Greetings, UESiders,

Happy Day That Edison Parented the Light Bulb in 1880!

You recall that there’s a Residents for Sane Trash Solutions meeting this coming Monday the 30th,  yes?  (Details below.)

It’s a key element in the great, jam-packed coming week: 

Saturday, January 28th:   82nd Street Greenmarket

82nd Street, between First and York, 9am – 2pm

Better be NO SNOW!

But even if there is the stalwarts of  Bread Alone, Raghoo, Gajeski, Samascott,  Rising Sun Beef and Rabbits’ Run Farms, Silver Thread Vineyard, Ballard’s Honey and American Seafood will be at their tables!

As  your Recycling Wrangler was not last week.  (A visiting friend’s flight was delayed and the welcoming party had to wait.)

But this week?  Bring on all that #5, Britta filters, et cetera you’ve been hoarding these last 7 days!

SUNDAY, JANUARY 29th:  RECYCLE-O-RAMA – PRE-GROUNDHOG DAY EDITION 

First Avenue between 92nd and 93rd Streets (west side of First), 10am – 3pm

Upon us at last…

Electronics (working/non-working)…  Paper for shredding…  Clothes/Fabrics.    We’ll take every bit – plus  batteries, Britta filters, eye glasses, CDs/DVDs and ink cartridges.   Be there!

Electronics accepted:

•    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
•    Video-games and audio visual equipment
•    Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
•    Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)

Remember:  NO APPLIANCES.

Paper:

Please remove paper clips and spiral bindings.

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.  (But we do take paperbacks.)

Clothes:

Including hats, belts, fabric of all kinds and shoes…  All in any condition.

Going to be great, folks!

Monday, January 30th:  Residents for Sane Trash Solutions Meeting

Chapin School, 100 East End Avenue, 7pm

Plenty of plans afoot to thwart plans for that garbage transfer station on the river at 91st.  Learn what they are and what you can do to preserve the neighborhood’s environment and quality of life.  See you there!  (Be great if you’d rsvp at info@sanetrash.org.)

Down the way:

Thursday, February 23rd:  Lace Knitting – Make It Thursday at the Folk Art Museum

2 Lincoln Square (at 66th Street), 6pm

Seems that every couple of decades a new generation rediscovers/ falls head over heels for the needle arts… One of the loveliest of which is lace knitting.  (Really, it’s not hard and you can make such pretty things!)  Free for members.  $10 non-members.  For more and to sign up…  

Way, WAY out there:

Saturday, April 7th:  5th Annual Pillowfight – Bunny Edition

Union Square, 3pm

And we quote, “Pillows fly and bunnies ears soar”…  Well, we’ll all have earned a bit of spring madness and this one is particularly amusing.  We commend the fertile brains at Newmindspace!  Free but you’re responsible for bringing your own pillow and bunny ears.   For details and look at last year’s hilarious event… 

A whole lot of miscellany this time round:

Remember those experimental underwater turbines they planted in the East River off Roosevelt Island a few years ago?  (They’re there on your UGS Eco-Map!)   Happy to say, they’ll soon be joined by 24 more and produce enough energy to power 1,000 homes! 

While we’re on the subject of green energy, on October 6th, 2011, Xcel Energy set a new world record for producing windpower and provided energy for more than half a million homes! 

On the flip side, we’re still only controlling 70% of sewage run-off during/after heavy –  defined by NYC as more than a half inch – but now our DEP’s deploying a new weapon…   inflatable dams. 

On the other hand, on January 8th, the NYC Department of Transportation announced it will be installing pedestrian signals at all crosswalks at 96th Street and the FDR!  (Stunning and Transportation Alternatives deserves some thanks for their activism in this regard.)

Assembly Member Kellner wants to know what’s on your mind…  A survey that takes not even a couple of minutes…  One for Upper East Siders…  Another for you Roosevelt Islanders.

Calling all New Yorkers who’ve been working to improve their building’s – be it apartment or townhouse –  performance!  There’s a now a prize just for you…  The EBie ( as in Existing Building) Award and you should absolutely enter yourself in the competition! 

