A big thanks to all who came out last night to watch the show together and to support Buffalo ReUse, PUSH Buffalo, Re-Tree WNY and WNY Americorps

Photos here!

Sunday night, over 10 million people will watch the ABC EM:HE Buffalo Episode documenting the makeover of Delores Powell’s West Side house. We’re excited because at least a little bit of the spotlight will be on the part we played, the Green Demolition of Delores’s old house in only fifteen hours. This spotlight is the recognition of more than just the transformation of one house, or one neighborhood–it’s a spotlight on the hard work and can-do attitude that Buffalo lives every day.

For us, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, the Buffalo Edition, is the culmination of over two years of hard work, ingenuity, and determination. When we started Buffalo ReUse in the Fall of 2006 we did so with the belief that a demolition alternative that reclaims materials, creates jobs, and protects the environment would be great for Buffalo and great for our community.  Although it seemed like a great idea, we weren’t convinced it would work– largely because of the low costs of disposal and the high costs of initiating a new start-up contracting company with very little available capital.

One thing these last two years has taught us is that tenacious attention to reducing costs and increasing efficiency is critical to our long term sustainability. Our mindset and techniques have evolved over time to ensure that we could continue to sustain our effort financially, save materials that otherwise would have been destroyed and dumped, and prove a concept that can advance the Building Re-use industry.

A lot of people have asked, “How much material do you actually save from each house?” The answer is, “Every house is different.” The Powell House was an excellent candidate for reuse because it had a significant quantity of antique rough-sawn lumber, hardwood flooring, doors and molding, cabinetry and hardware, brick and even cut stone. The wood components also came apart cleanly and easily. The sum of these materials was great and almost everything that could be saved, was saved during Extreme Makeover, largely because of the enormous human energy that was available and on hand during the 15 hour effort.

Here’s where things get a bit technical–Despite the tremendous effort, our 93% diversion rate that was recorded and explained in great detail by WasteCap, can easily be misinterpreted. From our perspective, we try to gauge our effectiveness by comparing how much was diverted from the landfill–reclaimed for future use.  We measure what would have otherwise been thrown away.  However, the green building industry has a different approach and attempts to quantify the total recycling and reuse percentage.  A closer look reveals that, in fact, their monitoring is largely skewed towards recycling.

93% diversion means that 93 tons out of every 100 tons of material were recycled or reused. Now, if you think about it, that includes the foundation floor, which was concrete and xx tons, the stone that was an additional xx tons, and even clean fill (dirt) that was removed to expand the foot print of the foundation. Certainly, whether this house was demolished or deconstructed, these materials would have been recycled. Concrete recycling has been the industry norm for decades and there’s always a need for clean fill on development projects in practically every city, at any given time. After all, who would pay $25 – $100 ton to dump concrete or soil in a landfill, when it can be dumped for free at a concrete recycling yard or a construction site? Once you remove those tonnages, you can get down to the gnitty gritty of how effective the reuse effort really was.

We’ve learned that we can reliably divert 25 – 40% of a residential building, by weight, from the landfill–that’s what we mean by Green Demolition. On the surface, that rate may not seem terribly significant; however, that material often represents over $10,000 in material value, significant tax savings for our clients, and a reliable source of high quality materials to enable our future efforts.

While we are able to save a lot of materials, we must still throw some away. People are surprised to learn we rarely reclaim any 2×4’s from our demolition projects. The reason for this is that walls require a significant labor investment–to harvest a handful of 2×4’s that have a very low value–we can’t spend even fifty cents worth of labor on an item that sells for $1.25. This labor investment greatly increases the cost of the project, without significantly increasing the value of the materials reclaimed. Consequently, we’ve focused on harvesting the materials with the greatest value: interior elements, rafters, floor joists, brick, stone, and windows. By being selective about what we make the effort to save; we are able to complete projects faster; and move on to more projects to reclaim more valuable material. So at the end of the day, our percentage of materials reclaimed per project is less, but, since we deconstruct more houses in any given period, we reclaim significantly more material.

The reality of the situation is that the building reuse industry is young and just beginning to crawl. While the many efforts of the BMRA (Building Materials ReUse Association) are consistent and admirable, there’s a tremendous need for advocacy work, policy support, and recycling research to really develop and expand the industry. Efforts in the reuse industry can be further advanced through more research and development into the use of recycled materials such as roofing shingles, drywall, plaster, wood waste, and vinyl products. We need more people in the country engaged in building reuse, so that we can share our learning and techniques to improve the entire industry overall.

