Abandoned Rail Line Repurposed as Unique High Line Park in NYC

The last standing elevated railway line on Manhattan's Lower West Side is being transformed into an ecological wonder. Rising thirty feet above the historic Meat Packing District New York's 1.45 mile long High Line Park opened to much acclaim this week after a 10 year odyssey from pipe-dream, through New York City's noted bureaucracy, to reality.

The unique park is a testament that old industrial relics need not be destroyed - they can be repurposed. Built in the 1930s to remove heavy freight trains from the streets of Manhattan the High Line had been wasting away and overgrown with weeds since the last freight rolled down the rails in 1980.

Or Was it?

All Aboard the High Line
The Friends of the High Line didn't see weeds growing in unused rail tracks - they saw an urban garden. Formed in 1999 to save the rail line and repurpose it as a public park the Friends of the High Line raised $44 million of the $150+ million of the project. The total cost of the High Line project includes the purchase of the lands by the city, the removal of lead paint from the structure and work on Phase II of the park which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010.

Once utilitarian in purpose, the High Line is now an environmental showpiece that is home to more than 200 species of plants, shrubs and trees. The species and spacing of the flora evoke the overgrown wildlife that first inspired the Friends of the High Line to fight for its protection. The concrete walkway that meanders through the park is meant to recall the railway ties originally there. Benches rise out of the grounds and the original art deco railings have been restored to include LED lighting that illuminate the pathways at night providing for a safe and secure evening stroll.

Park Spurs Growth
The original High Line, was 13 miles long when it opened in 1934. It connected directly to factories and warehouses along the way and in its time was considered somewhat of an oddity as it soared through city blocks as opposed to the norm of rising over city streets. Many of these factories and warehouses are now home to studios and converted to condos. News of the High Line Park spurred redevelopment of the decaying lands with more than 30 projects announced since work on the park began.

"We've thought for a long time that there's a great added value for having parks that goes well beyond what the investment is," said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe at the opening. "This is the proof right here."

The future of the park is secure through the second phase of expansion to 30th Street as it is in the hands of the NYC Parks Department. It is the section between 30th and 34th Street that is cause for immediate concern as those lands are in the hands of a private developer.

The Path Ahead
Robert Hammond, co-founder of Friends of the High Line, cautioned the City Council Zoning Committee earlier this spring that zoning for the remaining High Line land does not mention anything about preserving the High Line. Hammond feels that it is incumbent upon the city to, "initiate the process to acquire the remaining portion of the High Line from CSX as the first step toward preservation of the structure.”

A meeting on the future of these contentious lands is being held this evening in Manhattan.

Regardless of the outcome of tonight's meeting the High Line Park is a testament to New York's industrial heritage ceding the future for the environmental benefit of its citizens. The High Line Park is the result of a tenacious citizenry who can articulate a vision to elected officials and repurpose that which was once abandoned.

Researchers: Damaged Ecosystems Can Recover

All hope is not lost. Try as mankind has to destroy our planet researchers at Yale University posit that, "most ecosystems globally can, given human will, recover from very major perturbations on timescales of decades to half-centuries."

Holly Jones a graduate student, and ecology professor Oswald Schmitz of Yales's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies are the authors of the Rapid Recovery of Damaged Ecosystems. Their findings indicate that only 15 percent of all damaged ecosystems are beyond recovery and that it is not too late to enact changes that can aid in the recovery of the majority of damaged ecosystems.

“The damages to these ecosystems are pretty serious,” said Schmitz. “But the message is that if societies choose to become sustainable, ecosystems will recover. It isn’t hopeless.”

On average forest ecosystems were found to recover in 42 years, ocean bottoms recovered in less than 10 years. Ecosystems affected by: invasive species; mining; oil spills or trawling recovered in as little as five years.

The study also concludes that most ecosystems take longer to recover from man-made occurrences than from natural phenomena such as hurricanes.

Picture This - Recycling Energy Savings

This award winning image is making the rounds again on the Internet. While a picture is indeed worth 1000 words, it is worth putting the picture into the proper context.

In 2007, Eskom, South Africa's state-run electrical power generator was trying to encourage its clients - corporate and residential - to conserve energy. Eskom's conservation efforts hit their mark when advertising agency Ogilvy South Africa was commissioned to bring home the point of energy conservation.

This ad was the result.

Energy conservation soared in South Africa shortly thereafter as the general population embraced the ad as Eskom practicing what they were preaching. Ogilvy's work was recognized by its peers and it picked up the prestigious Grand Prix Loerie in 2007, for Outdoor & Ambient - Outdoor Media.

Two years later and the picture is being "recycled" - mostly without any attribution to Eskom or Ogilvy - to a new audience.