Once we’ve polished off the lace knitting session, we want a chance to build our own solar panels and lanterns like these NYC high school kids!

Love this Botany Photo of the Day…   Dryopteris marginalis.

Love this new, ultra New York-centric book…

Amazing that there were once actual milestones in NYC…  And a few still remain.

You might have surfed Long Island (saw a couple emerge from the Union Square subway station with boards last summer) BUT…  Well, check out this truly incredible footage…

And then there’re these shots of the recent northern lights…

Meanwhile, there’s a guy in the Bronx raising tilapia in – very clean – trashcans!

Pretty sure we included another design last year but, hey, the world can always use another approach to constructing an igloo.

Kinda debated where a tip on a sweet way to organize pet toys (from Organizing Goddess Sharon Lowenstein) belonged…  Hummm…  Animal related but no fuzziness or whiskers…  So it winds up as a prelude to…

The real, furry thing:

How about some pure joy in canine form…

And then there’s Izzy, canine detective…

Okay, we’re always saying that this or that critter rewrites the book on cuteness.  So, that’s just how it is, folks.  If only interest compounded the way cuteness does in the form of…   A bunny nibbling a banana …

A bird waking up its snoozing kitty friend…

Or – get ready – a newborn fawn!

Green is the ultimate cool,

UGS

 

Happy Year of the Dragon, UGSiders!

Amazing fact:  1 in 300 Americans is attending public school in NYC!

Alert:  Check the date on your carbon monoxide detector.  If it’s more than 5 years old (the life span of these things), your landlord’s obliged to replace it.  Yes, Mr./Ms. Landlord may levy a one-time charge of up to $25 for the new alarm but, needless to say, the expenditure’s totally worth it.

An anouncement:  On December 8th the NYC Council passed 3 fine, new regulations covering  improved filters for ventilation equipment (less soot),  concrete wastewater from construction sites and the requirement that most new asphalt surfaces contain 30% recycled asphalt! 

And a request:  Comments on the vast amounts of water required for the fracking process are now being accepted by the NYState Department of Environmental Conservation.   To easily make your opinion known, just hit this link…

On to the week ahead:

Saturday, January 21st:   82nd Street Greenmarket

82nd Street, between First and York, 9am – 2pm

At their tables will be Bread Alone, Raghoo, Gajeski, Samascott,  Rising Sun Beef and Rabbits’ Run Farms, Silver Thread Vineyard, Ballard’s Honey and American Seafood!

(Now that it’s so cold, Rabbits’ Run fantastic lavendar hand cream is  vital!!) 

Okay, let’s talk recycling…  And the insanely great totals  racked up at January 7th’s Recycle-O-Rama are:  3,200 lbs electronics, 9,000 lbs paper shredded, 19 bags of clothing, 23 pairs of glasses, 61 pounds of batteries  and 32 lbs  #5, Britta filters, jewel cases, cords, cartridges, CD/DVDs and corks.

As for last week, how about 38 lbs batteries and 21 lbs #5,  Britta filters, cords, corks, CD/DVDs, jewel cases, cellphones and cartridges.

That makes our YTD (from 1/7/12) totals:  99 lbs batteries; 53 lbs #5, Britta filters, corks, cords, CDs/DVDs, jewel cases, celllphones and cartridges. 

YOU PEOPLE ROCK!

Saturday, January 22nd through Sunday, February 12th:  Quality of Light Photographic Exhibition

The Octogon Gallery, 888 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, 9am – 9pm daily

If you’re not familiar with photographer (and neighbor) Francine Lange’s work, you should be.  Free.  For a taste and incentive to see the real thing … 

And the week following:

Thursday, January 26th:  “The Greenhorns” Screening

John Haynes Holmes House, 28 East 35th Street, 7:30pm

Three years in production, the film explores the lives of America’s young farming community.  The filmmakers’ hope is that their work will inspire those considering a career in agriculture.  Suggested donation:$5.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 29th:  RECYCLE-O-RAMA – PRE-GROUNDHOG DAY EDITION 

First Avenue between 92nd and 93rd Streets (west side of First), 10am – 3pm

Electronics (working/non-working)…  Paper in need of shredding…  Clothes/Fabrics.    We’ll take all of that and more – like batteries, Britta filters, eye glasses, CDs/DVDs and ink cartridges.   Bring ’em on!

