Green City Guide: New York

Arguably America's busiest, brashest city, New York is aiming to re-invent itself as the Big Green Apple by cleaning up the air and greening up the buildings. There's plenty to explore for the green tourist, and while New York is made up of five boroughs - the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan - it's the downtown island that still offers the greatest attractions.  

Explore

Manhattan is split into several districts - with Downtown containing Greenwich Village, Chinatown, SoHo, TriBeCa and Wall Street. Midtown is the main business district and is where you'll find Chelsea and Stuyvesant Town, Upper West Side and Upper East Side straddle Central Park and Harlem and Washington Heights top off the island. Fifth Avenue marks the divide between east and west side, and a series of bridges and tunnels link Manhattan to New Jersey and New York's other boroughs.

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Attractions

New York's most famous green attraction is of course Central Park, and with 58 miles of winding paths one of the quickest ways to explore it is on a Central Park bike tour. Guided tours take in the more popular landscaped areas or movie locations, or bikes can be rented for the day for self-guided exploration. If you don't fancy touring on two wheels boats can be rented for rowing on Loeb reservoir, rollerblades are available from stores such as Blades - and the classic horse drawn carriages operate from the southern end of the park.

Central Park is not the only green space of course. The Hudson River Park stretches along the banks of the Hudson River from the Upper West Side to Downtown. As well as cycling and blading, free kayaking is available from pier's 40 and 96 during the summer, and visitors can go rock climbing on an artificial wall Battery Park in Downtown also offers a green escape from the city. visitors can go kayaking, rock climbing on an artificial wall at The Field House by Chelsea Pier. A large portion of the park has been designated an Estuarine Sanctuary, and with free wireless internet available in the Grennwich Village area of the park, it's one of the greenest places in New York to check your email.

The Hudson River is also home to New York's floating, urban farm - the Science Barge. The farm demonstrates how hydroponics can be used to grow fruit and vegetables in the city and is powered entirely by solar, wind and biofuels. During the summer the barge visits parks along the Hudson River, where visitors can take a guided tour - and for a further way to explore New York's green side from the Hudson River, check out the NYC water taxi wildlife tours. During the summer the tours, run with the Audubon Society, take in famous sights, such as the Statue of Liberty, on the way to harbor islands where the area's resident population of 3000 herons nest each year.

Back on land, one of New York's greenest attractions is Solar1 - a green arts and events space in Stuyvesant Cove Park. The center showcases several eco-friendly technologies, including a solar system which powers the center's eco-theatre. During the summer the theatre hosts solar powered movie nights and the CitySol solar powered music festival. Plans are also underway on the Solar2 building - which, when it opens in 2009, will be carbon positive by creating more energy than it consumes.

For eco-minded museums, The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) near Central Park West is the greenest option. The museum features exhibits on topics such as water sustainability and bio-diversity, and is home to a butterfly conservatory and a planetarium, and of the museums many eateries, The WaterCafe is the greenest option, serving locally sourced, sustainable foods.

For green trips out of Manhattan, the Bronx offers several options. The New York Botanical Gardens are a 20 minute journey by rail from Grand Central Station. The gardens, founded in 1891, feature orchid, herb and waterlily gardens and a tropical conservatory where you can take a worldwide plant tour. The rooftop terraces and landscaped lawns are the attractions at Wave Hill House - once residence of Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain; and also in the Bronx is the Wildlife Conservation Society's flagship site, the Bronx Zoo, a key part of the societies work to help protect wildlife worldwide, and home to the city's first compost public toilets.

Shopping

New York is home to several eco-friendly stores and boutiques, spread out between the boroughs. 3R living in Brooklyn sells a wide variety of eco-friendly goods, including solar-recharging bags and green books; Kaight, in Downtown Manhattan is an eco-boutique which stocks the latest green fashions and designer labels - everything from organic cotton jeans to merino wool caps.

Patagonia's New York store, which sells their range of eco-friendly outdoor gear and organic cotton tees, can be found on Wooster street in SoHo, and organic tees and underwear are on sale at American Apparel's numerous Manhattan locations.

Hemp and organic cotton clothes and organic food is on sale at the Upper East Side Organic Avenue store, and clothes can be traded for other recycled threads or for cash at Brooklyn's Buffalo Exchange - which also operates a 'tokens for bag' scheme, which donates 5c to charity for each customer who accepts a token rather than a bag.

Food and Drink

New York's greenest eatery is easily the Birdbath Bakery - as well as selling organic baked goods the bakery in the West Village, features walls made from wheat, cups made from corn and staff uniforms made from hemp - customers also get a 25% discount if they arrive by bike or skateboard.

Other green dining options include the Organic Grill in Midtown, a vegetarian cafe which serves organic brunch, lunch and dinner, including organic bagels. The Habana Cafe, also in Midtown, serves Mexican style dishes with biodegradable plates and cutlery in an eco-efficient diner; while its sister restaurant, the Habana Outpost in Brooklyn, also features solar powered lighting, bike-powered smoothies and a garden.

