A selection of participants in this year’s GoGreen BK! Festival
The DNA of the average festival has more in common with a party than a market. By this, I mean that festivals are social affairs first and foremost; places where communities of interest gather to expand their networks face-to-face, and meet others engaged in similar pastimes. After all, whatever the definition, communites only grow when folks decide to identify with and join them in flesh-and-bone arena of real life. All these folks below have decided to identify and join the unique green community that calls Brooklyn home, and will be on hand Saturday, June 2.
NEW YORK SUN WORKS
New York Sun Works is a non-profit organization that helps local schools expand their educatonal programming by installing greenhouses, hydroponic systems, and other green infrastructure. Recent projects include Hydroponic labs at PS 34 in Greenpoint and PS 122 in Astoria, where students will learn about agriculture, biology, technology and sustainability.
In addition to their work bringing agricultural infrastructure into schools, NY SUN WORKS also organizes student-centered sustainability conferences for 7 years running. Pairing student speakers with experts from the field, these conferences offer a way for students to apply their knowledge, and embrace issues of sustainability within the context of a broader, real-life community.
Representing New York Sun Works at this year’s Go Green festival will be their Director of Community Engagement Jennifer Prescott.
What motivated you to work in the green sector?
I’m from Oregon – so I grew up pretty environmentally aware. I was Home Market Editor for the magazine Real Simple, and transitioned to the Green Market coverage exclusively due to my crippling concern about consumption & waste. I then became Sustainability Coordinator for my daughter’s lower school, and was on the pilot team implementing the organic waste pick up from 8 Upper West Side school cafeterias – initiating what has rolled out to be NYC DOS Organic waste collection from all schools. All this work is a continual source of inspiration.
What is one environmental issue / practice / problem that keeps you up at night?
Food Waste
What is one environmental issue / practice that gets you up and out the door (i.e. excited ) in the morning?Environmental Science Education
What do you hope to get out of your day at GoGreen?
Inspiration from all the organizations attending and the confluence of positive Green energy.
PARK CHURCH CO-OP
The Park Church Co-op continues a rich 100-year tradition of ministry in Greenpoint, with an emphasis on inclusivity. Since taking the reins of the storied McGolrick park church in 2013, Pastor Kinsley has used her unique position as a resource of space and community in a raptidly changine Greenpoint to embrace a diverse cross section of the community.
Through partnerships with the Brooklyn Children’s Theater, Breaking Ground, and the Department of Homeless Services, Down to Earth Farmers Markets, and the fabulous No Lights, No Lycra dance parties, the Park Church Co-Op has taken an eclectic and most welcome approach to following Jesus’ command to love one’s neighbors.
Representing the Park Church Co-op at this year’s Go Green festival will be Pastor Amy Kienzle.
What drove you into the arms of the Green sector?
The Park Church Co-op believes in good stewardship of the resources God has given, which means working to preserve our natural resources. The green movement is part of that care-taking and preservation
What is one environmental issue / practice / problem that keeps you up at night?
We are concerned with how the high output of carbon by fossil fuel consumption impacts the climate. Ultimately this has ramifications for the poorest of communities, which we have already seen. As a church we are concerned that all people have access to resources and safe environments in which to live.
What is one environmental issue / practice / problem that gets you up and out the door (i.e. excited ) in the morning?
That we are able to make an impact by choosing alternative energy sources and making choices about how we consume resources.
What do you hope to get out of your day at GoGreen?
We hope to connect with a good number of people from the North Brooklyn community to let them know about the things we do at the Park Church Co-op. We also hope to have fun being outside at the park!
COMMITT TO GREEN
That single-use disposable plastic bags are bad news for the planet is not news. Committ to Green is committed to doing something about this epidemic of plastic, both by providing a reasonable alternative in the form of compostable shopping bags, and by raising awareness of the impacts of simple plastic bags on our environment.
Committ to Green also supports several NYC based public composting projects, working with both the city and with other organizations such as the Biocycle Portal to promote common-sense solid-waste reform and mass composting.
