Bioremediation Workshops Coming to Greenpoint

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NCA is excited to continue work on the Greenpoint Bioremediation Project (gBP) in 2016. Bioremediation in practice is the deliberate use of plants and microorganisms to restore a healthier soil ecology, and safely break down toxins in surface soil by exploiting the naturally occurring metabolic pathways of microbes. Working with the newly formed NYC Urban Soils Institute (USI) at Brooklyn College’s Environmental Sciences Analytical Center (ESAC), our partnered project seeks to increase public knowledge and local practice of popular established bioremediation techniques, including mycoremediation strategies and compost tea amendments. As part of our outreach and education we will run a series of hands-on workshops covering the following topics:
1. Understanding urban soils
2. Harnessing beneficial microorganisms with compost tea
3. Using fungi for mycoremediation

These three workshops will build the capacities of up to 75 local gardeners and residents (instructing 25 hands-on participants per workshop) to practice methods of compost tea application and mycoremediation, for personal use in backyards, for local street trees, or shared within community gardens. These workshops also will be videotaped, edited down into digestible parts and posted online for future viewing by gardeners and residents unable to attend in person. We will also design and publish a series of Citizen’s Guide posters corresponding to each workshop and made available via physical distribution throughout Greenpoint, as well as in online format to reach an even wider audience.

To join workshops please fill out our short application here.

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This project is made possible with generous support from the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund and the Office of the New York State Attorney General and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

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