Sustainability Weekly
Fridays are for…
Sustainable Halloween, Electric Trucks, NY Climate Law Compliance, and more!
by Alli DiGiacomo
Happy Friday and Halloween!
Carving Pumpkins tonight? Check out these national park pumpkin carving templates that depict beloved species and wildlife. Don't forget - please do not toss your pumpkins in the trash bin! They should be composted (in your at home bin or at a food scrap drop-off) or there are a few Pumpkin Smash events around the city if you are interested:
November 1st, 12pm-3pm: Hudson River Park’s Pumpkin Smash at Pier 84.
November 1st, 1pm-3pm: Astoria Park 5th Annual Pumpkin Smash near the Ditmars Blvd. and 19th Street corner.
November 5th, 3:30pm-5:30pm: NY Botanical Garden Pumpkin Smash at Lehman College, 250 Bedford Park Blvd W, Bronx.
November 9th, 12pm-3pm: LES Ecology Center Pumpkin Smash 2025 at the Community Garden on E 9th St & Avenue C. There will be activities, live music, and more!
Keep reading for other ways to celebrate sustainably and for more sustainability news…
T H I S W E E K ’ S T O P S T O R I E S
HOW TO CELEBRATE A SUSTAINABLE HALLOWEEN
Celebrating Halloween can be a lot of fun but also pretty wasteful with all the plastic, single-use costumes and decorations, candy and wrappers, and pumpkin/other food waste. A sustainable Halloween focuses on enjoying the holiday while at the same time minimizing waste and environmental impact.
For costumes, start by using clothes you already have in your closet, reusing costumes from previous years, borrowing from friends, or shopping secondhand instead of buying new (probably plastic-based) outfits. If you do buy new, it's best to purchase clothes that you’ll use in your everyday life. New York is home to some of the best thrift stores there is! According to the Sustainable Fashion Forum, the secondhand market is growing 3 times as fast as new retail! Not only will this save you money, but creating your own costume from clothes or materials you already have is also more fun and creative anyways.
When it comes to decorations, try repurposing what you used in past years or using natural, compostable materials such as pumpkins, gourds, hay, and fall leaves instead of plastic items like fake spider webs, which can harm wildlife. Speaking of pumpkins, make sure to use every part by roasting the seeds for a snack and cooking the flesh in soups or pies, then composting the remains rather than throwing them away. For tricks and treats, consider minimal or recyclable packaging, and look for fair-trade or locally made chocolates and candies. If your neighborhood is open to it, you could also hand out small non-candy items such as pencils or seed packets. During trick-or-treating, use reusable bags like totes or pillowcases instead of plastic ones. Make sure to save decorations and costumes in good condition to use again next year, and recycle whatever materials you can..
HOW EV OWNERS ARE USING THEIR TRUCKS TO PREVENT GRID BLACKOUTS
Automakers including Ford, Tesla, GM, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Volkswagen, and Nissan now sell electric models with “bidirectional charging,” allowing energy to flow both into and out of the vehicle. In a normal EV setup, charging is unidirectional, where power moves from the grid to the car to charge the battery. With bidirectional charging, that flow can reverse, allowing the car to send stored energy back out to power buildings, tools or appliances, or even back into the power grid.
A couple in Maryland recently used their electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup to keep their home running during a six-hour power outage, powering lights, appliances, water, and the A/C. The truck’s 1,800 lb battery stores as much energy as 10 Tesla Powerwall home batteries, enough to power the average U.S. home for 4.5 days (or less if residents conserve energy during a blackout). The couple originally was researching purchasing a home battery after the deadly Winter Storm Uri in 2021, but realized that purchasing an electric truck would give them the same benefits and more for around the same price.
Outside of blackouts and emergencies, Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) has a pilot program that allows EV’s to send their stored battery energy back into the grid during peak energy demand times. BGE pays several hundred dollars to participants and the “vehicle-to-grid” setup helps alleviate the demands of the grid in entire neighborhoods to prevent blackouts from happening, and recharges overnight when less energy is being used. Other pilot programs have tested this concept in over 19 states and several countries.
These programs/systems could add a massive new energy reserve to support and stabilize resilient power grids. EVs collectively store far more energy than all existing stationary batteries combined. Nearly 5 times more battery capacity went into use in cars and trucks than homes, buildings and power plants combined last year. Utilities could use this approach to manage peak demand much faster than building new power plants and waiting years for new infrastructure.
JUDGE ORDERS NEW YORK TO FOLLOW THROUGH ON ITS CLIMATE LAW
A New York judge has ordered the state to comply with its landmark 2019 climate law after finding it failed to issue required emissions regulations more than a year and a half past the 2024 deadline. The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act directs the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to adopt rules ensuring NY meets its binding targets of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050 (compared to 1990 levels). Ulster County Supreme Court Judge Julian Schreibman ruled that the DEC’s delay was unjustified, rejecting its claim that compliance would impose “extraordinary and damaging costs” on residents. He gave the agency until February 6th to issue regulations, noting that only the legislature could change the law if officials believe it is too burdensome.
The case was brought by climate groups in March after Governor Kathy Hochul halted her administration’s proposed cap-and-invest program, which was going to be the main tool for meeting NY’s goals. Internal documents showed the DEC and the state energy authority had already drafted rules for the program before Hochul canceled it, claiming to because of cost concerns. Although the ruling does not specifically require cap-and-invest, it requires the state to implement measures consistent with its 2022 climate plan, which centers on that approach. Hochul said her administration plans to appeal and that the decision overlooks economic and energy challenges facing the state. Her appeal will likely cause even further delays. “New York has been, and will continue to be, a leader in climate action, but the judge’s decision fails to factor in the realities of today that include a federal government hostile to clean energy projects, the continuing impacts of post-COVID high inflation, and potential energy shortages expected downstate as soon as next year,” Hochul stated.
MORE IN SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
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Stardust Solutions, a Geoengineering Startup, Raises $60 Million to Build a Solar-Reflecting System by 2030.
Reducing entanglement by 63%, solar-powered, light-up fishing nets developed by Arizona State University’s School of Ocean Futures help protect sea turtles.
An entrepreneur in England is turning discarded plastic fishing nets into 3D printing filament.
This new at-home appliance turns your plastic bags, notoriously hard to recycle in the U.S., into compact, recyclable blocks — and later, park benches.
Award-Winning Bus Shelters Signal Equitable, Climate-Resilient Future for Los Angeles.
Can cargo shipping stay the course toward cleaner fuels?
North Atlantic right whales were expected to go extinct within our lifetime, but a new report found the population estimate for the critically endangered species was 384 in 2024, an 8-whale increase from the previous year, showing a “slow growth” in the last 4 years overall.
Researchers created a robotic fish that collects plastic pollution and feeds on it, digesting plastic particles and turning them into energy.
Austria is turning its boring power lines into giant metal animals — and it's not just for looks.
Mosquitoes were found in Iceland for the first time as the climate crisis warms the country.
The Trump administration reversed a Biden-era emissions limit on copper smelters. The copper rule, finalized in May 2024, had required smelters to curb pollutants including lead, arsenic, mercury, benzene and dioxins under updated federal air standards.
An LA-based company created a solar device that can pull 1.5 liters of clean, drinkable water out of thin air every day. The device, called Spout, is made from recycled materials and does not require you to replace filters or anything that would add to your waste, and the company is working on new iterations that could store solar power so that the device can be used at night.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. orders the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate alleged harms caused to fishing businesses by offshore wind farms.
The University of California Irvine plans to open the nation’s first renewable energy-powered all-electric hospital in the southern part of the state in December.