Electronics accepted:

•    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
•    Video-games and audio visual equipment
•    Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
•    Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)

Remember:  NO APPLIANCES.

Paper:

Please remove paper clips and spiral bindings.

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.  (But we’ll take paperbacks.)

Clothes:

Including hats, belts, fabric of all kinds and shoes…  All in any condition.

Down the way:

Monday, January 30th:  Residents for Sane Trash Solutions Meeting

Chapin School, 100 East End Avenue, 7pm

Plenty of plans afoot to thwart plans for that garbage transfer station on the river at 91st.  Learn what they are and what you can do to preserve the neighborhood’s environment and quality of life.  See you there!  (Be great if you’d rsvp at info@sanetrash.org.)

Sundays, February 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th:   Basic Urban Beekeeping

York Prep, 40 West 68th Street, 11am – 2pm

Twelve hours of theory capped by a hands-on experience in April.  And you just have to hop on a crosstown bus!  $150.  For more…

Tuesday, February 7th:  Sustainable Landscape Trends

Skanska Offices, Empire State Building, 350 Fifth Avenue, 32nd Floor, 6:30-8pm

Organized by the Urban Green Council and presented by Patricia Olmstead, covered will be subjects from native plants, to green and cool roofs and garden facades.  Free for members.  $5 non-members.   For more and tickets… 

This week’s miscellany:

Not affecting the UES but most concerning that once again the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission’s come up short.  That is, while they did designate an East 10th Street Historic District, they didn’t act quickly enough to prevent a developer from obtaining a permit to plop an addition atop an 1847 building on the block.  Rather like what Stahl’s gotten up to with the First/York Avenue Estates and you’d  think the Commission would, at this point, be sufficiently weary of being wrong-footed that they’d be moved to develop a real and effective counteractive strategy. 

Meanwhile, two nights ago, Community Board 8’s full board voted against Stahl’s hardship application which now moves it to consideration by the Landmarks Commission.  Cross your fingers.

On a happier note, Lamartine Place, running from 333 to 359 West 29thStreet and which includes a stop on the Underground Railroad, has been granted Landmark status.

Consumer Report’s just green-rated water filters…

You did know that Memorial Sloan-Kettering will be putting up another building, this time an out-patient surgurical facility on the northwest corner of York and 61st Street?  In that regard, DNAinfo published a comprehensive map of the medical facilities existing and planned on our turf. 

Britain’s Passive House Academy’s set a series of courses in our own NYC, including Certified Passive House Designer and Certified Passive House Consultant.  Check the ciriculum out! 

Audubon New York’s offering a pretty wonderful volunteer opportunity…   Teaching public school kids  grades 2 – 4 about the very real and varied environment here in NYC and in their own neighborhoods via the “For the Birds” program.   For more call Haley Main at 212-979-3064.

And in the realm of do-able Citizen Science, you could help Boston’s Museum of Science, researchers from Tufts University and Fitchburg State College conduct a firefly census this summer…  And you know we have fireflies  on the UES –  at the very least at Isaacs/Holmes and Schurz Park!  For more…

The current, lovely Greenroof of the Week is in Queens!

If  you object to Walmart selling genetically engineered sweet corn to customers this summer, you can tell them here…

Or believe that the notion of an “interim nuclear storage site” – killed off in the 90’s and which would have had nuclear waste transported all over the U.S. to the seismically challenged Yucca Mountain – should stay dead as a door nail…  

Or are curious as to just what effect regulations have on jobs… 

One last serious note:  Texas – yes, TEXAS –  is about to spend $8.7 billion improving its electrical grid! 

