160 Varick Street, 12th floor, New York, NY 10013 (building is labeled ’10 Hudson Square’) RSVP or sign up for AIA credit. Please RSVP by noon on 10/19. Scroll down for AIA learning objectives. (more…)