I just think this is cool.

How much is your Obama tax cut?

The median income family in Brooklyn — earning $36,188 according to the 2005 census — a married couple filing jointly with two children, would get a $1000 tax cut under President Obama.

Malcom Walker at the Red Hook Community Farm in Brooklyn

A bunch of recent must-reads:

• Women in the Northeast are contaminated with the highest concentrations of mercury in the United States, with one of every five exceeding levels considered safe for fetuses, according to a new national study.
• Chicago Trib highlights Brooklyn for its green roofs and praises the new NYS green roof tax credit — but reminds us that Chi-town’s got NY beat on green roofs by almost 400k sq ft.
• Manhattan and Brooklyn use more pesticides than any other counties in the state… B/c of cockroaches, ew. And who is most at risk from toxics? Children. Parents, please read this one.
• NYDOHMH (Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene) wins $50k+ for farmer’s markets in Brooklyn from the USDA.
• Christian Science Monitor raves about NY’s Recycle-a-Bicycle, the group’s two bike shops in the East Village and DUMBO, and NY youth participating in sustainable alternative transportation.
• NYSDEC looks at cleaning up utility sites. Greenpoint and Williamsburg manufactured gas plants and four gas holder plants in Brooklyn (Rutledge Street Station, Skillman Street Station, Front Street Station and Keap Street Station). Plus others in NYC and Long Island.
• Promoting the 50 Million Pound challenge to combat obesity, WaPo features photo of Brooklynite Jeremie Howell working out with trainer Kimberly James. Join one of 153 teams in Brooklyn to help promote your fitness and a healthier life!
• DirectBuy — with a store serving Brooklyn and Queens in Woodside and another in Manhattan — is featuring their selection of green building supplies. Mark Brandt, owner of DirectBuy of Manhattan: “The green products our members can buy through DirectBuy have been rated by recognized authorities like Energy Star, LEED or the Sustainable Furniture Council, so you know the green purchase you’re making is part of the solution.”
• NYC non-profits having trouble raising funds. Feeling ok with your finances? Here are some great local orgs where you can toss some green.
• One Glass Productions announces FilmArtFunction — a fundraising event benefiting the non-profit docu-series “Under the Bridges.” The film profiles artists and creative businesses in the Brooklyn waterfront’s DUMBO district who “exceed expectations for environmentally sustainable practices and social responsibility.” The event will take place at Galapagos Art Space on Thursday, October 23rd.
• Boston Globe travel section hearts BK and our green spaces, museums, n’hoods, etc.
• NYT: Sweat equity pays off at Added Value in Red Hook.

Photo: Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times

Van Jones, the brains behind the biggest green jobs movement in the country — Green For All — officially released his manifesto for a new green economy on Tuesday. As GBK readers know, the only way to get out of these interconnected issues of economy and environment is to work our way out of these massive problems. And that means cleantech, clean energy jobs in: solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, green building, energy conservation, and much much more. The positive effects of a growing green economy to the quality of life of all New Yorkers will be palpable. Don’t just take it from me. Big Al:

“Van Jones demonstrates conclusively that the best solutions for the survivability of our planet are also the best solutions for everyday Americans.” - Vice President Al Gore

More about the book:

Provocative, personal, and inspirational, The Green Collar Economy is not a dire warning but rather a substantive and viable plan for solving the biggest issues facing the country–the failing economy and our devastated environment. From a distance, it appears that these two problems are separate, but when we look closer, the connection becomes unmistakable.

As of now, the book is number 22 on Amazon.com’s bestseller list! Help get this important work into the TOP TEN by buying the book now.

This short video tells the story of the groundbreaking Greencorps Chicago program, check it out:

Spread the word and share the video!

Brooklyn! Fall! Brews! Bounty! Yes, its that time of year again. The Yard is once again hosting a fall-themed celebration of Gowanus proportions.