One decent use for plastic:  Reusuable moving cartons.  Check ’em out! 

Always so special these photographic projects that study a particular location over time…  In this instance Brooklyn’s Myrtle Avenue.

Who knew that NYState had organized something as lovely as the online Hudson River Almanac?  One can read, subscribe and even contribute.

Or that the Hudson River Greenway has just turned 20 years old and with really impressive achievements?

Your wait for some animal action is now officially over:

What happens when a bunch wild and crazy scientists attach a tiny cam to a collar and put that collar on an Alaskan grizzly bear for a month?  Well…

You’ve encountered those kids down at Union Square offering free hugs?  Well, this monkey is moved by the same spirit…

No, you certainly haven’t heard the last of those adorable baby sloths…

Greenly,

UGS

Greetings, UESiders!

Another week and another Community Board 8 meeting of import…  i.e. the attempt by the Stahl realty company to de-landmark the York Avenue portion of the First Avenue Estates on the utterly bogus basis of “hardship”.

Per usual, representatives of the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts,  Historic Districts Council and our electeds delivered themselves of telling remarks, but even more impressive was testimony given by residents of the complex and their neighbors, remarks that were not only extremely well-researched and reasoned but utterly from the heart.  

The capacity crowd meeting concluded with the Landmarks Committee voting unanimously to deny Stahl’s request. 

Next step:  Voting by CB8’s full board on January 18th  (details below).  Then on to the undependable NYC Landmark Commission’s final decision.    For more details…

There’s more good news on the larger, public stage…

First, that new and stronger federal standards for car emissions will soon be finalized.

Secondly,  it might be that our city will be home to more high tech campuses like the one Cornell will be establishing on Roosevelt Island.  (Let us cross our collective fingers!)

Third, with the coming of 2012 the biggest ethanol subsidy of them all EXPIRED!

More modest and local again:  Looking out and up from our east windows last week, we spotted a hawk circling and soaring high in the sky above.

Oh and last week the NYC Council banned the “sale, offer for sale, or installation of carpets and carpet cushions that contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in excess of the Green Label Plus standards from the Carpet & Rug Institute”!

With that, let’s get down on the coming week:  

Saturday, January 14th:   82nd Street Greenmarket

82nd Street, between First and York, 9am – 3pm

With us will be Bread Alone, Raghoo, Gajeski, Samascott,  Rising Sun Beef and Rabbits’ Run Farms, Silver Thread Vineyard, Ballard’s Honey and American Seafood!

Don’t miss what’ll be going on at Silver Thread’s table this Saturday…  i.e. the vintner’s very own wine maker, Paul Brock, will be present and eager to answer your questions about sustainable grape growing and wine making.

Plus this week’s cooking demo will also be featuring wine as an ingredient!  (Don’t leave the market without our wine-friendly recipes!) 

And now for the report you’ve all been waiting for…  Last week’s recycling totals!

We’re still awaiting the paper and electronics poundage (but no way they aren’t going to be really great), but how about 19 of those giant bags of clothing, 23 pairs of glasses, a stack of CDs/DVDs, 61 pounds of batteries and more #5 plastic – maybe 2 times as much – than we’ve ever collected before!  

Were it not for the wheels provided by the great Ellen Polivy it would have taken me several trips down to Union Square to clear our decks…    

Thrilling really.   So, please…  Give yourselves a giant pat ont he back!!  

