At this year's CitySol event, which took place over the weekend, Baltimore resident Dan Deacon (pictured) was set to perform after making a last-minute announcement following another New York show last week. BrooklynVegan notes that Deacon was a no-show, however, "thanks to some airline screwup that sent his equipment to Cincinnati." See, in order to play the solar-powered show, Deacon had to first unleash no small amount of greenhouse gas. After playing McCarren Pool last......

At a rally in Michigan, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama picked up an endorsement from Al Gore, the former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate. Gore said, "Looking back over the last eight years, I can tell you that we have already learned one important fact since the year 2000. Take it from me, elections matter. If you think the next appointments to the Supreme Court are important, you know that elections matter.” Gore......

A week ago, Alain Robert scaled the New York Times Building to make a statement about the lack of government action on environmental issues (here's his website). Naturally, a stunt like that got Robert arrested, but a grand jury has dismissed the misdemeanor charges of trespassing, graffiti, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct. According to Robert's lawyer Daniel N. Arshack, who said jurors listened to Robert's explanation of how the climb was safe, two other charges......

The city has a new message to spread: "Take the Stairs!" As part of an effort to get people to "Burn Calories, Not Electricity" the city's health officials are putting the posters up everywhere, hoping to get you to think twice before hopping on the elevator. The efforts will benefit both the environment, by reducing energy consumption, and your health, by burning calories -- but will a simple sign work? Officials stated that studies show......

With all the alarming facts about catastrophic climate change at our fingertips, most of us know by now that every day needs to be Earth Day. And one of the easiest ways to start minimizing environmental impact is by considering what goes into our own mouths. Here in New York, Broadway East, a new “plant-based” (but not strictly vegetarian) restaurant, has made sustainability a top priority. Tables in the elegantly designed eatery are made from......

First Lady Laura Bush was in Battery Park yesterday to help the National Park Foundation launch First Bloom, a program to encourage children in urban centers to learn about the environment and what they can do for their parks and neighborhoods. First Lady planted some flowers and other plants with members of the Boys Club of New York and the Lower East Side Girls Club. She said, "When people think of New York City,......

The MTA will observe Earth Day (April 22nd) by stocking MetroCard vending machines with five million limited-edition green MetroCards. The cards aren’t “green” in the eco-friendly sense – they’re still not made from recycled material – they’re just, you know, green colored. So they’ve got that going for them. Oh, and some environmental factoids will be printed on the back. Governor David Paterson joined MTA officials at Grand Central Terminal yesterday morning for a......

Art by John Blackford and James Fisher, photo courtesy John Barnes. The decision to create artificial reefs off Delaware's coast using discarded “Redbird” subway cars from New York City has proven so successful that marine officials are struggling to cope with overcrowding. Since the state first began dropping the cars to the ocean floor, the formerly barren area has become an underwater metropolis for countless tuna, mackerel, flounder and bass. And with that comes......

Thick black smoke hovering above Washington Heights is apparently a common occurrence, but it is legal? The Gay Recluse has some photos of the area and says it's the result of "improperly maintained or outdated boiler systems," with one building in particular being a main culprit (671 West 162nd Street). Has anyone seen something similar, or worse? This certainly can't be helping with the rising asthma problem.......

A Manhattan-based big thinker has innovative ideas about the future of plug-in hybrid electric cars. In a Duane Street office marked by Back-to-the- Futuresque logo- emblazoned pillars, Malcolm Bricklin, entrepreneur and car man, had four model cars displayed on a massive table (surrounded by giant chairs whose backs are famous New York skyscrapers, including the World Trade Center at the head): two small models of the Bricklin SV-1, a sports car with gull-wing doors --......

Explaining why global warming needs to be stopped in an urgent way, Mayor Bloomberg said, "Terrorists kill people. Weapons of mass destruction have the potential to kill an enormous amount of people. [But] global warming in the long term has the potential to kill everybody...This really is just as lethal. It's just the results are something we will face long term." The Mayor was addressing reporters after speaking at the United Nation's conference on climate......

Exactly what every other driver wants: A truck carrying asbestos to overturn, spill its contents, and its driver running away from the scene. That's what happened yesterday afternoon with an asbestos truck on the Clearview Expressway hit a divided and flipped over. The truck was not a closed truck - it was an 18-wheeler covered with a tarp. Naturally, traffic was delayed for hours (12) as the Department of Environment Protection's cleanup crews worked to......

Not only will Governors Island be getting a makeover, it will also get the city's first bike sharing program. amNew York reported that Dutch firm West 8, hired to handle the Governors Island makeover, "will also build 3,000 wooden bicycles for free use by visitors to the island." The island is expected by be renovated by 2012, and the hope is that the bike sharing test will inspire the city to expand the program.......

Perhaps it's the high cost of fuel or the difficulty to find parking, but the arrival of the Smart car has some New Yorkers very excited. The compact car first made its debut in New York at the MoMA, but should be in showrooms in late January. Mercedes Benz parent company Daimler says that over 30,000 people have paid the $99 to reserve one of the $15,000 cars and The Post says many of......

In 1993 Matthew Kenney debuted his first restaurant, Matthew’s, to enviable acclaim; before he knew it Food and Wine Magazine had declared him one of the ten best new chefs in America. A flurry of activity followed, as Kenney involved himself with a series of popular restaurants throughout Manhattan that emphasized regional Mediterranean cooking. In 2004 he switched gears, opening Pure Food and Wine, an organic raw food restaurant on Irving Place that continues to......

