Earth Day 2018 Message - Become a Green Building Ambassador for Jersey City !

Dear Friends and Supporters of Sustainable JC,

​"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." ​Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report

We write today to make two distinct requests of you, each related to a separate event we are hosting.

The first is a seven session Building Operators Certification course, and in this we ask that you help us spread the word to building operators and leasing management personnel.

The second is an event intended to build a deeper awareness of Passive Building techniques.

We ask that you each become Green Building Ambassadors, by promoting the first and attending the second.

a) Building Operators Certification course -  SJC has partnered with National Sustainable Structures Center (NSSC) to bring a Certification program for Building Operators and Management personnel, intended to make facilities more energy-efficient and sustainable.

This hands-on course, with 7 in-depth building systems classes, requires participants to work on real-world projects based on best practices designed to reduce energy and water use, and to benchmark buildings using the US EPA Energy Star Portfolio Manager tool. All this translates into substantial cost savings for you, whether you are building owners, managers, or renters.

Spread the word to your building operators and leasing management companies, encouraging them to enroll and take advantage of this opportunity right here in Jersey City. The course begins on the 1st of May, 2018. Click here to learn more.

b) Passive Buildings -  And, as part of the same initiative focused on Greener Buildings, SJC has partnered with New Jersey Passive House Team (NJPH) to build a deeper awareness of Passive Building practices and to promote learning about how existing buildings can be affordably retrofit, in the New Jersey context.

Participate in this presentation & discussion at JC City Hall on Tuesday evening, the 1st of May, 2018, at 7 pm. Register here for this free event.

Learn more about NJPH team here and about Passive Buildings here, on Passipedia.

"Collectively as Architects and Developers, we have the ability to directly influence the built environment.  As buildings consume nearly half (47%) of the energy produced in the United States (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2012), designing them for energy efficiency, and to overall perform at a higher level, will greatly reduce the strain on our environment. I believe this is our obligation to the world.”  Jorge Mastropietro, RA, AIA, CPHD,Principal,                     j o r g e   m a s t r o p i e t r o   a r c h i t e c t s   a t e l i e r

Sustainable JC is the local Community Green Team for Jersey City.  We do educational advocacy and facilitate demonstration projects that create solutions to various environmental issues that matter to the public, and which impact us all socially and economically. 

If you would like to learn more about us, visit our website SustainableJC.org.

Also, do fill in our SJC Welcome Survey to connect with us, help us learn what initiatives and projects are important to you, and what skill sets you would like to contribute or develop with us.

Sincerely, Sustainable JC Green Team

Greener Buildings in Jersey City - Moss Mural Project Launches !

Greener Buildings in Jersey City - Moss Mural Project Launches Jersey City Developer hosts the first living wall at 54 Bright Street

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (April 18, 2017):  Local community organization Sustainable Jersey City (SJC), a collaborative network of green civic minded orgs and individuals, teamed up with Developer JMA Architects  Atelier,  owner Jorge Mastropietro, to provide this Moss Mural installation for his newest building in Jersey City, at 54 Bright Street.   The building will offer condo units for sale in late spring, and the building also features a green roof, one of the signature elements of JMA buildings.

“We need more Green Infrastructure in Jersey City and this is a fun way to merchandise that conversation.  The Moss Mural brings quality of life benefits to the community and was another opportunity to integrate our +ART initiative into the environmental projects we do – working with Amanda Levie and Joe Velez was awesome,” says SJC Founder Debra Italiano. “Goals of the project include encouraging more building owners to commission Moss Murals for their buildings, and also, to show how artist collaborations can be part of sustainability solutions for Jersey City.  We are open for business and would like to do many more of these. “

Green Infrastructure (GI) is sometimes a challenge in Jersey City, especially if it involves excavation.  By definition, GI includes rain gardens and bioswales, trees and smarter tree pits, green roofs and green walls.  GI is considered a strategic intervention for managing storm water for municipalities.  Working above ground to divert storm water from sewer systems, GI reduces the costs associated with expanding expensive underground solutions, which is good for tax payers!

In addition to helping to manage flood events, GI solutions cool buildings and offer habitat for wildlife.  GI is considered one of the best practices cities can implement to combat negative climate change impacts. As Jersey City runs out of open space and street excavation challenges (think utility and sewer lines) constrain the City’s ability to install more GI at street level, roof tops and walls present themselves as the next frontier for greening the City.