Finally, we need policy support to ensure that recycling and reuse is a larger priority for the entire country. One of our greatest challenges remains that it is just too cheap and easy to throw things away. There’s no economic incentive for businesses, governments, and even homeowners to embrace recycling and reuse in a significant way.  Buffalo ReUse is doing its best to innovate techniques to enable the reuse of the largest quantity of materials possible, but we need a lot of players at the table to ensure that the reuse industry grows and expands in the coming years. Our collective efforts will create the new status quo for demolition that creates jobs locally, channels money into local economies, and protects the environment.

We initially agreed to support the Extreme Makeover project because we believed it was a tremendous opportunity to showcase the advances that have been made in the industry and demonstrate to the world the potential that exists for green demolition and reuse. Through this episode, Green Demolition has been put on the map!   Now we need your help to grow and expand the effort, so it can be scaled and expanded throughout the country to support the green jobs movement and protection of our environment in a time of widescale global warming. We invite you to get involved. Become a member of Buffalo ReUse and the BMRA and share your expertise, ideas, and energy.

A big thanks to Shea’s Buffalo for being the venue, Join us, JANUARY 24th, 2010!
You were there when the Hero Family was announced, You were there when Buffalo ReUse performed the Green Demolition, You were there when volunteers from PUSH and Re-Tree WNY built the community gardens, You were there when Americorps and others descended on the block and over 70 houses in the neighborhood got a facelift, You were there when David Homes built the brand new house!…Now you can be there as all of Buffalo celebrates the national spotlight! On behalf of PUSH Buffalo, Buffalo ReUse, Re-Tree WNY, and WNY Americorps, as well as The Powell Family–we hope you will join us all.

Doors open at 7pm Folks can meet The Powell Family, mingle, and learn about the ways they can volunteer and contribute to future neighborhood improvements. Channel 7 (WKBW) will feature a documentary of behind-the-scenes footage of the 106 hours of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition while the cast, volunteers, and neighborhood worked around the clock. Finally, from 8-10pm ABC will broadcast the Special Buffalo Episode and we’ll all watch together as the story unfolds.

We hope that everyone will come and celebrate the national spotlight on Buffalo and the neighborhood revitalization igniting across The Queen City!

TICKETS:  Tickets will be available on Friday, January 15th. All tickets will be distributed in advance of the evening’s events.  Tickets to be obtained from Shea’s Box Office. Tickets are complimentary, limit of 2 per person. No tickets at the door, unless they are still available.

The Shea’s Box Office is located at 650 Main Street and is open  M-F 10 a – 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 am– 2 pm   Event Parking is available on Pearl Street, Washington St. etc.

**This event is on FACEBOOK. Please, invite all your friends!!

Our continued and generous supporters at the The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo are creating a new website and they would like your input. The website will connect Western New Yorkers interested in environmental news and activities to the many environmental organizations doing great work in our region.  Sounds awesome to us!

Complete the survey (it takes just a couple minutes) by January 15, 2010, and you will be entered to win an iPod nano or $100! To be eligible to win a survey prize, you must live in Western New York. Click here to access the survey.

Green on, WNYers!

“How was your weekend?”  “What are you doing this weekend?”  What do most folks talk about around the watercooler?  Sports and American Idol may be about the only things that are fairly safe –politics, religion, the hottie in Logistics with the tanned, firm and bulging… You see how it can quickly devolve into controversy, fisticuffs, gossip or make fellow co-workers blush.
We have a better idea!  Talk about US–Buffalo ReUse!

I remember how excited Tysha was when her boss asked her what she was “up to” and she was just as excited to share all the ways she helped us.  Hang our calendar near the watercooler or give them to your employees as a holiday gift and soon your employees could be sharing how they are helping to improve Buffalo!  The calendar is full of interesting photos of volunteers, deconstruction projects and unique inventory we’ve salvaged.  It will help inspire your employees all year long!  I used to have a co-worker that tortured me about her haircuts; she gave me endless details 3 weeks prior to her appointment.  I won’t tell you how badly I wanted to take a pair of scissors and just get it over with myself.

You could also sign up your office for one of our Vacation from Your Vocation Days where they come out and volunteer with us for a Friday morning or an afternoon and we’ll make them pancakes or grilled cheese sandwiches.  Marsha’s Keller Williams group did that for their Red Day–so did HSBC! Your employees have lots of other skills besides collating, flipping patties and filling out TPS reports–and even if they don’t–we’ll teach them some more.  They’ll feel good helping the community and so will you!

The Buffalo Edition of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” will be aired Sunday, January 24th at 8 pm on Channel 7. And what’s more…they’ve extended it to a 2-hour special!

