Green Fort Greene & Clinton Hill

WHAT

The FGA intends to spearhead an initiative to make Fort Greene and Clinton Hill green neighborhoods with two goals in mind:

1. Reduce our carbon footprint & contribution to global warming.
2. Reduce our use of non-renewable resources.

We propose to accomplish this by promoting four actions. (Other steps will follow and other ideas are most welcome.)

1. Purchase electricity from sources that do not contribute to global warming.
2. Flood the neighborhood with energy efficient light bulbs.
3. Promote recycling and reducing refuse via composting and other methods.
4. Establish more street trees and other plantings in public spaces.

The first three are steps that everyone can take. They are easy with little or no cost is involved.  The city will provide the trees for all of us to appreciate.  So the four actions can go a long way toward making Fort Greene and Clinton Hill truly environmentally attuned neighborhoods.

WHY
There are many problems we all wish were addressed better in our community and in wider spheres.  The health of the planet, however, is one matter that each of us influences every day, all the time, whenever we flip on a light switch or when our refrigerator hums. We each can choose to take some incremental steps to help solve the problem or, failing to act, we can continue to make things worse.

HOW
A group of volunteers are working on updated research and organizing how we can make Fort Greene & Clinton Hill a model green community.  Planning will continue through Earth Month in April 2019. 

Everyone can make a small contribution by taking on a simple discrete task (i.e. spending a couple of hours on a Saturday, sneaking some calls in during work or when the kids are napping) and the cumulative effect can be large.  For those with more time to commit,  more can be done such as leading a focused working group or coordinating outreach in one of 9 sectors of the neighborhood.

Next will be implementation, with people getting our residents, businesses and institutions to participate in reducing our neighborhoods’ environmental impact.
To email for more information about the Green Fort Greene & Clinton Hill initiative click here.

How Can You Get Involved?

Take on a simple discrete task and together we can do great things.

• Recruit participants: Give Green Fort Greene & Clinton Hill information to neighbors and tell friends. Sign up to spread the word to your block association, in your building, at the Green Market, at church, or with other civic or neighborhood associations.
• Use energy efficient light bulbs: spend a couple of hours asking the merchants on Fulton, Dekalb, Myrtle Ave. or anywhere in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill to join our effort by offering CFL light bulbs at cost. Materials will be supplied.
• Critical for the next stage of big actions: Develop a database of large property owners. Good sources of the raw data are available.
• Procure and distribute green office supplies: identify sources and pricing for specific green office supplies. Ideally we would negotiate with a local vendor to match the best price for widely used items and keep the business local.
• Use biodiesel for home heating oil: two fuel oil suppliers will sell mixed fuel oil / biodiesel. Pursue discussions for a possible discount and for support for our marketing. Help close the deal.
• Spread the word with neighbors: reach people from a table at the Green Market, in a building lobby, at a community event, on your block or at a church.
• Organize: Be an area organizer to help direct volunteers and reach out to block associations, churches, local merchants, etc. Take on a leadership role in coordinating spreading the word on implementing green actions. 

Items to Work On:

• Negotiate a deal with a supplier of green electricity for Fort Greene and Clinton Hill residents and businesses.
• Purchase the first 1,000 bulbs for sale at low cost throughout the community.
• Build a campaign with Green Fort Greene & Clinton Hill’s logo and graphics applied to leaflets, posters and other outreach materials.
• Follow up on a previous survey of the entire neighborhood that established locations for new and replacement trees that was sent to the NYC Parks Department with a formal request for 1,200 trees to be implemented across the communities.
• Follow upon the three new Green Streets sites (planted islands in streets) that had been submitted to the NYC Parks Department.
• Enlist local schools to participate in a tree planting program during April 2019 Earth Month.
• Identify locations for additional bike racks and submit to the Department of Transportation.
• Sign up restaurants to commit to composting food waste.
• Endeavor to offer home heating oil containing biodiesel for the next heating season.
• Create Fort Greene shopping bags to reduce the use of one-time plastic shopping bags.
• Establish better disposal for electronic trash, batteries, and compact fluorescent bulbs.
• Present all neighborhood green initiatives on a green map with interactive online resources.

Help Us Make Fort Greene Green!