Public Transportation

Public transportation is part of sustainable Brooklyn!

You’re helping the Earth every time you use your MetroCard.  Public transit uses only half the fuel a car uses per mile. For every bus, 30 to 40 fewer cars are on the road.  A packed train car carries as many people as about 100 cars!

Thanks to the MTA and New Yorkers use of public transportation, our city is one of the greenest in the world. You can use buses and subways to take you all over New York City without using a car.

Public transportation is an example of Travel Green.

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Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant

Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is part of sustainable Brooklyn!

Methane is a gas found in rotting food and farts! It sounds (and smells) gross, but methane can also be used for fuel to create energy. This treatment plant collects methane and turns it into fuel. It is also the only wastewater treatment plant in the city open to the public. Learn more at the Visitor Center or check out the nature walk on site.

Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is located at the corner of Greenpoint Avenue and Humboldt Street. Take the G toGreenpoint Avenue.

Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is an example of Watch Waste.

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Marine Park

Marine Park is part of sustainable Brooklyn!

Marine Park is the biggest park in Brooklyn. It’s full of natural grasslands and salt marshes, which enable animals and plants to thrive, right here in Brooklyn. You can visit the Salt Marsh Nature Center, learn from an Urban Park Ranger, play in a playground or ball field, find a horseshoe crab, walk a nature trail and so much more.

Marine Park is a Forever Wild site. For more information about the park, consult the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.

The entrance to Marine Park is located at East 33rd Street and Avenue U. You can take the B3 Bus, which will let you off right at the entrance.

By the way, Marine Park is not the only nature center in the city. You can find listings for other nature centers here.

Marine Park is an example of Grow Green.

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East New York Farms

East New York Farms is part of sustainable Brooklyn!

Local farms are good for the environment and for us. Shipping food locally uses less energy.

Like many local farms, East New York Farms uses Earth-friendly growing practices. They avoid using chemicals, which keeps both the earth and your food clean, healthy and yummy.

East New York Farms is located on Schenck Avenue between New Lots Avenue and Livonia Avenue. You can take the 3 to Van Siclen Avenue. For more information about public activities there, checkout their website.

East New York Farms is an example of Use Less.

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Coney Island – Stillwell Avenue

The roof of the Coney Island – Stillwell Avenue terminal is part of sustainable Brooklyn!

Next time you visit the beach, notice the solar panels on the roof of the Stillwell Avenue subway stop in Coney Island. These use the sun’s energy so the Transit Authority doesn’t have to buy as much power. It’s a creative way to use the roof space.

As your D, F, N, or Q train pulls into the station, you can see the solar panels with your own eyes. For more information, check out the MTA’s website with more information about green buildings, including Coney Island and solar panels on top of Roosevelt Avenue-74th Street Station in Queens.

This terminal roof is an example of Re-Invent Your City.

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Brooklyn Bridge Park

Brooklyn Bridge Park is part of sustainable Brooklyn!

One of the most beautiful parks in the city used to be shipping piers. Check out free movies in the summer, playgrounds and new habitats for local animals. Plus, Brooklyn Bridge Park catches storm water, cleans it and uses it to water plants when the weather is dry.

You can take the the 2/3 to Clark Street, the A/C to High Street, or the F to York Street. For more about the park and it’s offerings for children, check out their website, as well as a whole page of sustainability information.

Brooklyn Bridge Park is an example of Re-Invent Your City.

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Bike Paths

Bike paths are part of sustainable Brooklyn!

Bikes can get you far and keep you healthy. They use muscle power instead of the fuel that powers cars. When going for a long ride for fun, use one of these scenic bike paths. You’ll be far from the cars and much safer than on the street!

The website NYC Bike Map has an online guide to all the bike paths in New York City. However, not all of them are kid-friendly. The bike paths we have marked in yellow are “greenways,” paths that are very clearly divided from the street for extra child-protection.

Bike paths are an example of Travel Green.

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My Green Guide to Brooklyn

Have you been to Brooklyn Children’s Museum lately? The next time you’re here, grab a copy of our family guide, My Green Guide to Brooklyn.

The guide was designed by our friends at Tangerine Cafe. The idea was simple – just as Brooklyn Children’s Museum is a sustainable, kid-friendly destination, we wanted to highlight other sustainable, kid-friendly locations across our borough. This guide is part of our Green Threads initiative.

Based on a concept of green community explored by the National Building Museum, the guide explains five categories of green communities, includes a neighborhood I Spy activity, a community planning activity, and a map of the borough.

Unfortunately, the map is too detailed for us to post the full guide online, so we are going to, instead, use the next few weeks here on Teach Green in Brooklyn to share the map locations with you. And don’t forget to stop by the Museum and grab your own print copy!

And, as a preview, here’s a tiny image of what the whole map looks like. Come to the Museum to pick up a complete, two-sided copy!

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My Green Community

It’s here! Brooklyn Children’s Museum would like to present our new sustainability guide for educators, My Green Community.

The premise is simple: unfortunately, while nature is in the elementary science curriculum, other sustainability topics (energy, water conservation, food, waste management) are not. So, we tied study of community to study of environmentalism, linking social studies and science to create opportunities to introduce these key topics and to create interdisciplinary units of study.

The guide is divided into three sections: nature, sustainability, and a culminating project. The nature section deals with plants, birds, and insects. Sustainability covers energy, food, water, and waste. Finally, the culminating project is a mapping activity in which students examine their neighborhood for evidence of sustainability to decide in what ways their community is and is not green. Activities were designed for grades PK-2 but many will be applicable through middle school and even high school in some cases.

The full guide is available for download. In addition, you can attend a free professional development session as a supplement to the guide here at Brooklyn Children’s Museum on either October 20th or October 22nd. And, finally, this blog exists to supplement the guide. So if you love the Focus on Birds section in the guide, for example, click on the birds tag on the right of this page for more birds activities.

Please share this wonderful resource with your colleagues. If you have any feedback or would like to share how you are using My Green Community, contact us: gogreen@brooklynkids.org.

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Free Teacher Workshops

Who doesn’t love free professional development? Join the Brooklyn Children’s Museum this fall for a training session all about green communities. You will learn the five elements of a green community, learn and practice hands-on sustainability activities, and receive a copy of the My Green Community teacher’s guide, as well as teaching resources from other sustainability focused organizations based in New York City. The workshop is designed for teachers with grades pk-6, but will have activities that can easily be adapted to all grades.

The training will be held twice:

Thursday, October 20th from 4pm to 7pm

Saturday, October 22nd from 10am to 1pm

To RSVP, email gogreen@brooklynkids.org or call 718-735-4400 x328.

We look forward to seeing you there. Keep your eyes posted on this blog for future links to free professional development at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and around New  York City.

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