In Battery Park the newly opened Picnick sustainable food kiosk uses organic and Fairtrade ingredients and home-baked bread for its sandwiches, serves them in compostable wrappers, gives a percentage of its profits to the Battery Park Conservatory and sells merchandise such as natural wooden Picnick baskets and Fair Trade Ugandan cotton T-shirts.

For self-catering, greenmarkets, selling produce from local farms in upstate New York, operate in several locations. Sites in Manhattan include Union Square and the Rockefeller Center, and on every Tuesday a green market operates in the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.

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Green Accommodation

Eco-friendly Budget

Manhattan Inn Hostel This hostel boasts a great Midtown location, four and six bed dorms that each have their own bathroom and TV, and a roof deck area which opens in the summer. Book at Hostelworld

Jazz on the City This upper west side hostel has its own tapas bar and rooftop terrace and is within easy reach of the Natural History Museum and subway system. Book at Hostelworld

Chelsea Star Hotel This boutique hotel packs in the personality with themed rooms, such as the Salvador Dali room, as well as a 10 bed dorm. Bike and blade rental is also available. Book at Hostelworld

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Going Green

The Big Apple is making an effort to become the Green Apple, and has set itself some tough challenges in an effort to become America's greenest big city. In December 2006 the city's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, launched a plan aimed at reducing carbon emissions by 30% by 2030, with green initiatives such as vastly expanding the city's cycle path network, introducing a congestion fee for vehicles in much of Manhattan, (similar to the fee in London) and concerting the city's entire taxi fleet to hybrid vehicles within 10 years.

New York will also soon be home to a few eco-friendly hotels - the eco-friendly Andaz hotel brand will open two hotels in Manhattan in 2008, the green Starwood brand, which even provides special hybrid parking lots, will open a luxury, green hotel in 2010 and the green boutique hotel Greenhouse 26 is set to open in Chelsea in 2008.

Visitors to the Chelsea district will also soon be able to take a walk on an elevated park, built on an abandoned railway line. The High Line project has been battling for over a decade to save the line from demolition,and work is now underway on transforming the one mile stretch into a public park - the first sections of which are expected to open in

Until then, the only way to explore the High Line - and many of New York's other private sky parks and roof gardens, is during the Open House event which takes place each September. During the event private buildings and greenspaces, such as High Line and the indoor bamboo water garden at the Japan Society building, are opened up for guided tours and public visits.

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Nightlife

New York's top spot for green drinks is the Counter organic martini and wine bar in Midtown, here herbs from the roof garden are infused with homemade vodkas for the martinis' and over 100 organic and bio-dynamic wines are on the menu in the vegetarian bistro.

Over in Queens the Oulu cocktail bar offers a green drinking experience, literally. The facade of the wind-powered bar is decorated with a living green wall, the bar counter top is made from sustainable wood sources and eco-friendly drinks, such as 360 Vodka are on the menu.

New York is also soon to become home to Greenhouse - the city's first eco-friendly nightclub, due to open in December 2007.

Music

New York plays host to several eco-friendly music festivals - although not all of them have particularly inspiring line-ups. The first CitySol event took place in July 2007 with local bands playing on a stage powered by bio-fuel and solar energy, and looks set to return in 2008.

The carbon neutral Green Apple festival is also set to return to New York in April 2008, the event aims to create awareness of Earth Day with free concerts, but lacks any big name bands, and the annual September Ecofest provides a few live bands along with the chance to check out the latest eco-friendly tech.

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Getting Around

	New York's subway system is generally the easiest way to get around the city, a one day metrocard costs $7 and a one week costs $24 - the system's new subway cars also feature regenerative breaking, which feeds energy back into the system when cars brake - and many of the systems old cars have been cleaned out and transformed for use in artificial reefs.
	New York's bus system is also a green way to get around - the city has the largest fleet of hybrid electric buses in North America and has over 400 natural gas buses in operation. Metro cards can be used on bus services too.
	Bicycles and rollerblades can be hired from several locations in the city. Rentals from Bike and Roll have the option of including helmet, lock and a hop-on hop-off water taxi pass. Several pedicab (rickshaw) companies also operate throughout the city.
	New York's hybrid taxi fleet is expanding quickly, look out for the Yahoo sponsored hybrid cabs. Zip car have numerous pick up locations in Manhattan, and the OZO car service offers hybrid cars for private hire. .
	New York's water taxi operates a hop-on hop-off service during the summer, with one day passes costing from $20. The Ellis Island ferry also shuttles tourists between the Statue of Liberty and Battery park.

Getting There

	Amtrak services connect New York with most major cities, services terminate in Penn Station.
	JFK Airport is the main international airport. The subway system connects the airport to Manhattan. Newark Airport in New Jersey and LaGuardia operate domestic services.

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