On April 22nd Earth Day was celebrated for the 49th time, and 88% answered correctly what the day was on the daily Bing Quiz. Although, some may not recall that the first Earth Day was a demonstration to show the government that the people wanted regulations to protect our air, water, and land from the abuses of industry. 22 million Americans participated in the 1970 Earth Day celebrations from coast to coast, which gave the environmental movement momentum.
Earth Day was soon embraced by the globe and has been deemed the largest secular holiday in the world. Here follow three North Brooklyn nods to Earth Day.
“Sustain Table” Ribbon Cutting at Moore Market
Moore Street Market scheduled their salute to Earth Day a day early. A ribbon cutting for Sustain Table, an organic eatery, launched the day’s festivities, which included music performances and dancing. Council Member Antonio Reynoso was there to snip the ribbon along with Ricardo Lopez (Sustain Table) who partners with Jay Solly (founder of Brooklyn Quality Eats).
Sustain Table launched its first day with two sandwich offerings: the Bushwick (Brooklyn fusion) and the Bensonhurst (Italian style). Solly said the idea for a local Brooklyn brick and mortar entity came about through the connections he made as part of the culinary incubator in the old Pfizer building. The Moore Street Market’s proximity to the incubator sounded like opportunity knocking.
Solly is excited to be part of this historic market and mentioned that in the next few months there will be other new vendors. He proudly sported a Guayabera shirt made by Jerez Tailor Shop, one of the veteran merchants at the Moore Street Market.
The Moore Street Market is located at: 110 Moore Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206 For more information: https://www.nycedc.com/project/moore-street-market
Earth Has Pals at Cooper Park!
On Earth Day The Friends of Cooper Park offered coffee and cold beverages for those who wanted to do something earth-friendly for the park. Siddharth Dugar was manning the Friends of Cooper Park table and encouraged people to join the Friends to help the park be all it can be. He mentioned that morning they were informed the NYC Parks Dept. approved two things the Friends had been advocating for: funding for a new bathroom and a notice board to inform the neighborhood of any events happening at the park.
OUTRAGE was also there to get interested parties to join them in advocating for cleaner air by lessening North Brooklyn’s burden of truck traffic from waste transfer stations and to held document illegal truck traffic. If you know of illegal truck traffic and wish to help document it contact: outrage@stnicksalliance.org
Meanwhile a family of Earth Day helpers came back to return the garden gloves they borrowed from the Friends of Cooper Park. “We picked up a lot of garbage!” said Aidan (est. 4-years old) with a joyful pride.
22 National Grid volunteers supported Friends of Cooper Park by helping to clean up Cooper Park’s garden. There was a lot of raking and bagging up leaves to be done. Over 500 National Grid employees across three states participated in Earth Day environmental restoration activities.
“It’s an opportunity for us all to celebrate taking care of our environment and, as a local energy company, reflect on the importance of delivering clean, affordable energy to benefit generations to come,” said Dean Seavers, President, National Grid US.
Sacred Arts Research Foundation Earth Day Mural Project
On Earth Day, April 22nd, and April 23rd Sacred Arts Research Foundation (SARF) partnered with Artolution, The Golden Drum, M.A.I.S.C, and the YMCA of North Brooklyn in the creation of a collaborative mural. They invited the community to help with the painting at the North Brooklyn YMCA Eastern District Center (125 Humboldt Street at the corner of Boerum St.) The theme of the mural is a global celebration of indigenous and native peoples and cultures.
“We began yesterday, in honor of Earth Day, with around 100 people coming through and have had at least another 200 participants [April 23rd] including many young school children,” said Amanda Capobianco, secretary for SARF.
The earth was smiling down those three days and gave New Yorkers a trio of the first best days of the year weather-wise. Now if only we humans could manage to be more than fair-weather friends, we’ll help the Earth to smile more often.
The Greenline 