The East River Greenway is poised to become the backbone of an incredible sustainable transportation network on the East Side…but first we need to complete it!

The not-so-green truth about bamboo fabric

T-shirts, towels and other textiles from bamboo often carry green claims. But they are not necessarily true. Four clothing companies and textile companies were charged last year with making false claims related to bamboo by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). They may not be the only ones. Here’s a list of the claims considered false:

“100% bamboo fiber” – Because bamboo fibers are chemically treated to create rayon, the FTC requires that the final bamboo-based fabric be advertised and labeled as rayon, a material manufactured from the cellulose of plants and trees. The products are allowed to be described as “rayon made from bamboo.”

“Antimicrobial” – The false claim says the bamboo-based products retain the natural antimicrobial properties of bamboo. But the FTC says that manufacturing bamboo into rayon eliminated any such property, and considers the antimicrobial claim false.

“Environmentally friendly manufacturing” – Toxic chemicals that release hazardous air pollutants are used in the manufacturing of rayon, according to the FTC, and cannot be made using an environmentally friendly manufacturing process.

“Biodegradable” – Two companies were charged with falsely claiming their products will break down in a reasonably short time after customary disposal. According to the FTC, neither of the typical ways textiles are disposed of – recycling or landfilling – results in quick biodegration.

But don’t despair! Clothing companies are creating new ways of treating bamboo. The bamboo plant grows with a minimum of water, making it better to use than cotton. Bamboo fabric may not make the perfect clothing yet, but it’s getting there fast!

Reduce your unwanted mail!

Are phone books piling up to your door step or filling your lobby? According to Yellow Pages Goes Green, nearly two phone directories are printed for every person in the United States each year, using 19 million trees and ending up in 268,000 cubic yards of landfill space. The campaign will push for a formal opt-out similar to the National Do Not Call registry.

Sign up to have them contact phone book publishers on your behalf to be removed from delivery lists.

Sign up to remove yourself from the mailing lists of hundreds of companies. This site will list the status of your request and will follow through if you are still receiving mail.

Audubon iPhone Nature Guides

Forget lugging around heavy guidebooks to ID the flora and fauna you spot on your weekend hike or nature walk. National Audubon has turned several of its popular guidebooks into iPhone applications — electronic, on-the-go databases. Guides to birds, wildflowers, trees, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, butterflies, insects and spiders, fish and owls are all available now, as well as money-saving combo apps for birds & butterflies together, and birds, mammals, wildflowers and trees together.

For birds, identification is as easy as plugging in their shape or general family (e.g., shorebird). That information produces a list of potential species, each with colored images. Clicking on a bird provides a detailed description, including the species’ range, morphology, even close cousins with which it might be easily confused.

Users can plug in their life-list data, look up information about local species, and listen to bird songs. “It’s nature at your fingertips,” says Charles Rattigan, of Green Mountain Digital, the company developing the apps.

Don’t have an iPhone? Check out the Audubon Guides website for a free online version.

On Monday this week, Mayor Bloomberg signed 11 new laws updating the city’s recycling habits. Among the new laws and changes:

• While currently the city only accepts bottle-shaped plastic containers (i.e., not yogurt or take-out containers), the city will begin collecting all rigid plastic for recycling. This may not happen right away; the new waste is to be taken to an as-yet unbuilt facility in Brooklyn, scheduled to open in 2010.
• 200 new recycling bins will be added on the streets over the next three years, with 700 total to be added over the decade.
• Other new programs include annual household hazardous waste collections, a clothing and textile recycling program, a trial paint recycling effort, and more composting.

The new laws also call for recycling coordinators and more recycling in schools, sustainability coordinators and plans for city agencies, improved education and enforcement, and studies of food waste composting and other recycling possibilities over the next few years.

While it will take time for all of this to come to fruition, we’re happy to see the council and mayor work together on issues that will only make New York a cleaner and better place to live.

Empire State ReBuilding for Sustainability

People all over the world know the Empire State Building, one of the most prominent buildings in the New York City skyline. The building is about to undergo a massive $500 million+ makeover with an expected 38 percent energy reduction at the end of the project.

