Little Essentials is a Fort Greene community-based organization that provides free baby & toddler clothing, furniture & other essential items to Brooklyn families living in poverty.

Little Essentials is hosting a block party/fundraiser this Sunday, July 24th from 11AM-7PM at Grand Avenue (btw. Lafayette & Clifton Place in Clinton Hill).

The event promises fun for all ages including chair massage, face painting, a donation drop off & a raffle with great prizes (including one from Green in BKLYN).

Little Essentials helps keep children safe (in cribs, car seats & clothing), lifts spirits & provides hope to parents. It also takes care of our environment by reusing items that are only slightly used.  Reduce, reuse, recycle & help your neighbors.

So if you have gently used baby items (clothing, toys & other essentials), drop them by the Block Party & join in the festivities.  And, if you’d like more info, email info@littleessentials.org.

• WHAT: Little Essentials Block Party & Fund Raiser
• WHEN: Sunday, July 24th 11am-7pm
• WHERE: 282 Grand Avenue (btw Lafayette & Clifton Place)
• HOW: Donation Drop Off, Raffle, Chair Massage & More!

Based in Williamsburg (Brooklyn, of course) & made locally, Common Good products are 100% readily biodegradable, plant based and safe for people & the environment.

They never use any dyes, masking agents or synthetic perfumes, chlorine bleach, optical brighteners or phosphates.

Born of the idea that folks use too much plastic, even when using eco-friendly products, Common Good’s solution is to provide easy-to-use bulk refill stations.

We currently carry Common Good’s hand soap, dish soap, all purpose cleaner & awesome cotton flour sack dish towels.

And now we have a Common Good refill station at Green in BKLYN! Stop by, check out the line & help stamp out the sea of excess plastic usage with good old fashioned local cleaning products…  It’s for the Common Good.

A perfect time to Spring clean & finally get rid of all that electronic waste that’s been cluttering up the entry to your apartment, the feng shui in your home, the mobility in your pad.  Reduce, reuse, recycle & get that junk out of the way…

• What: A Free Electronics Recycling Day
• Date: Saturday, May 8th 2010
• Time: 12-3PM
• Location: PS 107 @ 1301 8th Avenue, Brooklyn 11215
• To Be Recycled: Electronic Equipment (see below)

Electronic equipment that will be accepted includes broken or unwanted computers, monitors, keyboards, PDAs, mouses, cellphones, printers, dvd and cd players, routers, remote controls, stereos, cables).  However, it does NOT include household appliances like TVs, microwave ovens, air conditioners, refrigerators, etc., which will not be accepted.

Sponsored by the Mac Support Store in Brooklyn.  Thanks, folks!

PS – They’re also having a great raffle: Enter the $1 raffle & win a new Apple Mighty Mouse or Mac OS 10.6 “Snow Leopard,” courtesy of The Mac Support Store, Brooklyn’s First Authorized Repair Shop!

At Green in BKLYN, we collect & recycle clean #5 plastics & batteries (

In addition, our blogs include lots of recycling info (just type “recycle” or “recycling” in our Find! area for all kinds of info).

And we share info on e-waste recycling events, whenever possible…

This month, in celebration of Earth Day (4/22) there’s been a veritable smorgasbord of e-waste recycling options.  There’s still one more scheduled this month, here in Brooklyn, Courtesy of the Lower East Side Ecology Center.  Just in case you’re still looking to move those old computer screens, telephones & what not out of the corner of your home…

The Ecology Center is holding seven electronic waste (“e-waste”) collections to responsibly recycle unwanted or broken electronics from New York City residents (no business waste).  All you have to do is bring your e-waste to the collection event – rain or shine!

For a list of acceptable materials, click here.  Just remember, no home appliances such as microwaves or refrigerators.

The last one scheduled this month is in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn at PS 29 School Yard (Baltic St btw Henry & Clinton St) on Sunday, April 25, 10am-4pm.

Reduce, reuse, recycle y’all!

You might know CENYC from your neighborhood Greenmarket or community garden, many of which they maintain.  You may have learned how to recycle like a pro because you played the recycling challenge with their Office of Recycling Outreach and Education or your child planted trees along the Bronx River as part of their environmental education programs.

Since 1970, Council on the Environment of NYC has been rolling up its sleeves alongside local residents  to find solutions to environmental problems that impact us all.  Below are a few things that CENYC has accomplished just this year:

• Expanded to 50 Greenmarkets & developed the Nation’s largest food stamp in farmers’ market program resulting in nearly $250,000 in sales.
• Diverted almost 500,000 pounds of clothing from the landfill through textile recycling sites at eight Greenmarkets.
• Substantially renovated three community gardens in addition to more than 50 that they have created & supported
• Planted 1,860 trees & 3,200 plants in New York City’s watershed as part of education programs.

If you choose to support CENYC, you can be sure that your contributions support action around important environmental issues ; 80 cents of every dollar goes directly to program services such as helping CENYC to:

• Provide access to healthy, fresh local food for all New Yorkers
• Grow & maintain vibrant green spaces & community gardens
• Help New Yorkers recycle more & reduce waste
• Create the next generation of environmental leaders

You can also get involved through volunteer opportunities, workshops, school programs & community events or visit their website at www.cenyc.org to learn more.

With organic wine from Gnarly Vines, vegan pizza from Slice and family & friends from near & far, the event was lovely & lively.  Jennifer read from her book, some guests asked questions, others offered suggestions & Jennifer shared her very easy-to-follow green tips.