Last year was an incredible success – over 1,000 people joined us at the banks of the canal to enjoy farm fresh food, live music, local vendors, pumpkin carving contests, pony rides, delicious brews and other triumphs of sustainable urban living.

This year, proceeds from the Gowanus Harvest Festival will be donated to Just Food.

So join us and enjoy the wonders of Autumn on Brooklyn’s most …charismatic… waterfront.

Saturday, October 11th
11am-9pm

388-400 CARROLL ST, BROOKLYN NY
F/G TO CARROLL ST, N/R TO UNION ST

Advanced tickets $12
Day of Show $12
Children under 5 Free

Buy Tickets Here

Meanred Productions
The Yard

Obamaerobics blends fitness and democracy into an easy-to-follow yet intense cardio workout – including strength training, a little yoga, and a ridiculous crunch sequence – to tunes by artists including Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, Xiu Xiu, and Miley Cyrus. You WILL be sore the next day, and Barack will thank you for it.

Admission is by donation on a sliding scale of $10 - $50, with all proceeds directly benefiting the Obama campaign. No prior aerobics experience is necessary – all fitness levels welcome! Conceived by Lana Wilson and Karisa Butler-Wall in Brooklyn, NY, as a creative way to support the Obama campaign while promoting physical fitness, Obamaerobics has raised over $4,000 for Obama through participant donations and pledge drives. Our “Push-Ups for Pennsylvania” pledge drive in March raised $1,500, and our recent “Convention Crunch Challenge” raised nearly $1,000.

Obamaerobics is now going national thanks to our new how-to video, featuring “Mr. November” by Brooklyn-based band The National. For more information on how to get Obamaerobics classes started in your own area, email us at obamaerobics AT gmail.com.

LESS THAN A MONTH TO GO!

3 MORE DAYS TO REGISTER IN N.Y. STATE!

The deadline to register in NY is: Friday, October 10th!

Barack’s campaign is skyrocketing.

But he still needs our help. Now more than ever…

So let’s Vote For Change!

Phone Banking:

Tuesday, October 7th
5:30 to 9
Teamster Building, 216 W 14th St

Friday, October 10th
12 to 9
UFT Building, 52 Broadway 5th Floor

Saturday, October 11th
12 to 6
UFT Building, 52 Broadway 5th Floor

Road Trips:

Get Fired Up For Philly!
Saturday, October 11 at 8:00 AM

Get On The Bus to Lehigh Valley, PA!
Sunday, October 12 at 9:00 AM

Get registered. Find your polling location. Get ready to get out and vote!

The GreenHomeNYC Open House:

Join GreenHomeNYC for their 6th annual Green Buildings Open House and Tour when they visit Galapagos. On Saturday, October 4th from 10am to 4pm, green buildings throughout New York City will open their doors to the public. The event offers a unique opportunity for people to see first-hand how clean energy and green building practices can be put to work. The Green Buildings Open House demystifies green buildings, proving that they are comfortable, affordable, and attractive. Informational materials will be available at all sites.

Saturday, October 4th
12:30 pm
FREE

The “What Is Green Architecture?” Lecture:

The Goethe-Institut New York presents “What Is Green Architecture?”, a new series of conversations, lectures, and events exploring the cutting-edge developments in the field and their impact on contemporary life as well as implications for the future.

In conversation with moderator Andres Lepik, Steffen Lehmann will discuss how “Green is the New Black” in terms of emerging urban design principles and strategies for energy-efficient cities beyond the individual building. He will also speak about Australia’s first zero-emission urban development, Taree Waterfront Masterplan.

Monday, October 6th
7:00pm
FREE

The Debate Watching/Voter Registration Party:

Join us for one of six Presidential Election Debate Watch Parties across the country. We’ll be coming together 200 strong from the NY area - and over 1,000 strong across the nation - to hear Democracy roar on the big screen. Michelle Collins, writer and comedian for VH1’s Best Week Ever, will emcee the event, which will include : pre-debate issues discussion with Anya Kamenetz (author of Generation Debt) , Jonathan Tepperman (Assistant Managing Editor, Newsweek International), and others; election trivia, information about local social justice opportunities, voter registration tables, free snacks, and a specially brewed Rosh Hashanah (New Year) cocktail. Parties will be happening simultaneously in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington DC. Please RSVP by registering at www.debatewatch2008.blogspot.com.