Work on the first phase of the project has already begun and should be finished by the end of 2010. The second phase involves the tenant spaces and should be completed in late 2013.

According to PR Newswire, “the team analyzed the steps to be taken in conjunction with other steps towards sustainability as part of the Empire State ReBuilding program within the framework of the existing USGBC LEED rating system. Internal calculations show that the Empire State Building will be able to qualify for GOLD certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Existing Buildings, and ownership intends to pursue such certification.”

A variety of projects are scheduled including an upgrade to the tenant lighting systems, the glass windows will be refurbished, and tenants will have individual energy management systems.

The Empire State Building isn’t the only structure undergoing a grand scale energy retrofit in the United States right now. in the midst of an energy efficient upgrade.

Did you know you can recycle dry-cleaning bags, plastic wrap (from paper towels or toilet paper, for example) at New York grocery stores? While you may have seen the required plastic bag recycling bins, and switched to the reusable bags they’re required to sell, there’s more you can put in those bins.

Most stores will also accept the following materials (check with your store for details):

• Plastic retail bags with string ties and rigid plastic handles removed
• Plastic newspaper bags
• Plastic dry-cleaning bags
• Plastic produce bags with all food residue removed
• Plastic bread bags with all food residue removed
• Plastic cereal bags with all food residue removed
• Plastic frozen food bags with all food residue removed
• Plastic wrap from paper products (paper towels, etc)
• Plastic stretch/shrink wrap with all food residue removed
• Plastic zipper-type bags with plastic closing mechanism removed

Make sure all materials are clean and dry, and you can’t include plastic bags with strings, rigid handles, or other closing mechanisms.

Eggs-ellent News about Urban Chickens!

They say you shouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch. But bet on enjoying your own incredible, edible eggs with help from Omlet, whose new Eglu Cube makes it possible for city dwellers to own chickens.

Strange notion? Think again!

The owners of the Animal Feeds store in Morrisania in the Bronx reported that an increase in urban hen-raising has helped their sales climb 35 percent in three years.

There is even a Just Food-sponsored MeetUp group dedicated to raising chickens in New York City!

Depending on your outdoor space, you can opt for a six-foot (for six chicks) or nine-foot (for up to ten) run. You’ll need to clean the roost once a week, but it’s easy with slide-out dropping trays and plastic surfaces you can hose down.

The party fowls will be warm in winter and cool in summer thanks to twin-walled insulation. The steel weldmesh run keeps out pesky rodents, and a skirt lies on the ground to prevent foxes and other predators from digging their way in.

Three hens can lay their goods in the secluded nesting booth, and an egg port makes collecting easy. So you won’t have to scramble.

Did you know that here in NYC you can take your Brita pitcher filters to Whole Foods markets (or the Park Slope Food Coop), just like those #5 plastics the city doesn’t recycle? It’s part of the Preserve Gimme 5 recycling program, who teamed up with Brita to help keep pitcher filters from ending up in landfills.

So while you already avoid drinking bottled water, and recycle those plastic water bottles when you do, now you can take care of your water filters if you have a Brita Pitcher.

Just let used Brita pitcher filters sit and dry out for a few days, and then drop them in your #5 plastics recycling bin (along with those other items like yogurt and take-out containers). Then, either bring your haul to one of the Whole Foods markets in the city, or mail it to the Preserve Gimme 5 people.

The program is only for pitcher filters; faucet-mounted filters are not accepted. Nor are PUR or other filter brands. An unrelated added bonus, Gimme 5 also accepts empty Tom’s of Maine deodorant packaging, so save those up too.

Green Your Caffeine!

If you’re like us, you need a jolt of caffeine to start your day, especially after spending half the night awake on these hot summer nights. You already know to buy organic, fair trade, and shade grown coffee and tea, so this week we’re giving you another tip for making your daily cup eco-friendlier.

Boil Water Efficiently

Both tea and French-pressed coffee require hot water, so you’ll likely need a kettle. To use energy wisely, choose an electric one (metal, not plastic) instead of the more traditional stove-top model, and don’t boil more water that you’ll actually drink. Clean your kettle often to keep it efficient — boil a mixture of distilled white vinegar and water to oust lime and calcium deposits, then rinse.