Carlos Emil Castro Monday Class
Environmental Economics
Brooklyn Navy Yard Tour
Brooklyn Navy Yard is located in 63 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn New York. According to the Brooklyn Navy Yard website, “Established in 1801 as one of the nation’s first five naval shipyards, over 165 years the Yard developed into the nation’s premiere naval industrial facility”. Knowing this information was very fascinating because it has been over 200 years since it was created and yet it is still exist. Even though there is no military activity since 1966, the government did not abolish the site because they want to preserve and to educate people about the history of the navy yard. Not abolishing the Navy Yard and welcoming businesses that is green and environment friendly business gives people an opportunity to work here. In addition, they want to keep the neighborhood by not constructing residential buildings and condos that can over populate the area. Gentrification in this area can make the neighborhood busy, traffic and cause pollution.
In addition, the Brooklyn navy yard was also constructed building that is green to the environment. It means that all or most building is environmental friendly. For example, the outside of the building 92 has a rain water collection system that will collect the rain water, filter it and store it so it can be used in the building for water, flushing the toilet and watering the plants. The navy yard also has training and skills development to help people gain their skills and hopefully they will use their skills to get employed in the navy yard or somewhere else. This is a great program because it can help people have a good job while they are protecting the environment. Moreover, the Navy yard has an urban ecology tour that welcomes visitor, research and students to be guided and gain knowledge about navy yard program and services. In my class field trip tour, I learned a lot about not only the Navy yard but also learn about how to protect and be green to the environment. The tour guide gave us a lot of information that are helpful to the class and hopefully we can use that learning experience to teach others on how to be thoughtful of protecting the environment.
Matt Flegenheimer wrote At Long Last, a Glimpse of a Shipbuilding Past an article of nytimes.com, “An anchor from the amphibious assault ship Austin, launched from Brooklyn in 1964, sits on the ground floor, with its chain extending to the ceiling and its weight chiseled into its steel: 22,500 pounds. When you enter the building 92, you will be greeted by the huge ship anchor that was used before in the navy ship. Our tour guide showed us about the programs and business around the arear. This are some of the programs they have, rooftop gardening, oyster reefs, modular housing construction, renewable energy use and design, architectural re-design of old buildings.
What I like most about the tour is the modular housing construction. The modular housing construction is a house that is constructed or built by premade parts and designed that are put together to form a house. The idea is the same as a lego where prebuilt sections are made then put together to form a house. The materials used are very cost effective yet sturdy materials. This is a great idea because it is very convenient to build and it doesn’t need a lot of men hours to build this kind of house. It is also fast that it can be done it days. It is a good way to use this modular houses in times of natural disaster where a lot of people would be homeless after the calamity. It can provide people shelter while they are being taken care of after the disaster.
