This water-filtering pool in NYC will clean the waters of the East River
For many New Yorkers, the idea of swimming in the East River is far from enticing — the body of water has been deemed “unswimmable” since the 1930s due to its high levels of pollution. However, that may soon change thanks to an exciting new project called + POOL, which will clean the river Read More...
Art installation displays the consequences of climate change in NYC
American artist and activist Maya Lin’s newest work, erected in New York City’s Madison Square Park, is a compelling and provocative piece called Ghost Forest. The public installation, comprised of 49 Atlantic cedar trees that have perished due to rising sea levels and saltwater inundation, was Read More...
How ranked-choice voting strengthens our electoral system
The US electoral system is far from perfect, however, ranked-choice voting could be a viable and relatively easy-to-implement method to improve it. Back in 2019, New Yorkers voted to try this ranked-choice system for local primary and special elections, making it the largest voting population Read More...
Empire State Realty Trust now powered entirely by wind energy
New York City’s iconic Empire State Building and its other affiliated buildings are all now powered entirely by wind, making it the country’s largest real estate user of 100 percent green energy. Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) has recently signed a three-year contract with sustainable energy Read More...
Meet the woman who created a safe haven for Black and Trans women in NYC
Ceyenne Doroshow knows first-hand the struggle of being a trans woman of color living on the streets. Feeling unable to express her true self in her home neighborhood of Park Slope in Brooklyn, New York, she set out on her own as soon as she reached adulthood. Unfortunately, with no shelter Read More...
Major win for NYC street vendors as new bill expands number of permits
New York City street vendors have just scored a major victory: The City Council finally passed long-overdue legislation, lifting the restrictive and outdated permit cap that has forced thousands of vendors to operate without a proper license. Called Intro 1116-B, the legislation is the first major Read More...
Two historic New York City bridges to feature designated cycling paths
Since the start of the pandemic last year, an increasing number of cities worldwide have seen an uptick in the number of people embracing cycling as a means of transportation. In New York, for example, cycling has increased by 52 percent over the city’s bridges. To recognize the important role Read More...
New York’s popular park High Line will expand to improve pedestrian access
For more than a decade the High Line project — which transformed a run-down railway track into an elevated park in the lower Manhattan — has been a symbol of creative urban renewal, showing how the city can find refreshing ways to reimagine decaying spaces. Now, the popular park is slated to Read More...
Too Good to Go connects restaurants with customers to prevent food waste
Since it’s virtually impossible to know exactly how much food they will sell on a day-to-day basis, many restaurants and grocery stores are usually left with excess food at the end of the day – most of which ends up getting tossed. Too Good to Go is an app that aims to prevent this by Read More...
20 years on, the world’s biggest trash dump is now a green oasis
In its heyday, the Fresh Kills trash dump on Staten Island was one of the world’s great eyesores. Imagine New York’s Central Park with trash mounds 20 stories high. Now imagine that times three. That’s how bad it was. By the late 1970s, an estimated 28,000 tons of trash arrived at Fresh Read More...