Saturday and Sunday, January 28th and 29th:  Visit the Greenpeace Ship Rainbow Warrior

Chelsea Piers (Pier 59), West Side Highway between 17th and 18th Streets, 10am – 4pm

It’s the maiden voyage of this vessel that’s designed and destined to be on the environmental front line.  Plus you’ll get to meet her very committed crew.  (Did it last year and it was really fun, too!)  Free and first come first serve.  For more…   

Wednesday, January 18th:  Community Board 8 Full Board Meeting

Ramaz School, 125 East 85th Street between Park and Lexington, 6:30pm

As noted above, CB8’s Board will be casting their very important votes as to whether the York Avenue portion of the First Avenue Estates should be de-landmarked or its landmark status retained.  This is so  important…

Wednesday, January 18th: Hudson Valley Greenway Meeting

Henry A. Wallace Center,  FDR Presidential Library, Hyde Park, New York, commencing 9:30am

Our neighbors up the Hudson are busily putting together a plan and protections for a Greenway.  Even if we never attend one of their gatherings, we need keep current to insure that it and our own Manhattan Greenway compliment and enhance each other.  Free.  For more…

Coming up soon: 

Thursday, January 26th:   Feeding Gotham – A Social History of Urban Provisioning, 1780-1860

Mount Vernon Hotel Museum, 421 East 61st Street between First and York, 6:30pm

Our city’s Greenmarkets are the latest in a great and honorable tradition and about which – where they were, how New Yorkers of yore shopped them and what they bought –  Gergely Baics, Assistant Professor of History and Urban Studies at Barnard College has the skinny.  Members $25.  Students and Seniors $22.  Non-members $40.   For tickets and/or more details call 212-838-6878.

Sunday, January 29th:  Recycle-O-Rama – Pre-Groundhog Day Edition 

First Avenue between 92nd and 93rd Streets (west side of First), 10am – 3pm

Electronics (working/non-working)…  Paper in need of shredding…  Clothes/Fabrics.    We’ll take all of that and more – like batteries, Britta filters, eye glasses, CDs/DVDs and ink cartridges – off your hands off your hands!

Electronics accepted:

•    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
•    Video-games and audio visual equipment
•    Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
•    Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)

Remember:  NO APPLIANCES.

Paper:

Please remove paper clips and spiral bindings.

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.  (But we’ll take paperbacks.)

Clothes:

Including hats, belts, fabric of all kinds and shoes…  All in any condition.

On the horizon:

Wednesday, February 15th:  Congestion and Flow on New York City Streets 

Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue. 6:30pm

What’s the thinking behind the many interesting changes  in our city’s traffic, bicycle and pedestrian patterns?  Got to be interesting and great to be able to query those responsible as well as experts in the field.  Members $6.  Non-members $12.  Students and seniors $8.  For details and tickets…

Monday, March 5th:   Oil and Gas Exploration and Initiatives in the United States and the Mediterranean Basin Conference

McGraw Hill Building, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, 9am – 4pm

Organized by Touro College and with a line-up of heavy-hitting speakers on the order of Dr. Lawence Cathles, Dr. Donald Clark, Samuel Epstein, Robert Lestz and Mendel Mochkin, no way you won’t emerge with a definitive understanding of what old-style energy companies are up to and its impact.   For more (including ticket prices), call 212-463-0400, ext. 5132.

On to this week’s miscellany:

The  simplest and most beautiful botanical portrait yet… 

Many an interesting plan being floated as to what the Gowanus Canal area might be once it’s cleaned up… 

That while the High Line’s inspiring a most worthy imitator… (Cross your fingers again that it happens!)

Okay, kudos for moving the flag forward on car emissions, but the Feds are being really timid re the use of antibiotics on livestock.

Check out the green roof and wind turbine at this Vermont airport…

If you’d like to learn about and help high school students at the Bushwick Academy of Environmental Leadership take their greenhouse project to a new level…

Your e-reader giving you trouble when you try to download?  Well the, of course, the NY Public Library is there to help you out with a bunch of convenient classes.  For more…  Or download instructions…

What next?  Now you can get rid of those pesky catalogues with a new iphone app!

Wow!  NYC has a new interactive online street closure map…  A companion piece to the 311 map that logs complaints – and I quote from the DNA article – “everything from pigeon poop to malfunctioning fire hydrants”!

Whew!  At long last the Met’s completed its reconfiguration of the American Wing and it really is fantastic.  Get yourself over to Fifth an 82nd.  (You do know it’s free Friday evening?)

