Spring Clearning in the City

Did you know the average New Yorker tosses 46 pounds of clothing and textiles in the trash each year? And, all together, New Yorkers discard 193,000 tons of textiles every year -- accounting for 6% of the entire residential waste stream of NYC.

Are you surprised at these figures or shaking your head as I am? As a woman living in the city, I consume much more time and energy to try be in vogue than I would like to admit. I also admit that I truly enjoy the new fashion that brings us a fresh look. But aren't these numbers crazy?

 This weekend, I went through my closet. Like every year, I simply marvel at how I accumulate so many dresses of similar style and the sheer number of shoes that I have. After all, why do we buy all these things?

Over the last few decades, corporate marketers have made great advances in understanding consumers' purchasing behavior. And in our society of ever-increasing consumerism, our motivation to acquire things has become more and more complicated. According to Lee Eisenberg, author of a book called Shoptimism, we can identify a buyer shopping by his or her heart: Lee calls this consumer "the romantic." The romantic may buy something because it is trendy or because it has a really cool design or because he or she is feeling blue and needs a pick-me-up. But the romantic consumer’s behavior has steadily become more and more frugal since 2007. With the recession, we have had to become much more mindful about how to spend our money. Even so, I can still spot our high-consumption behavior on the streets of NYC.

One solution to help stop our reactive behavior of buying things in response to an ad or to get instant gratification is really about seeing what you have, sorting out the unnecessary things and then putting them away. You will find it enlightening to go through this process, and you might even laugh at yourself for keeping the things you do for many years. In my case, I didn't laugh but became rather sentimental in trying to get rid of the Italian suits that I purchased in Rome decades ago. But I literally felt that pounds of heaviness were lifted up after I donated them. Another positive result is that I thought two and even three times before I bought things this weekend.   

 So, here’s to spring cleaning for a clear mind! 

 I would love to hear your spring cleaning story. Please share with us!

More information about where and when to recycle your textiles in NYC:

 

http://www.grownyc.org/clothing/recyclinglocations

Green Social Justice: Donald Rakow Talks about Gardens in Our Communities

Happy St. Patrick's Day, readers! This morning as I was strolling down to Union Square, my neighborhood in NYC, for food shopping at a green market, I saw many people wearing green for the occasion. Here at Ampleen, we are also all about celebrating green -- imagine one day people wearing green to celebrate Earth Day with the same enthusiasm!

This week, I went to a great talk called "Why We Need Green Space? The Importance of Gardens & Parks in Our Communities" at 92Y, a nonprofit community and cultural center here in New York, that was led by Dr. Donald Rakow, Director of the Elizabeth Newman Wilds of Cornell Plantations at Cornell University.

I learned a great deal about parks and gardens. Did you know a public garden should have a mission statement? Did you know that there are four different types of gardens? Among many interesting topics,  the topic of gardens and social justice was one I was really intrigued with. The main demographics of garden supporters can be defined as white upper and upper-middle class. But there is a gap in needs between the community near these public gardens and the supporters of the gardens. When we regularly experience beautiful parks and gardens, we know that these places can bring many positive benefits to neighborhoods and individuals, such as a scenic and tranquil environment to help people relax. Ironically, though, the communities most in need of such places are often the communities with the fewest resources to advocate, create and maintain them. 

Speaking for myself, I wonder why I don’t ever spend any time in the Bronx when I visit the New York Botanical Gardens. The reason is I simply feel unsafe walking around the streets once I step out of the Botanical Gardens. But why is there this gap and how can we fix it?

According to Dr. Rakow, the role of the public garden is changing in response to the pressing needs of local residents. We can fix this gap by introducing more community programs and encouraging residents in the community to get more involved in public gardens. And the good news is that there are already many success stories about transforming the community by promoting beatification around the community, such as the Greenest Block in Brooklyn Contest or Let's Move Museum & Gardens promoted by first lady Michelle Obama.

By bringing more green to our communities, we can create a safer and more stable living environment for all of us!

A children's program at the New York Botanical Gardens

Parklets and the City

Have you ever heard the term "parklets"? Parklets are small urban pocket parks, and they have transformed parking lots into public places in cities such as San Francisco, Vancouver and Philadelphia. They’re designed to provide outdoor space for residents and visitors to sit, relax and enjoy the city around them.

The city of San Francisco now has 31 parklets and counting, with 39 more in various stages of review. There has been a large demand for parklets in San Francisco, as evident by the amount of applications that have been submitted to the city planning department’s Pavement to Parks Pavement program.

For better air and less stress in our lives, we need more of these kinds of green spaces in our urban areas -- particularly in low-income communities. Parks, however, are expensive to plan, develop and maintain. Parklets offer an alternative solution that take advantage of smaller scale and lower cost as they are quicker to implement and easier to maintain. Parklets are just beginning to appear here in NYC, but for a city this size, we need a lot of them.

Do you agree with the value of parklets? Are there any in your city?

<More Info About San Francisco's parkles>
http://sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org/

Introduction to Ampleen

Welcome to Ampleen! I would like to introduce Ampleen -- a blog and forum for the green-conscious people of the world.  Ampleen – a name formed from the combination of “ample” and “green” – has a mission to promote today’s Urban Green Movement and spark a conversation among people who live and breathe in cities, and who share a dream of creating a greener living environment.  

I invite everyone to join in the conversation as Ampleen explores the latest trends, issues, people and events of Urban Green living. I’m looking forward to starting a journey of sharing my thoughts, hearing your comments and fostering new conversations to help make our lives greener. Let’s begin!

<Ampleen's Team>

Founder: Shoko Sekiguchi (NY, NY)

Chief Editor: Joseph Priest (Tampa, FL)