The Manhattan Times

Students, parents, and teachers at P.S. 187 planted recycled textile potted plants as the first step towards building a rooftop garden for their school.

Students at P.S./I.S. 187 Hudson Cliffs on Cabrini Boulevard are getting a hands-on approach to conserving energy, going green, and doing their part in saving the planet, putting theory to practice in their very own classrooms.

Shara Perlman, the director of youth, family and camping services for the YM&YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood, shows a youngster where herbs and vegetables come from. PHOTO: Gloria Pazmiño

Over 400 million pounds of textiles end up in landfills around the world each year. In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, this year Northern Manhattanites contributed a grain of sand towards making our earth cleaner and greener and they did it in style at the YM&WHA of Washington Heights and Inwood on Sun., April 17.

The process called solar disinfection (SODIS) provides clean drinking water to people living within 35 degrees of the equator. Clear plastic bottles are filled with contaminated water and laid out in the sun for over six hours, killing harmful disease-causing bacteria. PHOTO: The Water School

Fill clean, clear, plastic bottles with contaminated water, lay them out in the tropical sun for six hours, and the end result will be safe drinking water.

That’s the mission of The Water School, a nonprofit organization founded in 2007 that has been breaking new ground in Uganda, Kenya, Southern Sudan, Haiti, and Central America where freshwater sources are few.

That banana peel, the cracked egg shell, and those leafy greens that didn’t make it into your salad may soon be on their way to beautifying green spaces around your neighborhood, and helping local farmers bring you their crops.

Meet composting, a sibling of recycling with a bit more of a pungent scent.

The Sustainable South Bronx held a ceremony for 20 students graduating from its Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training (BEST) Academy on Feb. 2. The program prepares students for “Green collar” jobs.

“At the start of the class, two people, just me and one other person, had ideas about being an entrepreneur, but by the end, many people were talking about making a difference in their community, talking about environmental justice, and making better decisions for themselves as far as their environmental footprint and their lives,” said Rashard Dyess-Lane, a BEST Academy graduate, to Rebecca Manski, Communications Consultant, in an interview.

The NY State Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act takes effect this April. Over the course of several years it will require businesses, agencies, and residents to recycle their discarded electronics, which means recycling events, such as the one pictured here from the RING Garden in January 2010, will likely become more frequent.

What would the landfills look like, minus all electronic waste? They’d be substantially smaller, for one. They would also contain far less hazardous material.

Northern Manhattan has something many other neighborhoods don’t. The Cloisters? Yes. A rich history? True. A budding arts community? Certainly.

First Class Car and Limo Services driver Alejandro Reyes with the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUV he purchased in 2008, one of a growing number of drivers who are bringing a greener approach to the industry.

In a city where over 13,000 yellow cabs and over 40,000 livery cabs and for-hire vehicles roam the streets on a regular basis, reducing gas emissions is a big deal.

Want to swap your stuff? The next Stop ‘N’ Swap  will be held at the I.S. 52 cafeteria (650   Academy St. at Broadway),  Sat., Jan. 22, from 11a.m. to 2 p.m.

For as long as history has been recorded, trade has been a part of human culture. The form has changed, but the idea has remained much the same: people trade what they can make themselves or what they have for what they can’t make themselves or for what they don’t have.

A developer who wants to build a commercial building with parking at what is currently a parking lot at Broadway and Nagle Avenue is currently conducting an environmental review of the site, which was a gas station from 1966 until 2005.

The site sits adjacent to a playground, right down the street from two schools. A little farther on is a senior facility and daycare center.

A parking lot currently sits atop the brownfield site at the corner of Broadway and Nagle Avenue (4566 Broadway). From 1966 until 2005, a gas station operated on the property, leading to contamination. In 2006, the parking lot was opened.