Representing Committ to Green at this year’s GoGreen BK! Festival will be company founder Shien-ru Tsao.
Breifly describe the moment that drove you into the arms of the green sector.
In the summer of 2014, I was walking through Union Square Market and noticed people walking over to a bin and dumping stuff inside. Naturally curious, I walked over to investigate. It turns out, they were discarding food waste. I picked up some literature on the table and as I was leaving, I distinctively remember walking away being vey intrigued by my new discovery
The next weekend I returned to Union Square and continued watching people repeat the same process. I decided I would try organics recycling as well. For one week, I was determined to recycle my watermelon, banana peels, vegetable scraps, coffee grinds and tea bags. I collected everything in a bag and kept it frozen inside my little NYC freezer to avoid odors. At the end of the week, I was surprised to learn I had collected almost 15 pounds of organics on my own! Not only was this being diverted from the landfill, my scraps were being sent to a compost facility to be turned into nutricious soil. The light bulb in my head immediately came on.\
What is one environmental issue / practice / problem that keeps you up at night?
When I hear about the amount of trash that is going into landfills, it’s pretty alarming. My personal pet peeve is excess packaging waste. We live in a society that is based around convenience. Whether it’s fast casual food or fast casual fashion, it’s all geared towards making it convenient for consumer to make more purchases. More consumption = more waste in our landfill
My hope is for consumers (including myself) to be more vocal about these issues. It’s important to have a voice and let companies know, we consumers care about how products are packaged. Whether is’s a foam container from your local restaurant, to a drug store that is still using single use plastic bags, these packaging choices matter.
What is one environmental issue / practice that gets you up and out the door (i.e. excited ) in the morning?
I’m really excited to see the organics recycling initiative take off. More and more businesses/residents are realizing the impact and they want to be part of the environmental solution. It’s inspiring to see new green start-ups making change in this space.
What do you hope to get out of your day at GoGreen?
I enjoy meeting and talking to people who are interested in learning new ways to be more sustainable in their lives. It’s fun talking trash and sharing best practices!
RESCUING LEFTOVER CUISINE
Food waste is a huge problem, with 40% of food going to waste, while 1 in 7 Americans suffers from food insecurity. Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC) helps alleviate this problem by donating wasted food to local homeless shelters, via a network of communities that cooperate to send leftover food from restaurants to shelters and food pantries all around the city.
Now operating in 16 American cities, RLC aims to curtail food waste by using both technology (they have an app) and crowdsourced solutions. The eventual goal is to reduce retail food waste to zero.
Representing Rescuing Leftover Cuisine at this year’s GoGreen BK! Festival will be outreach coordinator Melinda Alfano.
Briefly describe the moment that drove you into the arms of the green sector, or, if such a moment is not pertinent, describe what motivates you to work in the green 
Briefly describe the moment that drove you into the arms of the green sector.BERDA BRAND
Berda is an expression of the best that Brooklyn has to offer, with a bit of Louisiana flavor. Founded by entrepreneur Cedric Dark, who himself hails from New Orleans, Berda is a clothing line and a community of artists working together to learn from one another, and to grow in self-expression.
Berda believes in the power of process to help build community, and hopes to harness diverse voices to create a brand that is true to the values of Brooklyn itself.
Representing Berda Brand at this year’s GoGreen BK! Festival will be company founder Cedric Dark
What motivates you to work in the green sector?
What makes me so excited about Go Green is that it’s not about the money, it’s about the craft of the artist in its purest form, working with things that are earth friendly, or upcycled, to make a difference in people’s lives.
What sustainability issue keeps you up at night?
One thing that keeps me up at is erosion. I come from Southern Louisiana outside of New Orleans, where our land is disappearing by the day, lost to erosion.
What gets you up in the morning?
What gives me drive is simply knowing that I can make a difference each day I wake up, as long as I try my best.
What do you hope to get out of your day at GoGreen?
I would love to get experience on how to run my own festival hopefully in Louisiana