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Showing posts from February, 2014

Short Stack: Books about Urban Animals

Did you think of three small pancakes when you read the title of this series?  Instead of pancakes, we offer three books around a theme.  This week the theme is books about urban animals.  This is a recommended reading list, not a review series.  Happy reading! Image: Architecture According to Pigeons cover via Phaidon ( source ) I learned about this fun-looking book from the McNally Jackson Books newsletter.  The bookstore hosted a children's story and art time based on this book. Image: On Looking cover via Tulsa Public Radio ( source ) Alexandra Horowitz's observations reminded me of books about seeing and reading the landscape by authors such as J.B. Jackson, Grady Clay, Paul Groth, Dolores Hayden, and others.  The chapter devoted to animals is titled "The Animals Among Us."  Also, check out William Cronon's guide to how to read a landscape . Image: The Urban Bestiary cover via Hachette Book Group ( source ) This book is a delightful combina

Joe Dobrow's Natural Prophets book launch

Author and marketer Joe Dobrow is on a cross country tour for his new book, Natural Prophets: A History of the Natural Foods Industry published by Rodale.  A graduate of the Yale School of Management, launch events in New York (Feb. 26) and Los Angeles (Mar. 5) have been organized by Yale alumni organizations.  A third major city launch event in D.C. is scheduled for March 20th.  I attended the NYC launch held at GustOrganics , "the first and only certified organic restaurant in New York".  ( Disclosure: I paid the entry fee and live-tweeted the event on behalf of Yale Blue Green . ) Dobrow's book, which I have not read, examines the emergence and rise of the natural and organic foods movement.  In the event description for the NYC launch, the Feb. 26, 1989 airing of a 60 Minutes segment about the potentially harmful effects of Alar or daminozide, the ripening agent and food additive used on conventional apples and in apple products. Last night's launch was

Nature Table: Planting vegetables and herbs at school

I am fascinated by the nature table, a concept I learned about on a Montessori blog I follow titled How We Montessori .  I am sharing a nature table from a local nursery school.  Today the children in one of the classrooms planted a variety of vegetables and herbs including tomatoes and chives.  I will share a nature table on a windowsill at home in the weeks to come.

Before & After Green: Domenici U.S. Courthouse Water Retrofit

Image: Pete V. Domenici U.S. Courthouse pre-construction, courtesy of Biohabitats, Inc. Image: Pete V. Domenici U.S. Courthouse post-construction, courtesy of Biohabitats, Inc. A conventional landscape of "turf grass, impermeable paving, and high water-use plants" in arid Albuquerque was retrofitted with water sustainability in mind by Rios Clementi Hale Studios (Lead Landscape Architect) and Biohabitats, Inc. (Civil, Water Reclamation, Plumbing consultants) among others (see the Sustainable Sites profile for the complete project team ).  Image: Pete V. Domenici U.S. Courthouse during construction, courtesy of Biohabitats, Inc. The landscape in question is the 4.4 acre Pete V. Domenici U.S. Courthouse. A lot of concrete was removed - "over 21,000 square feet of existing concrete" - and a 16,000 gallon underground cistern was installed. The combination of the rainfall-capture cistern and the replacement of turf with native plants has led to a 86% p

Winter shadows in Central Park

What have you been observing lately?

Lunar New Year 2014 Parade

On February 2nd, I walked over to Manhattan's Chinatown and photographed the pre-parade happenings. Enjoy! Please visit our Flickr page for more Lunar New Year 2014 Parade photographs.

5 Lessons from NYC Stormwater Projects for Rebuild by Design

Image: Current Rebuild by Design proposals via Rebuild by Design ( source ) On June 20, 2013, to a full house at the NYU Arthur L. Carter Institute for Journalism, HUD Secretary and Chair of the Sandy Rebuilding Task Force Shaun Donovan announced the Rebuild by Design competition, an “innovation and resilient design in Sandy rebuilding” collaborative with the Rockefeller Foundation and the NYU Institute for Public Knowledge. Secretary Donovan remarked that the catalyst for the competition was the recognition that the federal government “cannot fill every need.” Ideas and additional funding are expected of other institutions such as universities, community leaders, nonprofit organizations, and citizens; all are essential to creating solutions that work across scales and interconnected systems. The clock for the competition started on June 20 with the request for qualifications due on July 19. The competition has multiple phases and finalists will be announced in March 2014. Sel

Wild About: Horses

Wild About is a celebration of the flora and fauna commonly found in our cities. Instead of fact sheets, this space will showcase books, art, music, societies, and whimsical objects about urban-adaptable plants and animals. If you would like to see your favorite urban-oriented plant or animal featured, please email us at info(at)localecology.org. Image: Along the docks, NY City, via NYPL Digital Gallery ( source ) Image: Perilous work of New York's mounted police (1908) , via NYPL Digital Gallery ( source ) Horses used to be a common sight in cities. The decline of urban horses has been attributed to the smell and disease potential of their manure as well as to their mistreatment. Read histories: an excerpt from by Joel Tarr and Clay McShane's article about urban horses titled "The Centrality of the Horse to the Nineteenth-Century American City" (McShane and Tarr also wrote the book The Horse in the City: Living Machines in the Nineteenth Century )