Hello! My name is Ella and I’m excited to step into Michaela’s big shoes as your new editor of the Brooklyn Bluedot newsletter. I’m a born-and-raised Brooklynite with a deep love of the environment, especially when I find it in our city’s corners: the mulberry trees dropping ripe fruit on sidewalks right now, or the mourning dove on my windowsill.

It was my birthday a couple of weekends ago, and I spent it biking to Montauk (The End) with a group of friends. Here at Bluedot, we’re all about human-powered travel — what better way to celebrate a milestone birthday than powering yourself across 100 miles to the very tip of Long Island? 

Early on Saturday morning, we caught the LIRR to Babylon. (An off-peak train ticket cost $13.50.) There, we fueled up with coffee and set off on our first day: about 50 miles to our campsite.

For a well-ridden area, Long Island is shockingly short on bike infrastructure. We did our best to map out our route along suburban back roads, quieter highways, and even a few miles of woodsy protected bike path beside the six-lane Sunrise Highway. But if you want to try the ride without the work, there are also some routes mapped out online by seasoned Montauk cyclists.

It was a joy to be on a bike, pedaling hard and coasting down hills and feeling the sea breeze rush over us, stopping for snacks and water and blasting music. When we rode through a town in our ragtag but happy pack (none of us are particularly experienced cyclists), people on the street would smile and even cheer.

As we got closer to the water, we also started to see ospreys and gulls overhead. We also saw a lot of roadkill. It reminded me of the power of moving slowly: It forces you to pay closer attention and gives you space to see the details.

We spent the first night camping in a beautiful spot halfway to Montauk. We crowdsourced tents and sleeping bags and pads from the group and other friends. Our pile of gear strewn across our campsite made me wonder about the environmental impact of camping.

Lots of outdoor gear is made of nylon and polyester, which are made of plastic fibers and are a major contributor to microplastic pollution. Waterproof equipment, like the rain flies on tents, can be coated in PFAs, or “forever chemicals,” to keep you dry — though many manufacturers have stopped using the chemicals because of their severe impacts on human health and the environment. Both have seeped into our waterways. PFAs were even found by researchers in the snow and ice on Mount Everest from all the hikers making the trek.

If you’re concerned about the impact of your outdoor gear, you can choose brands with the Climate Neutral Certified label, or retailers that are moving toward a circular economy keeping materials in circulation rather than letting them go to landfill after one person has used them. We cover a few options here. 

But even better than buying new or used is not buying at all — and it’s cheaper, too! You can borrow from friends, as we were lucky to do, or you can rent gear or borrow from gear libraries. Borrowing or renting creates less waste, allowing each item to get the most use possible.

Although there aren’t many options for renting gear in New York City, there are a few: Basecamp Brooklyn, in Greenpoint, will rent you a tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad. A brand-new gear library based in New York called Trail Magic just launched on Instagram, with tents, backpacking packs, camp stoves, sleeping bags, and pads all free to borrow. 

Some companies will even ship you rental gear: like Gear to Go Outfitters, which once had a brick-and-mortar in Brooklyn.

On our second day, my birthday, we packed up all that gear and set off for Montauk. It was gorgeous and sunny, and when we were finally surrounded by the ocean on all three sides, it was well worth the soreness and sunburn. 

Babylon to Montauk was a fairly approachable long ride. But if you want something easier to start, there are lots of great bike trips you can take right in Brooklyn. In my humble opinion, Fort Tilden is the best beach in New York City. It can be tough to get to via public transportation, but it’s only an hour (10 miles) by bike from Grand Army Plaza. For an even shorter ride, the Marine Park Salt Marsh is about six miles from Prospect Park and a wonderful nature escape on a summer day. Or if you really want to take it easy, take your bike on the NYC Ferry to Governors Island for $4.50 and pedal the island!

No matter how far you ride, you can be glad you’re powering yourself there.

– Ella Spungen, Editor, Bluedot Living Brooklyn

On June 8, NPR climate reporter Rebecca Hersher was joined at the Center for Brooklyn History by three climate experts for a conversation about solutions to the climate crisis for the last of its three-part series “Confronting Climate Change.”

“This is the part where we get to focus on our own agency,” said Hersher. “There are so many things that we can do.”

The first two discussions, also moderated by Hersher this spring, explored the science of climate change and the drivers of climate denial.

This week’s talk, “Solutions — From Innovation to Action,” turned to the topic of mitigating climate change and adapting to its effects, which are felt globally.

Learn more about what the experts had to say.

Queens ranks as one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world — more than 800 languages are spoken within the city limits. Many residents are hungry for food from home, including vegetables that either aren’t sold here or are so expensive that they’re out of reach for most people.

Isabel Mallet and a few of her neighbors realized they had the solution to that problem in 2020, when they noticed two “weird triangular patches” on a bridge over the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. On that land, they created New Roots Queens, a community garden where plants from members’ home countries — Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean — can grow.

Today, they’re testing plants that stand up well against the challenges of climate change, like lablab beans, which grow “extremely, extremely well — massive yields and zero pests, and they’re really good for the soil,” Isabel says.

Read on to learn more about their efforts.

Dear Dot,
There is a gorgeous tree outside my apartment — I love looking at it every day. But the other day I saw someone cutting branches. I want to say they were pruning it, but the person did not look like a city worker. Is this a random do-gooder taking care of a tree, or is someone hurting it? How can I help my favorite tree?
– Michael, Brooklyn, NY

Dear Michael,
Like you, lots of people come to feel very connected to the trees outside of their homes or in their favorite parks, according to Sarah Balistreri, part-time environmental educator with Trees New York and a former Greenpoint resident. Consequently, she suggests we notice the challenges that our urban trees encounter. “People notice that our trees don’t get the care and regard that they deserve,” she says. “And so a lot of folks want to learn to help out.”

Like the random dude you noticed, Michael. He was not some ordinary do-gooder who happened to have pruning shears stashed in his backpacks but rather a qualified do-gooder who had undergone a “citizen pruner” course and been granted a license to tend to Brooklyn’s, indeed the entire city’s, trees.

Read on for Dot’s full answer.

The Bluedot Brooklyn newsletter is edited by Ella Spungen. If you have any questions, suggestions, ideas, or want to tell us what you’re doing, email [email protected].