Don’t Throw It Out… Fix It!

I am officially fixated on The Fixers Collective. This is one of the most interesting mission statements I’ve ever read:
The Fixers Collective is a social experiment in improvisational fixing and mending. Our goal is to increase material literacy in our community by fostering an ethic of creative caring toward the objects in our lives. The [...]

The First Carbon-Neutral Net-Zero Energy Building in NYC

Solar One, the little environmental awareness center on the edge of the East River, is about to begin construction on a much bigger facility called Solar 2. The new building will be ten times larger than the current facility, and will let them expand their public programs around energy efficiency, renewable energy, green building, and [...]

Seeding the City: Rooftop Gardens + Community Building

We love this Seeding the City project, which aims to both increase rooftop gardening and build community among environmentalists.
Participants who gather support from their neighbors (and landlords) can receive small (less than four square feet) green roof modules. The first module went to Georgia’s Place (Community Counseling and Mediation) in Crown Heights on October 1. [...]

This Saturday: Photo Scavenger Hunt (with Prizes!)

The Columbia University chapter of Students for Free Culture is sponsoring a photo scavenger hunt this Saturday, October 10, with the goal of adding photo content to Wikipedia and StreetsWiki articles about NYC streets and sites. The event, called “Wikis Take Manhattan,” should please artsy photogs and competitive scavenger hunt-ophiles alike.
To participate, register here and [...]

Get Connected with STACKD

Do you find you’re doing most of your social networking online? Are you missing opportunities to connect with real people face to face? Do you know the people who you ride the elevator with every day?
STACKD.biz is a NYC micro-location-based website that aims to connect people who work in the same building (or nearby buildings) [...]

From Balloon Animals to Homebrewed Kombucha

Do any of the following statements apply to you?

I want to learn how to do magic and make balloon animals.
I want to learn the secrets of home audio production.
I want to learn how to brew my own kombucha.
I have a skill that I’d like to teach to others.

If you’re interested in any of the above, [...]

What’s Different in Park Slope? Metered Parking Fees

Parking seems to be a hot topic on the web these days. See Joanna’s recent post on Park(ing) Day NYC, and this Worldchanging article including a review of Donald Shoup’s book The High Cost of Free Parking which argues that “free parking” for those with cars is actually subsidized by those without, in the form [...]

Talking Trash

Ever wonder where your garbage goes after it leaves your home? If not, you probably should. According to the NYC Green Initiative, whose aims include increasing recycling in NYC, New Yorkers recycle about a third of their garbage, and the rest goes to landfills.
Inspired by the NYC Green Initiative, the MIT SENSEable City Laboratory created [...]

Doctors Who Use the Internet

With the national conversation and confusion about health care in the headlines, it’s refreshing to see a website like Hello Health, which has a remarkably clear way of presenting their simple and innovative health care model. So far, Hello Health is four doctors in Williamsburg who offer reasonable rates on primary care services, offer online [...]

All Day Buffet’s New York 100 Announced

We’re excited to finally see All Day Buffet’s New York 100, a list of some of the most “innovative, rule-breaking, model-changing ideas to come out of the Big Apple.” In the nonprofit category, we love the nods for our friends at Common Ground, along with social media trendsetters Charity Water. We, ahem, echo the sentiment [...]