Tuesay, October 7th
7:00pm
FREE

More info for all of these events, go here.

Galapagos
16 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 - 718.222.8500

Watching the first Presidential Debate at DUMBO’s Galapagos

NYS Voter Registration Deadline: Friday, OCTOBER 10th

Register to vote. Request to vote absentee. Find your polling location. Find your early vote location.

This image comes to us from Laura Hoffman of Greenpoint fame.

Photo was taken during the September 14th cruise of Newtown Creek.

Read more about the worst oil disaster in U.S. history — an oil spill twice the size of the Exxon Valdez sitting under Brooklyn — at the Newtown Creek category on GBK.

Have you contacted your local and national politicians about this yet? Join hundreds of advocates who have pressed our politicians to make the Newtown Creek oil spill a federal issue.

Right now, Barack Obama is polling the best he has during this entire Presidential election. That includes a new batch of state polls that are very good for Obama. Electoral college projections show a landslide. Now is the time to lay the groundwork for a big victory in November.

Registration deadlines are rapidly approaching — most are the first week of October. The N.Y. State voter registration deadline is Friday, October 10th.

Find an event near you — or volunteer to make calls via your cell phone.

Register to vote. Request to vote absentee. Find your polling location. Find your early vote location. ALL HERE.

Please. Do something. Any chance you can.

What Bay Ridge greenmarket, you ask?

Good question.

The one that is starting this Saturday.

Why does it need saving if it hasn’t even begun?

According to The Brooklyn Paper, the new Council on the Environment NYC (CENYC) greenmarket in Bay Ridge is in a temporary location until January and will be moved or canceled if it does not earn vendors enough green.

“We know that we have a home through December,” Greenmarket Director Michael Hurwitz told The Brooklyn Paper on Monday. “We’ll see if it’s a success and we’ll ask Walgreens and see if we can stay here longer.”

The Greenmarket must close in January so that workers can “reface” the old Key Food at the corner of 95th Street and Third Avenue into the chain pharmacy that is scheduled to open in the spring, said Walgreens District Director Hien Nguyen.

After that, the future is murkier than that unfiltered apple cider.

[...]

[The market will] feature locally grown fruits and vegetables, regional fish, cheeses, grass-fed beef, chicken, rabbit and pork, among other foods, every Saturday from 8 am to 5 pm.

Read the full story here and here.

Spread the word to Ridgites!

Go buy yourself some local organic produce and meats this Saturday and every Saturday…

…and SAVE THE BAY RIDGE GREENMARKET!

WINTER WARM UPS: A happy hour for teachers

OCTOBER through DECEMBER
Wednesdays from 5 to 7PM

Habana Outpost
757 Fulton Street, Brooklyn

This fall, Habana Works presents Winter Warm-Ups, a professional development series for teachers that’s actually fun. Each Wednesday evening from October to December, a variety of Brooklyn institutions will present their tools for K-12 teachers during this cozy cocktail hour in the Lowpost at Habana Outpost. Teachers will receive a crash course on the best of what Brooklyn has to offer, while relaxing with their colleagues and a complimentary beverage.

Winter Warm-Ups begin October 1st with a presentation by the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Department of Education & Humanities. John Tighe and his colleagues will present their programs for grades K-12 for the 2008-2009 season. The presentation will begin in the second hour of the happy hour.

Series Presenters:
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Brooklyn Public Library
Brooklyn Children’s Museum
our host, Habana Outpost
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Prospect Park Alliance
…and more

For full info, directions and schedule, visit: www.habanaworks.org

Download the flyer (pdf).