We’ve brought Build It Green to your attention before, but they rate another  mention by virtue of the inventory of architectural items they’ve just acquired from Landmarks Preservation Commission’s warehouse…  Items such as…   

And the latest installment of animals:

While we on the UES had a hawk, folks on the West Side had a visiting hummingbird! 

Meanwhile, Italian researchers have discovered how our winged friends learn to fly together in sync!

Filer under “You  Never Can Tell”:  How to Survive a Bear Attack…

For those who  say a feline can’t be green, we give you a cat who travels (solo) by city bus…

We live to be green,

UGS 

 

 

 

 

   

Farewell, holiday revelry!! Hello, 2012!!

Let’s get serious.

Considerable drama at Wednesday’s Community Board 8 Transportation Committee meeting.  Agenda item #1: Installation of elevators at the 68th & Lex subway station to comply with the MTA’s agreement to provide such elevators at 100 stations and thus comply with Americans with Disabilities Act.  This is a $53 million/36 month  project that – as the MTA sees it – necessitates construction of 2  additional station entrances which they’d like to site on either side of  Lex at 69th Street.

Yes,  you remember correctly.  69th Street between Park and Third are especially lovely residential blocks.   So, of course, residents have banded together, retained counsel and will be pressing the MTA to devise a more enlightened approach.

Item #2 concerned the DOT – for reasons they seem unwilling to reveal – mysteriously changing signs regulating the time M86 and M31 buses can layover on East 92nd from round the clock to…  Well, we think we recall it being from 7am to 7pm.   MTA has since negotiated a compromise allowing layovers from 7am to midnight.  But questions remain:  Why was the change in signs made?  Who at DOT made it?  And how come DOT won’t tell anyone why?  Kind of haughty, yes?  

#3:  Bike share.  Coming soon to the Community Board 8’s internet site (we’ll let you know when) will be a map noting a myriad of potential UES sites where bike share kiosks could be located…  Sites on which the CB8 Transportation Committee will be seeking your feedback.  Already out there is a request for stations positioned nearer to John Jay Park and the Esplanade. 

Meanwhile, for an update on the proposed 91st Street garbage transfer station, the recent court decision (not great for the UES but far from the end) and what you can do defeat this exercise in environmental injustice, do check out the Residents for Sane Trash Solutions site. 

On the far brighter side, some fine new environmental regulations have just gone into effect…  including several benefitting schools!  

Enough!

On to week –  and major recycling weekend – ahead:

Saturday, January 7th:   82nd Street Greenmarket

82nd Street, between First and York, 9am – 3pm

With the full compliment of our vendors present…  They being Bread Alone, Raghoo, Gajeski, Samascott,  Rising Sun Beef and Rabbits’ Run Farms, Silver Thread Vineyard, Ballard’s Honey and American Seafood!

PLUS

The Greenmarket Winter Challenge 2012
Sure, you’re at the market every week, love the food and how great you feel eating it…  Well, now you can go home with Greenmarket swag, too!

Just sign up at Market Manager Caroline’s table this or next Saturday.  Then, beginning Saturday, January 21st, check in with Caroline every Saturday you shop over the next 12 weeks.

Folks who shop 3 Saturdays get a great-looking Greenmarket tote.  Shop 6 Saturdays and collect a beautiful Greenmarket print by artist Claudia Pearson.  Shop all 12 weeks and win a magical mystery grand prize and serious bragging rights!

This Saturday also begins our recycling year and it’ll be starting strong with Reycle-O-Rama:  It’s 2012 Edition.   We’ll have our 2012 debut poundage numbers next week!

Saturday, January 7th:  Recycle-O-Rama – It’s 2012 Edition

82nd Street Greenmarket, between First and York, 10am – 3pm

You know the drill…  Electronics (working/non-working)…  Paper Shredding…  Clothes/Fabrics.  All the stuff we collect every week…  We’re waiting with open arms! 

And thanks to Council Member Jessica Lappin for the generous grant that’s making this event possible!