A network publicist confirmed the air date for the episode, which will highlight the Massachusetts Avenue home that was rebuilt last month for Delores Powell, a Jamaican immigrant, and her four children.

According to the Buffalo News, “The extra hour is expected to highlight the rehabilitation of several West Side homes near the Powell home, as the community rallied to expand the original idea of the program.” GO BUFFALO!

Buffalo ReUse will be planning something special for our big debut, so stay tuned…

Here is a picture from the CAO’s workshop on hoop-house building that took place on Labor Day. Having missed the opportunity to participate in that workshop, I took a little trip over to the Wilson St. Farm in mid November to lend a hand and get a jumpstart on training for our future hoop house. In the spirit of a barn raising, volunteers came out and we all helped put together a hoop house for the Stevens’ farm. Many organizations were represented including: CUFF (Curtis Urban Farm Foundation),UB Environmental Network,  Canticle Farm ,  Lombard Clark Block Club, Friends of the Broadway Market, UB Law, Engineers for a Sustainable World.  This Hoop House is only one on the list of 7 slated for construction in the city by the CAO.  The purpose of a hoop house is so that we can grow fresh food well into November and start plants as early as February.  We’ll keep you posted for the date that our hoop house will be erected.  Come and out; get some practice and help this farm grow food!

In preparation for the 2010 spring growing season, the Community Action Organization, Grassroots Gardens, and the Curtiss Urban Farm Foundation are presenting a FREE workshop on Organic Composting.

Composting means the controlled decomposition (decay) of organic material such as yard trimmings, kitchen scraps, and wood shavings. Compost helps the soil absorb and retain nutrients and moisture, and protects plants from diseases and pests. Better moisture retention means less watering, allowing you to conserve water and reduce runoff pollution.

Come to this great opportunity to learn and share a variety of organic composting techniques while assisting Buffalo’s first urban farm in enhancing its spring soil!!

Saturday, December 19th, 9:00-11:30 AM. Wilson St. Farm (Wilson St between Broadway & Sycamore)

Email prosner {at} caoec(.)org for more info.

In memory of my son James … Im organizing our 2nd event in his honor and with money being tight for everyone especially around the holidays, I thought of something simple and inexpensive but will mean so much to children who will be coming to St. Lukes for their Christmas dinner this year.  I’m asking everyone to help… each stocking will only cost less than $10 total.  I’m asking for the following items to be in each stocking so there will be no child who gets more or less than the other.
1 $5 gift certificate to either McDonalds or Burger King
1 pair of socks
2 candy canes
a candy bar

I’m hoping to get atleast 100.  We have 35 coming from the girl scout troop my friend Colleen Wayman.  We are personally doing 5.  60 or more are still needed.  Please consider helping.  These will definitely be given to children in need as they will be passed out after the holiday dinner. You are more than welcome to come with us to deliver them to St Lukes sometime around December 20-21st..Also if you are interested in sponsoring a family for the holidays let me know..But either way thank you so much..Michele
Please contact Michele about dropping off materials Shizumaru2004 {at} aol(.)com

Hello Gangalang,
We introduced you to CHRIS CARLSSON and his book, Nowtopia awhile back!  Now, he’s coming to Buffalo and you have 2 chances to see him.
Friday Nov. 6th 1:00 pm
Center for the Arts 112 (University at Buffalo, North Campus)

Internationally-recognized author and activist Chris Carlsson lecturing on Nowtopia:  How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists, and Vacant-Lot Gardeners are Inventing  the Future Today!

Carlsson is the executive director of the multimedia history project
Shaping San Francisco, and has edited four collections of political and
historical essays. He is a co-founder of the alternative arts venue
CounterPULSE, helped launch the monthly bike-ins known as Critical Mass, and was the longtime editor of Processed World magazine.

In his current book Nowtopia: How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists, and Vacant-Lot Gardeners are Inventing the Future Today (AK Press), San Francisco-based activist and historian Chris Carlsson profiles practices that embody a deep challenge to the basic underpinnings of modern life, as a new ecologically driven politics emerges from below, reshaping our assumptions about science, technology, and human potential.

This event is sponsored by Graduate Group in Cultural Studies, Humanities Institute and Media Study GSA.  Carlsson will also take part in a panel discussion Friday evening:

Seeds of the New Commons: Building the Future in the Present Chris Carlsson in conversation with Justin Booth and Kirk Laubenstein
November, 6th 7:00 pm
Sugar City (19 Wadsworth – near Elmwwod and Allen)