Painting the Town Green
By Anya Khalamayzer
Dominique Camacho, the tiny, blonde owner of the Lower East Side’s Sustainable NYC boutique, is a powerhouse of knowledge when it comes to all things green. She created her business to fit her environmentalist mantra-and, despite what skeptics might think of her going through all that trouble- the work has paid off.
Ms. Camacho says that using insulation to conserve heat and cooling energy saves her $400 per year. The store, located on Avenue A and 8th Street, specializes in selling “local, organic, recycled, fair-trade, re-purposed, biodegradable products and gifts”. On the inside, Sustainabl NYC is spacious, sunlit, and trendy in its minimalism. Its wares are organized by category around the room-a desk of natural cosmetics in the center while shelves of natural baby diapers and men’s razors line the opposite side.
Sustainable NYC offers green versions of stuff no one could imagine existing in chemical-free forms. The store hawks the whole line of Simple Shoes, a now-well-known brand that manufactures footwear made of recycled tires. A growing demand for fair-trade and organic foods inspired the owners of Sustainable NYC to open a café in a separate niche of the retail store. Their water is filtered through a futuristic-looking contraption hooked up to the wall.
Video: Inside Sustainable NYC
The inside of the store is lined with 300-year-old reclaimed wood salvaged from New York’s older structures. Ms. Camacho emphasized the importance of her products to the people who make them, such as the women’s cooperative in Africa that hand-weaves decorative bamboo rugs. Their incomes allow the women a degree of financial independence. It turns out that the “eco niche” benefits not just the long-term health of the earth, but also the short-term quality of life for many.
Spurred on by the nurturing of the US Green Building Council, sustainably managed businesses like Sustainable NYC and building projects are popping up like flowers in our glistening concrete city. Last year, the Council announced that 83% of new business developers are seeking eco-friendly certification, if only to divert energy costs and take advantage of the potential for long-term savings.
Across town in the West Village, the famous City Bakery has established a completely sustainable café. At first glance, the Birdbath Green Bakery is a tiny, warm, wood-outfitted store similar to the countless adorable eateries lining Christopher Street.
Jon, the young guy behind the counter, is wearing his best hipster gear- dark, groomed muttonchops peeking out below an olive cabbie hat and a creative tattoo flourishes down his arm. But ask him about the measures the City Bakery took to ensure the store’s eco-friendliness, and a heavy tome describing the details, is plopped onto the table.
Suddenly, Birdbath is a museum of antique fixtures that have literally been given a green start in the young bakery. The floor and walls are made with reclaimed wood from a timber mill located in Jefferson County, PA. The wood didn’t have to be imported, Jon pointed out, and so the transportation wasn’t taxing on the environment.
The building’s original tin ceiling was kept and merely coated with low-toxicity paint. Couches, benches, and tables are all made from cork. Their sink was recycled and outfitted to run less water. Birdbath’s cups, usually a huge source of paper and plastic waste in regular cafes, are manufactured from the ultra-sustainable corn plant.
Birdbath Bakery even composts their coffee grinds, putting the materials they don’t use to work enriching the soil. While treats at the usual coffee joint will leave a considerable dent in one’s wallet, Birdbath sells better products at a fraction of that cost.
The bakery uses so little energy and nearly nullified furbishing expenses, and it pays mostly for the rent. As a result, not one delicious, gooey, freshly baked item in that store was over $4.00.
Judging from the popularity of the new “green-collar” businesses, an eco-conscious mindset is now more of an expectation than an alternative lifestyle. This conclusion arises from more than eyesight observation.
The clean-tech sector seems to be safe from the economic fiasco that has left 646,000 Americans unemployed. President Obama promises to generate 25% of the nation’s energy from renewable resources by 2012. According to Time Magazine, the University of Tennessee and the RAND Corporation declared that this would require the creation of 5 million “green-collar” jobs from manufacturing to engineering.
Compared to the rest of the economy, the grass on the green sector really is greener. Revenue from clean technology rose 53% between 2007 and 2008-a chance from $75.8 billion to $115.9 billion annually– and continues to grow, as reported by Clean Tech.
A New York Times article from May reported that venture capital firms were willing to invest over $4 billion into sustainable-business ventures in 2008, a 52% rise in investments that the firms were unwilling to trust any other sector.
There is a science to going green, and the USGBC has written a series of guidelines for new architectural projects and commercial businesses looking to do so. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design initiative, or LEED, summarizes the basics.
Devotees like Dominique Camacho and the owners of the City Bakery followed its guidelines while planning their store’s layouts. To receive LEED certification, stores must use a minimal amount of non-recycled or reused materials and allow no water runoff. These measures can reduce waste by 70%. This is good news for entrepreneurs who can save thousands of dollars per year, and pass the good karma along by not having to dump the utility overhead on customers.
A building’s ambiance is also affected by LEED guidelines that require 75% of daytime lighting to come from sunlight, meaning bigger windows and airier views-hence the sunlit spaces of Birdbath Bakery and Sustainable NYC. Along with the material benefits of running a sustainable business are the profits reaped by health.
The LEED likes to see renovations done with low-VOC materials. The Environmental Protection Agency claims Volatile Organic Compounds found in commercial paint and cleaners cause nasty allergy-like symptoms and damage to the nervous system. They are even suspected carcinogens. Although this reads like a laundry list of overhauls, many determined New Yorkers are making the necessary changes to see green.
Video: How Green Are You?
Not all patrons to LEED-certified stores like Birdbath Bakery and Sustainable NYC are wholehearted environmentalists. But they definitely walk out the door with a new perspective. Drop by drop, the combined interest of these customers has caught the interest of large corporations looking to find a hand in the green market.
Even architecture firms are not lagging behind in planning more environmentally friendly projects. The LEED has certified 20 buildings in Manhattan from 1993 to 2009. This statistic heralds a change in America’s attitude to consideration of the effects we have on the world and the future.
The effect works the opposite way on consumers as well, offering the average shopper easy access to earth friendly products. Dimitri, a 33-year-old Manhattanite sipping organic coffee from Sustainable NYC’s cafe, says the focus on global environmental change have made him nervous enough to start shopping smart.
Ms. Camacho herself did not jump on the green wagon immediately. Her first business venture was a T-shirt company, and the idea for Sustainable NYC was seeded while she was renovating her apartment. Ms. Camacho said, “I became so interested in green materials during the renovation that I eventually went for LEED certification.” The result was documented in the New York Time’s Lifestyles section, where New York can take notice and follow her example-if it fits into their budget.
Although green seems to be the new black, this lifestyle means more than a hip statement or a profit from a trend. New York’s environmentally friendly new businesses have been cleaning up the city’s act. The nonchalant consumer also benefits- after all, who doesn’t like a cheaper, better stuff? And, like all great things in life, the goods these businesses deliver are made with love.
