Brownstoner has been doing a running series on the green indoor and outdoor spaces featured in the book Brooklyn Modern, an envy-oriented coffee-table book profiling the living spaces of people with much cooler apartments than you or I. People, that is, who actually have really nice coffee tables on which to put fancy books like Brooklyn Modern. Or, in the case of the people in the book, really excellently tasteful reclaimed-wood coffee tables situated in very nicely lit apartments. People, in short, like Susan Boyle and Benton Brown. Their penthouse, in a Crown Heights loft building they turned into a LEED Silver, green-design showcase, is the subject of Brownstoner’s fourth and final installment.
December 4th, 2008 | David Roth | 0 comments | ContinuedArchive for David Roth
The Great White (Green) Way
It takes a special type of person to walk past the bright lights of the theater district and think, “man, that’s pretty wasteful.” You may or may not be that type of person, but your author definitely is. I also have never really been able to suspend disbelief on the “singing when you should be talking” thing that kind of defines musicals, so it’s probably not that surprising that I see a big, dumb carbon footprint where I’m supposed to be seeing Broadway’s good-timey glitz. While I may never learn to stop worrying and love Crybaby, The Broadway League – a group representing the theater owners and producers footing the bill for said glitz – are preparing to ensure that the Great White Way is about to get a bit greener. Yes, Broadway, a national institution based on all-singing, all-dancing spectacle, is turning its attention to the notably less glamorous topics of recycling Playbills and lighting marquees with LED bulbs.
December 2nd, 2008 | David Roth | 0 comments | Continued
Carbon Neutral Nets Can’t Offset Fan Skepticism
Back in January, I wrote in this space about the Nets Go Green initiative, in which the NBA’s New Jersey Nets announced their intentions to push for carbon neutrality, “adopt sustainable practices” wherever possible, turn off the lights when they weren’t in the room, et cetera. In retrospect, much of my skepticism regarding the initiative was obviously a result of my broader cynicism about the team’s current ownership group. It doesn’t mean I was wrong to doubt the Nets’ commitment to sustainability, but…I don’t know, I’m trying to have some insight. My relationship with these guys is complicated.
April 3rd, 2008 | David Roth | 0 comments | Continued
(Still N.J.) Nets Shooting to Wash Fans in Green
Leaving aside a foul-baiting flop here and a feigned hit-by-pitch there, sports as they are played are fairly straightforward. It’s when the front offices come into play that it’s time to turn the spam filter on. And so it is with the New Jersey Nets’ new “Shoot To Be Green” initiative. As one of many uninspiring old Nets billboard slogans proclaimed, “You can’t fake a fast break.” Greenwashing a franchise, however, is another story.
January 16th, 2008 | David Roth | 0 comments | Continued