Surfers Unite for World Ocean Day

Today is World Ocean Day and big wave surfers have called for the creation of marine protected areas. Seventy-One Percent of Earth, a short film by Ari Marcopoulos pushes home this point with comments by Grant Twiggy Baker, Frank Solomon and other big wave surfers. You don't have to surf to appreciate the sea and all of us should have a vested interest in the care and preservation of our oceans.

Idaho Hospital Implements Sustainable Foods Program

KETCHUM, ID – At many institutions, reconstituted potatoes, canned soup, and instant tapioca pudding are daily staples, but not at St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center. St. Luke’s Wood River is the first hospital in Idaho, and one of the few nationwide, to implement a sustainable foods program. Sustainable foods are produced by people and with practices that value and care for the earth, workers, food and human health.

Called St. Luke’s Green Cuisine, the hospital recently launched a sustainable foods program that incorporates fresh local ingredients into the cafeteria offerings and patient meals. Through this program, the hospital hopes to change the way people think of hospital food.

First Do No Harm
“We are proud to take this step for our patients, our staff and our community,” reports Bruce Jensen, CEO of St. Luke’s Wood River. Through the Green Cuisine program, the hospital has pledged to provide highly satisfying food that sustains the health of us, our community and the Earth. “Pledging to support procurement of local, nutritious, sustainable produced food demonstrates our commitment to “first, do no harm” as a whole hospital approach to preventive medicine.”

To help establish this groundbreaking program, St. Luke’s hired John Turenne, President of Sustainable Food Systems, thanks to funding provided by the hospital’s Innovation Fund, a fund developed through philanthropic support to help implement new ideas. Turenne was the former head chef at Yale University, who, in collaboration with chef and sustainable agriculture advocate Alice Waters, transformed Yale’s dining program to sustainable foods.

To introduce the hospital’s new sustainable foods program, Turenne will offer a cooking demonstration, “Grilling pizzas a unique and delicious way to eat healthy” 1 p.m. Sunday, June 14 at Carol’s Dollar Mountain Lodge during the Sun Valley Food and Wine Festival. Turenne’s demonstration is the second in the St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation Health and Well being Speaker Series focused on optimal health through nutrition.

Menu Includes Locally Grown Foods
“When a soda a day raises diabetes risk by 80 percent, a high fat meal decreases coronary blood flow, and the average U.S. meal travels 1,500 miles to arrive on our lunch tray, is it such a radical idea to change our hospital food service back to a whole foods and sustainable full cycle system?” asks Dr. Tom Archie of St. Luke’s Family Medicine, “St. Luke’s Wood River has taken the initiative to make a bold and sensible change. I have never been so proud to be part of a hospital’s medical staff.”

Since the program’s launch in May, St. Luke’s Wood River has worked with local businesses such as Hailey Coffee Company, Bigwood Bread, Cloverleaf Dairy and Idaho’s Bounty to integrate local items into its offerings. While still in its infancy, the cafeteria at St. Luke’s has recently implemented their first of two seasonal menus, using fresh, whole fruits and vegetables for recipes based on simplicity, nutritional value, and taste. Inpatient menus will be also be in
sync with the new, healthy menu.

Food Waste Reduced
The hospital has dramatically reduced the use of disposable plates, bowls and plastic ware in the facility. They have worked with College of Southern Idaho to procure a culinary arts training session for their staff, and have sought a minimally processed, healthier food supply with fresh ingredients, void of partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats).

As St. Luke’s Wood River states on their literature, “Do what you can, one food at a time, one meal at a time, one day at a time.” With this new program, the hospital is doing their part.

Two Green Thumbs Up for Food Inc.

This is the movie that Monsanto doesn't want you to see. They even went through the trouble to set up a web page disputing most of the points raised in the film. But before you click that link up above it should be pointed out that the link was inoperable this morning.

Could Monsanto have come to its senses?

Food Inc. is a documentary from director Robert Kenner that paints an unflattering picture about the American food industry and how it is controlled by corporate interests.

How hard-hitting is the film? Variety states that "Food Inc. does for the supermarket what Jaws did to the beach."

The film opens June 12 in select theatres in New York, LA and San Francisco. It expands to more cities nationwide on June 19.

If you can link to that Monsanto page you may want to then click on La Vida Locavore who took the trouble of countering each of Monsanto's objections to Food Inc.

Lights! Camera! Environmental Action!!

"I don't believe in purchasing offsets because I think that is bull!"," says Enci as she prepares to produce her first environmentally responsible film. "Everybody who has money can pretend to be green by paying other people off and that, to me, is bribery. It doesn't do the community or the planet any good."

Despite the title of her short film, At What Price? Enci's story is not about environmental recklessness it is the tale of child abandonment set in her native Hungary circa 1978. Inspired by an event in her childhood that forever changed her life Enci, an actress, decided to write and direct the film herself.