For those of you who couldn’t join us (& until you come into the shop to pick up your own copy of the book), here are a few simple steps for Greening Your Small Business courtesy of Jennifer Kaplan:

• Use on-line banking.
• Purchase recycled content products & supplies for daily use as well as for maintenance operations.
• Replace all existing standard lightbulbs with high-efficiency ones.
• Offer recycled gift bags & tissue paper in lieu of traditional gift wrap & boxes.
• Use email & scanned documents to communicate instead of fax machines & paper memos.
• Source locally by purchasing local & sustainable products & services including produce, flowers, beverages, decor & rentals.
• Consolidate shipments & avoid air freight/expediting whenever possible.
• Replace Post-It Notes with scrap paper.
• Rent hybrid & alternative-fuel vehicles or, better yet, use mass transit.
• And (of course), reduce – reuse – recycle.

With gratitude & congratulations to Jennifer!  It was a pleasure to host her first book signing & enjoy such spirited conversation, helpful information & kind company!

After our September collection of #5 plastics (along with batteries & cell phones), we are now shipping them off!

They’re going to the Preserve Collection Site to be turned into products (all made with 100% post-consumer #5 plastics)…

Then we’ll have said products (including bowls, cups, cutting boards, storage containers, razors & toothbrushes) returned to Green in BKLYN to be available to you!

The glorious cycle of reduce – reuse – recycle in perfect action.

If you missed our recycling drive or would like to ship stuff off yourself, Preserve will take your clean #5 plastics at their collection site.  Just box them up & send them off to:

Preserve Gimme 5

And, again, thank you to everyone who brought plastics, batteries & cell phones in for our September recycling drive.  We’re hoping to do it all again along with an e-waste (computers, appliances, etc.) drive sometime next year!

On Saturday, September 12th, the Lower East Side Ecology Center will sponsor Electronics Recycling Day, a residential e-waste collection. The event will take place from 10am-4pm at Tekserve located at 119 West 23rd Street (between Lexington & Park Avenues).

NOTE: They do not accept home appliances such as microwaves or refrigerators & cannot accept any electronics from businesses.

What can you bring to recycle?

• Computers (laptops & desktops, servers, mainframes)
• Monitors
• Printers, scanners, fax-machines, copiers
• Network devices (routers, hubs, modems, etc.)
• Peripherals (keyboards, mice, cables, etc.)
• Components (hard drives, CD-ROMs, circuit boards, power supplies, etc.)
• TVs, VCRs, & DVD Players
• Audio-visual equipment
• Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
• Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)

For more info go to the Lower East Side Ecology Center’s website.

Many years ago in another lifetime (or so it seems now), I was a scuba diver…

At the time, I worked in a local dive shop, had mastered my Advanced Open Water SCUBA Certification & was planning on doing the same as a Dive Master & Instructor.  I’d begun diving after my stepfather’s death as a tribute to him.  He was one of my biggest cheerleaders – insisting there was nothing I couldn’t do – & scuba diving is something I think he’d have loved me to experience especially since it was the kind of thing I’d never thought I’d get to do.

It was magical!  The sensation of flying was amazing.  And to fly completely supported with the power & gentleness of water, surrounded by amazing quiet & extraordinary beauty was incredible.  Diving is one of the most significant experiences of my life.

At that time I was also acting, ended up accepting a number of amazing roles & drifted away from the dive shop & the water…  And now, landlocked in Brooklyn, my dives are few & far between…  That’s okay.  It doesn’t mean diving won’t be a part of my life again but for now my dream of providing a convenient & easy way for people to go greener (at Green in BKLYN, of course!) takes precedence.

And so I began looking for a new home for my dive equipment.  Actually, my lovely intern, Cristina, researched our green options & found a way to reduce, reuse & recycle it all…  And today, I’ve packed up my dive kit (BC, regulators, computer, wetsuit, fins, etc.) & will be shipping it out to the Diveheart Foundation!

Diveheart provides & supports educational SCUBA & snorkeling programs for children, adults & veterans with disabilities with the hope of providing physical & psychological therapeutic value.  It’s the “CAN DO” spirit that Diveheart hopes to instill in all its participants – by giving them confidence & independence to face life challenges & overcome barriers that might seem insurmountable.

Through SCUBA diving, the Diveheart Foundation supports & facilitates programs that teach children & adults with disabilities to fly in the forgiving weightlessness of water… giving perfect buoyancy to a child or adult who would otherwise struggle on land.

In the wake of my stepfather’s death, that perfect buoyancy offered extraordinary healing powers to me.  I can’t imagine the effect it has on someone who’s unable to see, walk or use their hands.  But I think the letter below from one of Diveheart’s participants gives us a hint.

Just wanted to send you a note…  I loved getting to explore the quarry.  That was so much fun.  I never knew I was an adrenaline junkie till I started diving.  I love the adrenaline rush as you hit the water.  I know now why they call it Diveheart because the dives go straight to the heart & so do the people you make the dives with!  My thoughts  & emotions are still all over the board as far as the trip is concerned but one thing is for sure – I will NEVER be able to THANK YOU enough for the way you made me feel that week!

Diving has helped me to be freed from a body I thought I was trapped in.  I remember never feeling scared because I knew you were down there waiting for your mermaid to join you on another adventure of the underwater world as they pushed me off the back of the boat.  In a world of lots of “can’t” you helped me discover a huge CAN.

The things you see 20 some feet below the surface is amazing.  There’s a whole new world down there.  I never knew I had gills…  I must have been a mermaid in an other life.

I can’t wait till the 7th to get back in my natural environment.  Thank you for setting me FREE & teaching me to FLY.  I found my wings because of you.  The memories will stick with me FOREVER…  From YOUR LITTLE MERMAID CHILD.

To my dive instructors & dive buddies, the volunteers & participants of the Diveheart Foundation & my stepfather, thank you for all you’ve done to support the wings of so many people’s dreams – both in & out of the water!