What to do about New York City

Greetings from the East Coast! I am currently chilling in my country house in the town of Monterey, Massachusetts, in a region called the Berkshires. I have been eating locally raised farm food, took a hike earlier today, and convinced my parents to buy a compost bin. I even collected my own eggs from the locally renowned Gould's farm. Last evening, three cows escaped from the farm and made their way into our front yard. This area is lush, humid, and relaxing. It has been a great weekend so far.

But the city I entered, New York, is a far cry from this picturesque, weekend cottage I am lounging in. I love New York. I love it so much that I want to change the habits and conventions that touch on issues of sustainability so it can be an even better, stronger, healthier city. The tools and facts our Sustainability FRINQ has equipped me with scrutinizing every minute of my stay in NYC. I have whipped out the words of Michael Pollan, Elizabeth Kolbert, Paul Hawken and David MacKay in many conversations the last two days.

I took a taxi from the airport and threw away lots of disposable, plastic cups, plates and utensils. The smog I could see lingering in the air looked worse than LA. Walking several blocks down 6th avenue from 34th to 27th, I passed and saw more people than I have in my entirety of living in Portland (this is a comedic guess). New York has a lot of people. Cigarette butts, smog, trash, trucks, and blocks of skyscrapers are all evidence of New York's huge impact on the planet.

One of the first things New York can do to become more sustainable is to emphasize public transit and biking over cars. Currently, riding a bicycle is very dangerous but Mayor Bloomberg is working hard to put in more bike lanes. Second, we can all reduce the amount of waste we create. There are so many plastic bags, disposable eating utensils, water bottles, coffee cups, and cigarette butts everywhere. Again, the mayor is limiting the amount of space smoking is allowed in which discourages smoking and will cut out waste. I would like to see more businesses and the city promoting the practice of bringing along more reusable items and making recycling easier and standard. Another huge step the city must take is reducing the amount of energy every building needs and making the energy we do need clean and safe for the environment. There is a lot of underutilized roof space that would soak up New York's constant sunshine.

New York is the best city in the world. It's also an island city in threat of melting ice caps. I don't want to see it under 20 feet of water because of laziness and greed. It's time for New York to lead the world in sustainability. New York's battle with the sea level depends on the actions we all make today.