The City of New York held a PlaNYC summit intended to make sustainability a part of all communities citywide. There were hundreds of people that attended to basically hear that the City had gotten to a half a million trees planted in the City of New York. The Grow Our Grassroots summit to learn how local neighborhoods can get greener and help out.
At the summit, the City also talked about the MillionTreesNYC initiative and wanted how appropriately social media to get involved in showing people how to go green. While the Parks department talked about a community compost and create efforts to connect locally with the PlaNYC’s citywide efforts for New York City going green on the quick.
While we know that the City is doing its’ part slowly but surely we can at least say they are half way there on a green target.
They have half a million trees new already planted at the start of this program; not bad! That is about a half a million tons of pollutants on average reduced from the air daily.
So we are getting there but we need more trees! OK the hybrid cabs help to, don’t get me wrong. They do help. With close to 20,000 cabs, to have at least half at traffic lights not emitting junk from the tailpipe is better than before. Next are trucks but that is a whole other story.
Getting back to trees, I remember the New York Times once talked about having massive trees along the Brooklyn / Queens Expressway to suck up the pollutants. Now that would help cool dowm the City. No question! So the best move here is to tell the City to Step It Up here. It’s our lungs at stake; ya know?!
Mayor Bloomberg added:
“New York City has made great progress since we first launched PlaNYC, and we need New Yorkers’ help to support that work by caring for more than half of a million trees and upwards of 200 schoolyard to playground parks, as well as launching projects of their own,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Local participation can have a big impact, and by directly engaging with communities across the City, we will not only meet but surpass our goals to build a safer, healthier and cleaner future.”
The Grow Our Grassroots summit featured several different workshop sessions meant to support and expand upon the initiatives launched as a part of PlaNYC. Participants had the opportunity to learn how to care for newly-planted trees in Tree Watering 101; connect with neighbors on community projects in Community Organizing; set up a local inventory of organizers and projects in Mapping the Stewardship Network; and get tips on finding and applying for funds in Need Money? Fundraising for the People. Representatives from the Departments of Sanitation and Transportation, and GrowNYC also held office hours to provide direct consultation with attendees. The collaboration between City agencies, offices and community partners included: the Parks Department, DEP, MillionTreesNYC, NYC Service, New York Restoration Project, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, and the Citizens Committee of New York.
Source: City of New York, The Daily Plant, New York City Parks and Recreation