Yesterday the NY Post warned non-recyclers that they'd have to don a "scarlet litter" if they didn't clean up their acts. We hoped this "scarlet litter" would be a hat hand-crafted by a Freegan and worn atop the heads of the environmentally-challenged, but instead it's something much more sensible: a clear bag for all of your garbage that leaves little to the imagination. New York, we don't really want to see your trash, so please......

There's something to be said for pausing in the fast-paced environment of New York to truly capture the essence of our city. On the other hand, speeding things up can really give one some perspective on the dynamics of New York. Below is a time-lapse video taken between September 1, 2006 and August 31, 2007. It's of Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan looking east to west, and the video features 4,385 individual photographs taken from......

The Taxi and Limousine Commission has made it official: Cabs purchased after October 1, 2008 must get at least 25 miles per gallon. Then, after fall of 2009, newly purchased cabs must get at least 30 miles per gallon. As the AP puts it, this means "taxi fleet owners, who must replace their cabs every three to five years, will probably be forced to buy fuel-efficient hybrids, which run partly on electricity." The Taxicab Board......

We've admired the Wee Ninja from Shawnimals ever since we were looking for a visual to go with posts about the Staten Island Ninja Burglar. Wee Ninja is actually not a criminal in Shawn Smith's Ninjatown - Wee Ninjas only train, harvest Stealth Wheart, and fight the Wee Devils (or something along those lines). And now it turns out that there's an event at My Plastic Heart on Forsyth Street this Friday, Keep it......

Moving can take a real toll on the environment. Think of all the cardboard boxes, the truck(s), the frequent opening of doors to climate-controlled rooms and the products and solutions you use to clean the whole place down for the next tenants because you're an awesome person bucking for canonization. Step one on reducing your impact -- the easiest step -- is recycling. And it's not too hard to find earth-friendly cleaning products. But......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unusual elevator rescue on Washington Ave. in Brooklyn, a pipe explosion on Richmond Terrace on Staten Island, and a person fatally struck by an A train at Van Siclen and Pitken Ave. in Brooklyn. NYC already has 91,000 practicing attorneys, but we can expect a lot more. Nearly 11,000 freshly minted JDs sat for the bar this summer and more than 70% of them passed. A 63-year-old man......

Last year we "oohed" and "ahhed" at Prospect Park in Lights, and as of last night -- the seasonal luminescence is back. And this year, even the pink lights are "green":Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg tonight flipped the switch on a holiday lighting installation at Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Park. LEDs, energy-efficient and long-lasting lights that are environmentally friendly, are being used to illuminate the Bailey Fountain and a tree underneath the Sailors and......

On the front page of the NY Times section A, there was a photograph of some workers in Haoro, India and an article titled "New York Manhole Covers, Forged Barefoot in India." And in fact, the workers are barefoot, bare-chested, bare-handed, and bare-headed as they work in an iron foundry, making manhole covers for Con Ed and other cities. The Times explains that a photographer, J. Adam Huggins, who works with the newspaper brought......

Irene Boland, the co-author of Wind the World Over, works in the sustainability office of the EPA. Her office covers Region 2 (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) helps people pursue green living through their built environment. You can find out more about her office at the EPA on their website. Irene resides in Brooklyn, "under the BQE." How did you and your co-author, Vanessa Kellogg come up with the......

A day after the NY Post served up a Thanksgiving day front page cover of Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas as a turkey, the embattled Thomas proclaimed he would stay in his job, saying, "I don't foresee there being any changes this year." Which the Post calls "LOAD OF BULL?" But really, if there's one thing that the Post and Daily News must have been thankful for, it's having such a spectacularly poorly managed......

In Ryan Seacrest is Famous, his debut collection of pop-culture enthused short stories, Dave Housley makes you think, makes you laugh, and, if you're a writer, inspires you to run to your computer and get started on that premise you've been putting off. Whether it comes in the form of an alcoholic clown, people obsessed with Fight Club, or a DJ hiring a prostitute in an attempt to win back his old flame, Housley's stories......

One less headache for Knicks coach and General Manager Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden: The Reverend Al Sharpton has called off his boycott and protest of Knicks games. Now, if only the Knicks can convince their fan base all is not lost! Last month, a jury believed former Knicks marketing VP Anucha Browne-Sanders' allegations that Thomas and Madison Square created hostile work environment and awarded her $11.6 million. Thomas said, during an 11-minute......

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was in Seattle yesterday to give a keynote at the United States Conference of Mayors. The Mayor, aka Mr. "I'm not running for president in 2008" Bloomberg, discussed NYC's efforts to be more sustainable and how governments need to invest and innovate to encourage energy efficiency. And one of the innovations would be to introduce pollution pricing. He said: we have to stop ignoring the laws of economics. As long as......

As the city and state start to get to work on West Side redevelopment, the Mayor said that one entity won't be getting tax breaks if it moves. Mayor Bloomberg was asked if Madison Square Garden would continue to get $10.9 million in tax breaks if it moves West to the Farley Post Office building (that's what a map in the draft Environmental Impact Statement notes). Bloomberg decisively said, "Not if I'm mayor they won't.......

If you've been hungering for a totally insane office lawsuit ever since the Knicks lawsuit case ended, prepare to be sated: A former senior VP-group creative director of ad agency Dentsu is suing his former employer for a hostile work environment that included demands he go to a brothel and a "crotch shot" photographs of women including tennis star Maria Sharapova. Steve Biegel filed a lawsuit in Manhattan's U.S. District Court claiming that he and......