Jorge Mastropietro is an Argentinian born Architect / Developer, and his architectural designs reflect high standards for energy efficiency, onsite storm water management and a variety of green living features, including green roofs.  “I love this project as it is both aesthetically beautiful and it provides ecological benefits, which I am committed to in my work as a designer, and as a resident of Jersey City.

“This project has been a long time coming,” says Amanda Levie, who was eager to implement the concept.  “I had the idea 4 years ago to create something artistic that enriches our lives by offering some environmental benefit.  This is my dream in the making - creating a sustainable artistic movement and introducing this new living medium.  Working with SJC to do this project was a great opportunity to get this going in Jersey City.”

Joe Velez, the design artist for the project, shares his inspiration - "Over the course of my career, I've received many portrait and mural commissions. This moss mural was by far the most uniquely challenging project I've taken on. Learning how to work with this new medium made me feel more in tune with the ancients, who had only what was available in nature to produce their works."

We installed this in November and here are some Spring pics + photos of the process -

• MM Photos 1 - Work In Progress
• MM Photos 2 - Project Complete

Middle School Students join Tree Speech

Seven students at Middle School #7 in the Heights have joined Tree Speech. Let's give them a warm welcome! They are:

@SunshineTheTree  (downtown)

@unbinillium  (heights)

@TreenustheTree

@TreeTimmy 

@giganticthetree 

@BlossomTheTree 

Cheers & stay warm! Anne

This Saturday: Hack into Sustainability!

Join Sustainable JC this Saturday at the Hackathon JC: Hack into Sustainability event presented by the Jersey City Office of Innovation!  The event will take place at the &Co co-working space in downtown Jersey City. The HackJC Sustainability hackathon is a day-long community tech event with local civic hackers, government staff, developers, designers, urbanists, community organizers and others passionate about making Jersey City better. The goal of this collaborative brainstorming event is to use publicly-released data with technology, to design projects, apps, products and processes to improve Jersey City.

SJC is super excited about this and hope you are too :-)

The Agenda includes Panels, Tech Demos and Speakers throughout the day !  Newly released data, maps, research articles and other resources will be made available - see agenda and resource list here.

Consider coming with a team or joining one at the event !  Teams will be challenged to make a proposal to the City at the end of the day and Awards will be presented for the best ideas ~

Here are some of the Challenge Statements that will drive the day :

• What are some ways that we can align priorities, encourage partnerships and modify behaviors to promote water stewardship?
• How could Jersey City use water data to promote sustainability?
• How can we use crowd sourcing mapping tools to identify flood zones and promote green infrastructure?
• What reporting or visualizations could be added to OpenTreeMap to assist administrators and members of the public in managing and advocating for trees?

**Sustainable JC will be hosting the OpenTreeMap booth with special guest NYC Open Sewer Atlas Team.  Come over to meet us and if you haven't done so already, please sign up for the Jersey City OpenTreeMap before you arrive :-)

This event is completely free and open to the public! There will be prizes, food and music to keep participants going all day!  Please Register here.

Andcowork (&Co) is located at 201 Montgomery Street, 2nd Floor, Jersey City, NJ and is a 5 minute walk from the Grove Street PATH Station. On-street parking is available.

Ruralie.com shoutout to Anne Percoco, Tree Speech, and Open Tree Map!

“Her recent project, #TreeSpeech (of which I’m a participant) plays with the question of perspective directly. For this work, Percoco solicited city residents to tweet on behalf of a neighborhood tree. In adopting the non-human point of view, Percoco is encouraging participants in what she calls a “whimsical experiment in empathy.” There are dozens of tree/human chimeras tweeting around the city, discussing issues of ecology and environment, neighborhood gossip, in addition to raising awareness of the city’s tree canopy.And that canopy includes weed trees like ailanthus altissima.

According to opentreemap.org, a site used to catalog trees (including the participants in TreeSpeech), there are over 2,000 of these trees in Hudson County, NJ. The number may be much higher, as reporting is incomplete. The county is also home to 660,000 human residents.”

by Emily Helck

Ruralie.com

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