New York City was recently ranked the 5th most sustainable city in America. Local food and agriculture is burgeoning; there are 80 community-supported agriculture groups in New York City this year.

Steve Cohen, Executive Director of the Earth Institute, wrote a well researched post at TreeHugger in 2006 on sustainability in New York City, and noted that “the average Manhattanite consumes gasoline at a rate that the country as a whole hasn’t matched since the mid-nineteen-twenties, when the most widely owned car in the United States was the Ford Model T.” But it wasn’t all back slapping. He wrote extensively on our “difficult history in solid waste management”. Back to back slapping: “Eighty-two per cent of Manhattan residents travel to work by public transit, by bicycle, or on foot. That’s ten times the rate for Americans in general, and eight times the rate for residents of Los Angeles County.” Eat it, L.A.!

But L.A. residents, and Jews in particular, are making a good effort as well. In their piece, ‘Eco-kosher’ Jews have an appetite for ethical eating, the L.A. Times wrote of the changing habits for the Sabbath dinner and the sustainable nature of the food used: “The movement has become so popular in recent years that synagogues increasingly are forging relationships with farmers, farm education programs are starting up and Jewish “sustainability” conferences are attracting sold-out crowds.” Here in New York, Hazon’s Jewish Farm School comes to mind.

We’re also on-board with Michelle Obama’s Fresh Food Revolution and we’ve introduced our own Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program with Stoneledge Farm. We encourage you to take a look at our program and maybe next year we can pull New York ahead of Chicago in the rankings!