Electronics accepted:

•    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
•    Video-games and audio visual equipment
•    Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
•    Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)

NO APPLIANCES (like electric toothbrushes, mixers, blenders, etc.)

Paper:

Do remove paper clips and spiral bindings.

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.  (But, yes, paperbacks.)

Clothes:

Including hats, belts, fabrics of all kinds and shoes…  All in any condition.

Saturday, January 7th and Sunday, January 8th:  Mulchfest at Carl Schurz Park

Christmas Tree Drop-Off at 86th Street and East End Avenue, 10am – 2pm

Remove ornaments and lights and get that tree over to Schurz Park.  Claim your biodegradable bag of mulch to pamper the trees on your block and head home glowing with ecological turpitude! 

Sunday, January 8th:  The Wooden Circus Marionette Theater

The Czech Center, Bohemian Hall, 321 East 73rd, 3pm

Puppetry’s enjoyed an amazing renaissance these last 2 decades with the artists of the Wooden Circus dedicating themselves to the classical (and gorgeous) European tradition.  Totally family friendly.  $5 suggested donation.

Monday, January 9th:  CB8 Landmarks Committee Meeting – First Avenue Estate

Marymount Manhattan College, 221 East 71st Street, Regina Peruggi Room, 2nd floor, 6:30pm

Surely you’ve observed the willful damage done to the York Avenue facade of this landmarked complex.   Now, having added long-term scaffolding to the mix and warehousing apartments, owner Stahl Real Estate – determined to replace the eastern third of the Estate with a high rise apartment building – is claiming financial hardship and is asking for de-landmarking.  Do turn out and speak in defense of UES history!  (To read more…)

Down the way:

Friday, January 20th:  Asphalt Orchestra Marches Through the Met

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, 4,6 and 8pm

Be kind of incredible to march behind a finely-honed brass band, commencing at the Met’s Egyptian Wing and the Temple of Dendur and ending up at the Charles Englehard Court!  Free with museum admission.  For more… 

Sunday, January 29th:  Recycle-O-Rama – Pre-Groundhog Day Edition 

Electronics (working/non-working)…  Paper Shredding…  Clothes/Fabrics.    We’ll take ’em!

Electronics accepted:

•    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
•    Video-games and audio visual equipment
•    Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
•    Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)

Remember:  NO APPLIANCES.

Paper:

Please remove paper clips and spiral bindings.

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.  (But we’ll take paperbacks.)

Clothes:

Including hats, belts, fabric of all kinds and shoes…  All in any condition.

Sundays, February 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th:  Basic Beekeeping 

York Prep, 40 West 68th Street, 11am- 2pm

Walk in a novice.  Emerge ready to set up and tend to your very own hive!  $150.  For more and to enroll.  (There’s a March course, too.)

And do we ever mean miscellany:  

Been considering working in the non-profit sector?  Well then, the New York League of Conservation Voters is looking for a new director of corporate and foundation giving.  For the lowdown…

Yes, there’s now a machine that’ll let you print your own primo quality, beautifully bound book!

Just in time for Super Bowl,  LG Electronics is introducing a new 84-inch 3D TV, boasting over 8 million pixels,  3D depth control and  1,200 apps!  Egad!

Have a previously unknown bit of history tucked away, say, in the back of a closet  or in an old  trunk ?  That’s the question National Geographic’s asking and they’ll remunerate anyone with a sufficiently worthy artifact with $10,000 for the priviledge of displaying it in a year-long exhibition entitled “America’s Treasures”.    For details and how to submit your treasure…

Truly our public library system is a thing of incredible beauty and usefulness… 

Kudos, too, the the great people at Solar One who’re doing yeoman’s work in helping NYC schools to go greener!

Not only did we not know what hawthorn looks like, but who knew it was so beautiful?

And what of animals this week?

We may have done baby sloths before and they were pretty darned cute…  But these little guys?  Doesn’t get any cuter than tiny, swaddled sloths.

2012 = way greener,

UGS