New York City: Dancing In The (Summer) Streets
By Jenn Breckenridge
Filed Under Arts & Culture | 2 Comments
For three consecutive Saturdays this summer (August 9th, 16th, and 23rd), New York City is closing down one of its most iconic thoroughfares to automobiles and opening it up wholeheartedly to its citizens. Cyclists, skaters, joggers, pedestrians, and playing children are joyously taking over Park Avenue from 72nd Street all the way downtown, as part of an innovative initiative called Summer Streets.
The initiative is a joint effort between Mayor Bloomberg and the NYC Department Of Transportation. When the Summer Streets program was announced, NYC’s Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan discussed how it could be New York’s contribution to an international movement of transforming urban spaces: “In Bogotá, they call it Ciclovia, or bikeway. In Paris, it’s the Plage, or beach. Here in New York, Summer Streets will literally turn the streets of our city into a pedestrian park. The streets themselves are among the most valuable public space that the City has to offer, and finding the room within our existing street space for those on two feet or two wheels is a true application of our goals for a sustainable future under the Mayor’s PlaNYC initiatives and the DOT’s strategic plan.”
This past Saturday, New Yorkers had their very first opportunity to experience dance classes, picnics, and an unbelievable vantage point of the gorgeous architecture on Park Avenue, rather than the honking traffic and frantic intensity this street is commonly marked by. Breakdancing and symphony conducting workshops, bike rental kiosks, and impromptu painting sessions garnished the seven miles of New York City’s newest car-free zone. The Summer Streets program has garnered the strong support of cyclist Lance Armstrong as well as Hip Hop megastar and Brooklyn native Jay-Z, not to mention thousands of overjoyed New Yorkers. Check out the video below of NYC’s first annual Summer Streets and see why car-free and carefree are virtually synonymous.
Interested in starting a car-free zone in your town? Take action!
- Organize an International Carfree Day on September 22nd in your town… there is a excellent how-to guide by Canada’s Sierra Club to get you started
- Learn more about the wide scope of car-free events already happening in the US and around the world
- Visiting New York this August? Make it down to Park Avenue on Saturday and experience the fun of Summer Streets while it lasts!
Posted on August 18, 2008 |
Art Impacts The Environment: Jeanne-Claude and Christo
By Melissa Vest
Filed Under Arts & Culture | 3 Comments
Imagine a sea of saffron colored panels blowing in the wind. They are almost as light as air, and they are in front of the trees, the sky, and the ground. They are impossible to miss. You move closer to them, and can hear them rippling over the sounds of cars, the birds, and the breeze in the trees. As you walk through each gate of panels you feel them pushing the wind across your face. Your awareness of the space you are in is heightened as you experience these panels, which reach as far as you can see.
The Gates, an artwork by Jeanne-Claude and Christo, transformed Central Park in 2005. Their work was met with a wide array of interest and speculation. No matter your opinion of the work, it certainly altered the way you would experience the surrounding environment. Jeanne-Claude and Christo’s work might be less common in a typical American home than say, the florescent light bulb, Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” or the hybrid car, but it has nonetheless had an impact on the environmental movement.
Continue reading Art Impacts The Environment: Jeanne-Claude and Christo…
Posted on July 18, 2008 |
Meet The Greenhorns
By Jenn Breckenridge
Filed Under Arts & Culture, eCo TV | Leave a Comment
green·horn 
[green-hawrn]
–noun
| 1. | an untrained or inexperienced person. |
| 2. | a naive or gullible person; someone who is easily tricked or swindled. |
| 3. | Slang. a newly arrived immigrant; newcomer. |
These wild youngsters have spun completely out of control. They’ve left behind everything they’ve previously known to go off on their own and…farm. Yes, there is a new youth movement underfoot here in America, and its about growing vegetables, raising chickens, and moving dirt from one place to another. Believe it.
Strip mall designers, take heed-you could be out of work in the next 5-10 years if this farming trend takes over. Check out this trailer for The Greenhorns, a documentary film about the young farmers movement. See if it makes you want to ditch your office job and join WWOOF…
Posted on July 2, 2008 |
Ted Ning And The Lohasian Nation
By Jenn Breckenridge
Filed Under Arts & Culture, Conscious Commerce | 4 Comments
Deep in the heart of Gaiam’s new corporate digs, behind the desk of a modest office amidst many modest offices, sat the Man Behind The Music,”Mr. LOHAS,” Ted Ning himself. His face was unexpectedly open and soft, his voice quiet and warm. This alleged powerhouse of a man was the kind of person you’d let look after your kids, or your money, or yourself. He appeared to be one of the new breed of executives, forgoing the old “greed is good” model of the 80’s and 90’s, for the refreshingly straightforward “good is good” model of the new millenium. Ted Ning, Director of eco-marketing giant LOHAS, was none other than a sweet and gentle guy. After realizing all this, I relaxed and sat down.
Well, first of all, what is “LOHAS” anyway, I wanted to know. Is this a Hawaiian massage technique or the name of some airport in the Pan-Pacific region? No, LOHAS stands for “Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability.” This marketing term, originated by the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) in the early 2000’s marked the defining of an era…or at least the defining of a very powerful demographic. NMI realized that three seemingly disparate consumer groups-spiritual folks, environmentalists, and health fanatics-had very similar purchasing patterns. Once NMI pooled the buying power of all these groups into a study of one large consumer base dubbed LOHASians, the corporate giants of America finally realized there was real money to be made in doing right by communities, wildlife and ecosystems. According to NMI, that “real money to be made” was about 209 billion dollars worth. LOHAS was designed to help companies speak the language of this newly defined group. Continue reading Ted Ning And The Lohasian Nation…
Posted on June 17, 2008 |
Chris Jordan And The Art Of Consumerism
By Anne O'Loughlin
Filed Under Arts & Culture | Leave a Comment
Chris Jordan, an accomplished nature photographer, has now taken America’s consumption habits to heart. He’s shocked US audiences with Running the Numbers: An American Self Portrait, a creative statistical view of how much trash is actually piling up in the United States. He uses the objects which people consume massive quantities of and photographs them en masse in an artful way. This play on Seurat’s famous Sunday In The Park actually represents the 106,000 aluminum cans Americans go through every 30 seconds.
Running the Numbers, completed in 2007, is a series of photographic and digital representations of over-the-top consumer culture which brings some already despairing statistics to light. The photographs are huge zoomed out shots of garbage, such as the piece below depicting 2 million plastic beverage bottles, which Chris informs us is the number used in the US every five minutes! 
Chris describes the inspiration for his work eloquently,”The pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality. Collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences. I fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits.” There are so many more incredible pieces in Chris’s portfolio, you just really have to check it out for yourself. Continue reading Chris Jordan And The Art Of Consumerism…
Posted on June 2, 2008 |
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eCo Times reports the latest on sustainable lifestyle choices and the new green economy. This online magazine brings you the best in cutting edge green media, organic and Fair Trade product reviews, and insights into viable planetary solutions.
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