"The idea to do At What Price? sustainably or at least try to make it with as little environmental impact as possible was a natural choice. Then the brainstorming started," says Enci who with her husband, producer Stephen Box, started listing all the benefits that the community and the production crew would get from a sustainable film project. "When I'm on set as an actor, I'm always aware of the waste and the 'bad' elements that a production brings, including making enemies with neighbors and communities. I do believe in partnering with the community and with the neighborhood."

Giving Back to the Community
The local community - in this case East Hollywood - was important to Enci's internal green dialogue. Catering for the film production will be serviced by local restaurants and produce vendors. The crew will be asked to bring in their own coffee mugs while washable utensils and plates will be provided with meals. The location of the shoot in East Hollywood is readily accessible by public transit and the crew is encouraged to avail themselves of L.A.'s public transit system to help minimize parking issues with local citizens and thereby shrink the production's environmental footprint further. Enci is also partnering with a local organization to plant trees in the neighborhood as a testament to her willingness to ensure a green film with a lasting benefit to the community.

Enci's pre-production checklist includes facilitating most decisions online where possible. Casting calls were via electronic submissions and all paperwork relating to the film is done online as At What Price? is a SAG production. This simple procedure mitigates paper waste. Production meetings are held in locations that are convenient to and accessible by all modes of public transport. "Up to this point," says Enci "the 'green' journey has been somewhat conceptual with a bit of drama thrown in as we grapple with shade-grown versus free-trade coffee choices for our production meetings."

With shooting of At What Price? set to commence in July, Enci has looked into sustainable lighting, set design and film options. If necessary, her outfit, Rebel Without a Car Productions, has even looked into the availability of a solar-powered generator.

The Green Machine
"My husband and I are getting a team together that is quite a mix," she says with regards to the crew that will see her film dream come to life. "Some are already 'green', carfree, vegetarian, and some are not even close to being green. We don't just want to preach to the choir, we want to inspire those who are not thinking about their carbon footprint or the future of the planet.

"All these people are very excited about helping and being part of this production. I also hope to inspire the 'non-green' people in our production to be more sustainable, to drive less, to bring their own mugs and to order their drinks in glass or china when they sit down in a coffee shop. I would also like to encourage them to buy locally grown fruits and vegetables or grow some produce themselves."

"Living sustainably has been always close to my heart," states Enci as she explains that her environmental concerns predate this film project. "I came to the U.S. almost 13 years ago and I love it here in America but I always found it shocking how much is wasted. Food, disposables, idling cars, a/c running with doors and windows open, etcetera. Through all my years of living here I have tried to recycle - even when it was difficult because recycling bins were not always readily available. I've always used canvas bags when I shop and I started riding a bike when my husband, not only encouraged me, but also rode along with me everywhere, until I felt comfortable enough to ride on my own," she says before adding proudly, "Now we're both car-free!"

Returning to the subject at hand, while groups and organizations exist to promote environmental films very little has been done to date with regards to producing these films in an environmentally friendly manner. Sustainable, energy-efficient filmmaking is such a novel approach that a code of standards for the film industry was only released this year.

Best Practices is New Territory for Hollywood
The Code of Best Practices in Sustainable Filmmaking also has a list of web resources to help filmmakers adapt best practices in a sustainable fashion. This resource runs the gamut from carbon calculators to companies and organizations that provide gold standard carbon offsets. Opposed to offsets as the folly of the rich Enci's production will employ someone to calculate the film's carbon footprint. "I take note of every meeting and every footprint that we leave behind."

"A lot of people tell me how difficult it is going to be," Enci states with regards to her dual challenges of being not only a first-time director which is a challenge unto itself but to also make that production a sustainable film as well. "To tell you the truth, I think it is a bad excuse to be negligent and say, 'Well, it's my first time, I don't have time to waste on such silly things as 'waste management.'"

Will and Determination
Enci is adamant that she will prove her detractors wrong. "I think it's going to be easier for me than anybody else because I don't have a set way of doing things. I would like to believe that because I'm starting it out right I will have it better and easier."

"I do hope that this endeavor - however successful I will be with it - will set some of the ground rules for future productions. I can't stand plastic cups and bags and forks and styrofoam plates and such," she says alluding to the rampant environmental waste produced on other film sets. "It will really ruin my focus if I'm not free of that on the set. If this film brings publicity to sustainable filmmaking then all the better because people will take notice and hopefully be inspired to be more sustainable in their own lives."

The production of At What Price? is also being followed by a documentary film crew. The subject of that film is Enci's own foray in producing her own sustainable film. Enci muses that, "We’ll get two films out of one shoot. Now that is sustainable!"